Sound Proofing Recording Spaces

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RickBourassa
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Sound Proofing Recording Spaces

Post by RickBourassa » Fri Oct 02, 2020 7:42 am

Does anyone have any inexpensive and innovative ideas or hacks for soundproofing your recording space? I am currently setup in an unfinished basement with background noise of the furnace, plumbing, spouse walking around upstairs, etc.

My condenser mic is especially sensitive at picking that up.

Rick Bourassa

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Re: Sound Proofing Recording Spaces

Post by AlanHall » Fri Oct 02, 2020 10:07 am

My method includes giving my wife a gift card to the cinema and then turning off all appliances that could cycle at an inopportune time (furnace, refrigerator, etc) when I need to do some serious room miking. Also, if the source is very quiet (acoustic guitar or voice, for example) I'll plan my time late night to avoid street noises that can bleed in.

The mechanical alternative is making a booth. What are your goals? guitar/vox, drums, etc? For miking an electric guitar cab, all I do is turn the furnace down for a while.

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Re: Sound Proofing Recording Spaces

Post by RickBourassa » Fri Oct 02, 2020 10:14 am

I have tried several of those methods as well....


I just need to record vocals and acoustic guitar at this time.

I have created impulse responses for my amps, and can get by recording direct for my electric stuff.

I looked at acoustic blankets and a vocal booth, but its a little too pricey at this time.

Have you tried putting a shield around your mic to reduce the room noise that gets picked up?

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Re: Sound Proofing Recording Spaces

Post by AlanHall » Fri Oct 02, 2020 10:26 am

Often heavier drapes on the windows (and/or tapestries on the walls - you do live in a castle, don't you?) will absorb much of the critical band where we hear the most environmental noise. Maybe cheaper than 'acoustic blankets', and in a basement, anything looks better than cinderblock or concrete. :lol:

I do have a control room (sounds fancier than it is) where I tore out the drywall, installed fiberglass batting and covered with indoor/outdoor carpet. When I don't need an actual room ambience, I'll record right in there, positioning mics to minimize computer ventilation noise. I did spend a bit in time and money on it, but that was 20 years ago and have since gotten my ROI (purely in terms of enjoyment).

When I want the reflections of a fairly live room, the living room with all the hard surfaces sounds pretty good. But that's where any other noise is loud enough to be heard over the reverberant field. If you don't mind a dry sound, pick up some materials that will deaden the sound (even on one wall!) and see what the difference in noise level is. You don't have to build a world-class recording space all at once, and you don't need specialized and overpriced treatments. But that's just my Welsh grandmother talking.

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Re: Sound Proofing Recording Spaces

Post by RickBourassa » Fri Oct 02, 2020 2:12 pm

I found these...

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07Z4K4B93/ref ... 07-20&th=1

They claim to reduce sound by up to 30db. :shock:

I don't believe they will work that good, but will give them a try and let you know how they work out.

Rick

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Re: Sound Proofing Recording Spaces

Post by lesmac » Sat Oct 03, 2020 4:14 am

My best guess in your situation.

Send the wife out to eliminate random noises.

Use a restoration plugin like waves x noise or RX 8 from iZotope to remove consistent noise. Record some ambient noise before or after a take.

Using a mic with a super cardioid pattern may reduce extraneous background noise to some extent.

Sound reduction for rooms requires mass [think dense heavy dry wall]: de coupling [rubber mounts or resilient clips]: and air space with insulation. Usually enclosing as well. Think of a water tank or a chain. Water will leak from a hole no matter how thick the walls are or a chain is only as good as it's weakest link.

Close mic ing your guitar will help some. Reflexion filters only really take out room ambience which is what a plugin as mentioned above will do anyway. If you are stuck with an omni mic then something behind the mic would be worth a try.

So I'd go for low cost/easy first. The price of a plugin and possibly a very directional mic but trying one first would be good to see if there is a noticeable difference.

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Re: Sound Proofing Recording Spaces

Post by RickBourassa » Sat Oct 03, 2020 6:59 am

Thanks for the suggestions and feedback guys.

For 60 cycle hum, I have had pretty good luck with the Reafir plugin in Reaper. It works good if your track has a section with no other sounds so you can train it. It doesn’t work as good for non consistent sounds.

Rick

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Re: Sound Proofing Recording Spaces

Post by gitanosoy » Sat Oct 03, 2020 9:24 am

Soundproofing a room is a lot of work, you basically have to build another wall with and air gap and fiberglass foam insulation in between....sound diffusion/lowering db can be achieved by sticking acoustic foam on your walls or building acoustic panels ..you can also buy foam sheets at home depot and stick the acoustic foam on them for extra thickness and then apply them to the wall ..I turned my small closet into a silent booth and it is dead air and very quiet.

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