Recording in the live room
We've used this room to record lots of rock drums in the past. We compress the life out of the room mic, and with all the natural reverb going on, we've managed to get some pretty epic rock drums in here. But that's pretty much the only thing a bare room like this was good for.
It was time to start putting in some acoustic treatment in the live room so that we can use it to record other performances and instruments.
Sound absorption
One thing that I'd like to mention is that this is NOT done for soundproofing. It's definitely not. It is not meant to attenuate the sound coming into the studio or going out.
What the clouds is absorb reflections so that they're not all hitting the microphones when recording making the recording sound echoey and getting a flatter response in the mid and high frequencies.
We decided to stick to what's worked best in the past and had some pine frames built around the 4 x 6 x 2 Rockwool panels.
The panel is sandwiched between an outer lip so it doesn't move and create a belly when hanging from the cieling.
This is what they looked like when the arrived:
We emptied out the room this weekend to have someone pre-drill the holes where the panels would go. We did this on a weekend so we could have a few days to clean up all the dust before we started installing anything that might get dirty.
We had some old frames with fabric lying around from our previous studio. So we just put in some freshly purchased Rockwool panels to use them right away. I made sure to use protective gloves because this stuff can get itchy if it gets on your skin.
As you can see, I had already made the cables and ties on another occasion, so all I had to do is hang them up.
This is @alex-rourke and studio assistant, Sebastian getting busy:
After hanging a few cloud panels, bringing in some plants, the live room is starting to look a little cozier :)
We still have some work ahead of us. But this is an ongoing project that will likely never be completely finished. We're just enjoying the process; every step of the way.
#recording #recordingstudio #music #DIY
