Room Treatment Tips
Lesson 9 from: Audio Production: Record Better AudioTomas George
Room Treatment Tips
Lesson 9 from: Audio Production: Record Better AudioTomas George
Lesson Info
9. Room Treatment Tips
Lessons
My Recommended Budget Audio Recording Setup
03:58 2Microphones for Video and Filmmakers
04:35 3Different Microphones and their uses
07:56 4Microphone Accessories
04:41 5Boom Operating Tips
03:21 6Microphone Accessories to Reduce Wind Noise
01:58 7Audio Interfaces and Examples
06:06 8Headphones and Monitors
01:46Room Treatment Tips
06:17 10Room Treatment Example
01:09 11My Recommended Audio Travel Gear
06:15 12Introduction to Audacity
00:45 13Audio Recording Setup in Audacity
03:49 14How to Record Audio in Audacity
02:54 15Playback, Zoom, Undo + Saving in Audacity
04:15 16How to Export Audio out of Audacity
03:37 17Audacity's Essential Audio Editing Tools
08:07 18Removing Silence, Splitting + Joining Clips
03:17 19Audacity's Essential Key Command or Keyboard Shortcuts
03:06 20Removing Background Noise Introduction
02:48 21Audacity's Noise Gate Effect
12:29 22Audacity's Noise Reduction Effect
11:15 23Introduction to Mixing and Processing Audio in Audacity
02:32 24A Brief Look at the Filter Curve or EQ Effect
10:35 25A Brief Look at Compression and the Normalize Effect
11:21 26Setting up an Effects Macro in Audacity
03:23 27Outboard Gear - The DBX 286s
05:26 28Thanks and Bye
00:12Lesson Info
Room Treatment Tips
Hi. In this lecture, we're going to look at some room treatment tips. So first of all, when the sound is created, for example, your voice, the audio will project out in all directions, the direct sound will travel in a straight line into the microphone. And the rest is reflected sound, which means it bounces between the surfaces of the room a short time later though this will bounce back into the microphone. So the time it takes for the sound to bounce back and hit the microphone really depends on the size of the room. The number of times it bounced back into the microphone also depends on the shape of the room and how the room has been treated. Unless the room has been designed to have pleasant acoustics, then the reflective sound in the room will likely add unwanted room sound. Different materials can also change the frequency balance of the reflective sound. However, unless you're in a room that's been designed to sound good, then it probably won't, for example, recording studios ha...
ve some natural room reverb, but they've been designed carefully to sound that way. Another example is a cathedral. They've been designed like this to create a certain sound for the choir as it can be very expensive to design a room. In a certain way, an alternative is to treat the room in a way that reduces the amount of reflections. Now, let's have a look at some top tips to treat your room without any specialist equipment. It is important to realize that there's a difference between soundproofing and acoustic treatments. There are two things though you can do to help improve the sound of your room. Number one is remove the natural reverb of the room and number two is to diffuse the sound of the reflections. The worst thing is to be sat in a small square room which has hard surfaces all around it such as walls and windows because the sound will just bounce back and forth between each of the surfaces. This will create a sound which is a flutter echo and is not what you want. There are certain things you can do to reduce this room. Selection is important. So try and choose a room that's an odd shape if possible. This way, the sound will bounce in different directions around the room and doesn't go back and forth directly between the four walls, some rooms however, just sound more pleasant than others, just completely by chance but try different rooms in your house or recording location and see which sounds best. First of all, remember, different positions of the room will have an effect on the sound. I recommend against the common idea that are covered with egg boxes is any good because due to the walls being so close, the reflections will be much stronger and egg boxes are so thin that almost all frequencies will simply pass through them. Your best option is a medium sized room. A good way to test the room is to just clap your hands in some bad sounding rooms. You will hear a harsh ringing sound which is flutter echo and this is common in small square rooms. Alternatively, in larger rooms, you're more likely to hear a pleasant reverb which won't cause as many issues when recording audio. So once you've chosen a room that sounds reasonable or you have no choice over the room, there are some things you can do to help, you can look at absorption. So soft materials can help absorb some of the sound that bounces around the room. Also, you can close the curtains of your room or hang up a duvet on one of the walls. You can also try leaning a mattress against the wall and also try putting an extra rug down. You can also try having a sofa in the room because this can help absorb this out a bean bag and generally anything soft can help. Also thicker material can be great for absorbing those lower frequencies. Also packaging foam and any insulation you can find can help absorb some of the sound that's bouncing around your room. The next thing you can do is diffuse the sound, diffuses work by scattering the reflections of the sound. So it doesn't reflect right back into the microphone. So this can have a more natural pleasing sound. There are different things you can use to scatter the reflections which include furniture, so cabinets, chairs, tables also bookshelves can be great. If you also have a wardrobe full of clothes and shoes and toys, then open that up as well. These things can help. But the cheapest and easiest thing I recommend is actually hanging a duvet up behind you and also putting up a mattress in front of the microphone against the wall. This can make a huge difference in improving the sound of your room. The combination of absorption and diffusion is really the best. Alternatively, you can buy acoustic treatment. So many companies sell foam acoustic treatment packages which can make a huge difference when mixing and recording music. Bass traps are probably the most important form of acoustic treatment. This will help treat the lower frequencies in the room. However, if you're working with audio, just for a voice, you'll often cut out some of the lowest frequencies. So these are the ones that would have been attenuated by the bass traps. If you have the budget, I would definitely recommend getting bass traps. But if not, I would spend your money on other acoustic treatments. Acoustic panels can be the most cost efficient way to treat your room. It won't give you an acoustically perfect room, but it will heavily reduce the amounts of audible reflections in the room or Alex makes some great acoustic panels, but they can be quite expensive. I recommend having a look on ebay and when purchasing make sure you get the most dense ones you can find and it's measured in kilograms per meters cubed and around about 25 m cubed is great. The other way, which is slightly more expensive is using fiberglass insulation acoustic panels. Companies like prime acoustic make these. However, they cost a lot of money about $1000 for a full room treatment kit. You can however, make some of these yourself by building wooden frames and purchasing the insulation material yourself realistically, if you're just starting out, you probably won't want to spend a lot of money on this. However, the sound of your room will make a huge difference. So do what you can with diy methods. But if you're still unhappy with the sound, I recommend looking into professional acoustic treatments. So there's just some tips about room sound. I hope you found this useful and I'll see you in the next lecture.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials
Ratings and Reviews
Student Work
Related Classes
Audio Engineering