Dead Rooms

[Fox Mulder]

I still don't understand why it's not okay to completely deaden a room with treatment even if it's smaller than 1400 cubic feet?

Mines way bigger than that though. It's 14(L) x 13(W) x 10(H)ft. But I might have to move out pretty soon and I have an eerie feeling I might end up in a smaller room.

 

[John_C]

A very dead room is a completely unrepresentative space to mix in. You'll end up thinking everything in your mix is working perfectly when in fact a bit of room ambience will turn it into a mess.

Also, a (already small) dead room is never going to actually happen. What you'll get (if you really try) is a room that's very dead above 500Hz and steadily more and more lively the lower you go. This isn't good as it leads to a very skewed perspective of the mix. A balanced RT60 across the entire spectrum is what you're after in a control room, perhaps of around 0.3 seconds.

 

[AllanD]

I'm interested in drum sounds from a dead room, if anyone has any clips.

 

[AudioGeekZine]

A completely dead room feels way smaller than it is. It's extremely uncomfortable to be in let alone work in for hours on end.

You don't use treatment to deaden a room, you use it to control it.

Live end-Dead end is the way to go.

 

[colonel kurtz]

are we talking about for tracking, mixing, or both??

 

[egan.]

I've worked in "completely" dead rooms before and didn't really have a problem with comfort or anything. "Completely" is in quotes b/c there was a giant desk and a couple of large windows but aside from that you had full coverage plus some stupid amount of bass trapping (I think a couple of feet) behind the monitors. It is sort of erie sometimes when you first walked in. It almost felt like it took more energy to talk....but I was used to it after an hour.
For tracking, I want any small booth to be dead.

 

[MindKEYS]

I have a pretty dead room for tracking and no problem with confort also, you don't hear any echo when you talk, it's strange but not uncomfortable.

Here is a clip of Drums recorded there without effects:
Drums Dead Room

 

[Ermz]

Working in a dead room doesn't bother me whatsoever.

 

[if6was9]

Any of ye ever been in an anechoic chamber before? Very strange, apparently some people have a tendancy to freak out when they do go in. Was in one before, didn't get to do any tests or anything got brought to one with my college course.

 

[jipchen]

Yeah, a "completely dead room" (anechoic chamber) is horrible (it feels very strange, at least) and you can't do ANYTHING in there. But you won't be able to build such a room anyway, because the absorbers would have to be more than one and a half meter deep and there would have to be absorbers everywhere, even the floor.
A "pretty dead room" is actually good for mixing, it should have an RT60 of 0.3 seconds (as said before).

 

[MondoLikeMetal]

If the room isn't "dead" enough, do you suggest surrounding an amp with baffling. I scored about 40 (2 dozen type) open egg cartons (cardboard). I could affix them to plywood and surround my amp to avoid slap back.

Chime in .... what's been your experience recording in your bedroom, den, living room, etc.

 

[AllanD]

I have a pretty dead room for tracking and no problem with confort also, you don't hear any echo when you talk, it's strange but not uncomfortable.

Here is a clip of Drums recorded there without effects:
Drums Dead Room

Thanks for the clip. It's exactly as expected, not much high end because of all the absorbtion.

 

[egan.]

If the room isn't "dead" enough, do you suggest surrounding an amp with baffling. I scored about 40 (2 dozen type) open egg cartons (cardboard). I could affix them to plywood and surround my amp to avoid slap back.

Chime in .... what's been your experience recording in your bedroom, den, living room, etc.

This is pretty off topic, but no, cardboard is pretty much useless. When people talk about "egg crate" for acoustics they are generally talking about studio foam b/c of the similar look that a particular type of foam has to egg cartons.

I would suggest surrounding an amp with baffles however, egg crate or foam on plywood will likely exacerbate this issue. I'd suggest building a couple of baffles out of OC703 instead.

 

[AD Chaos]

What about for tracking guitars- is a small DEAD(er?) room the very best choice?

I've always wondered if there's such a thing as an ''amp trap''- sort of like this:

Also, do basstraps improve tracking?

 

[ahjteam]

I find the Finnvox B-studio's performance area really uncomfortably quiet.

 

[colonel kurtz]

I've always wondered if there's such a thing as an ''amp trap''- sort of like this

it's pretty common to put baffles with absorbent material around cabs in order to keep reflections from getting back to the mics...

 

[Fox Mulder]

Working in a dead room doesn't bother me whatsoever.

I remember seeing a video of yours' ages back. Pretty cool room you got there. Seeing you produce such huge mixes in such a small room kind of got me more motivated towards audio engineering. Hats off to you mate! Is it completely dead or just dead-sounding? Have you done any tests? (RT60, Pink Noise, Sine Tones?)

 

[MindKEYS]

Thanks for the clip. It's exactly as expected, not much high end because of all the absorbtion.

Yes, but i can add very easily a bit more of top end with EQ and add the reverb i want, as the room is not very big if it wasn't so isolated it would be much more problematic to work with.

 

[MondoLikeMetal]

Thanks, Egan - I googled and found that I can get OC703 - 6 pc's of 2' by 4' for $75. That's enough for my small Johnson amp!

(What a minute - did I just say I had a "small Johnson"?

 

[AllanD]

Yes, but i can add very easily a bit more of top end with EQ and add the reverb i want, as the room is not very big if it wasn't so isolated it would be much more problematic to work with.

True, I've worked with a dead room before. It took a SHIT load of top end, but I never tried reverb. I remember it coming out pretty decent as well.