Ideas for my home studio

[edde000]

I have been planing to record som minor stuff at home and i have a few ideas that may need some response.

I have a 2,5x4 meter (8x13 feet) room and a peavey 6505 with a 4x12. As long as i do not need earplugs, the neighbours will not bother.

I understand that such as small room will not give me very good recordings and since it is my bedroom i dont wanna put upp absorbers all over the walls.

First of all im gonna get a attenuator, some cheap DIY that do not cost 400bucks. Then i will put some pyramid foam, like 3 inches, in front of the cabinet so it will be airtight and I make a small hole for a SM-57 connected to my zoom h4n. I guess the pyramid foam will seal in the treble but not the bas? Would even thicker foam do better for the bas?

I also wonder what would happend with the sound if i disconnected 3 of the 4 elements in the cabinet? Since i put the mic in front of just one of them, the others would do nothing but disturb the neighbours?

Would an extra condeser mic for ~100$ do any good?

 

[jipchen]

Build two or three of these (the thicker basstrap version): http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10297
Pyramid foam is the devil. If anything it will make the tracks sound muddy, dull and like shit. The problem in small rooms are especially the bass frequencies.

You can place the basstraps in front of the cab like this: (the "!" is the microphone)
CAB
\_!_/

Also what do you mean by "disconnecting 3 of the 4 elements in the cabinet"? The speakers? You will change the impedance of the cab.. and even if you set it righ on your amp that doesn't seem like a good idea to me. It will completely change the sound, though. 4x12s are commonly used for a reason.

 

[edde000]

Thanks for the advice. I think i will go for the basstraps and maybe add a permanent gigant one on the wall because its nothing there now. In the way they made the basstraps in the link you posted, they use some kind of fabric with small holes. Will it mather is i use posters or something with no holes?

1x12 and 2x12's are commonly used and i thought the only difference would be the wolume. What would happend if i connected my 6505 into a orange 1x12? Will it blow up on high wolumes?

 

[infectdsniper]

disconnecting 3 speakers is fine as long as you match the amp impedance to the single speaker impedance (should be on the back of the speaker) but much easier to blow your speaker that way so keep that in mind. i would recommend having 2 hooked up at least because it may lack some fullness with only one speaker being recorded. but with more than one speaker you have to know a little more. http://www.diyaudioandvideo.com/FAQ/Wiring/ that has everything you need to know.

 

[MoultoMan]

I highly discourage you from disconnecting 3 or your 4 speakers, if the noise is a serious issue go out and pick up a cheap 1x12 or make one. quads are acoustically designed to have 4 speakers running and the sound quality/tone will be fairly heavily affected if it isnt running all 4 speakers, also as infectdsniper mentioned impedance could be a problem for you. As for the microphones stick with the shure for now until you can afford a good condenser. cheap condensers sound terrible and you much better off buying a good quality dynamic mic like the 57s or 58s because you will always have a use for it where as, if you get a cheap condenser the minute you buy a better one you will never use the cheapo mic again. unless you never plan to upgrade get the cheap option but if you can hold out a little longer get at least a low-mid range condenser like an audio technica at2020 or a rode nt1 it will make a world of difference to your recordings. hope this helps a bit.

 

[Virgil.]

definitely don't remove your speakers or disconnect them. You could fry your amp if it doesn't have something properly setup to deal with the power load it puts out.

 

[edde000]

I have now built a big box with 12 cm of glass wool on the inside walls. I loaded it with a harley benton 2x12 with vintage 30s and a sm57. Tomorrow im gonna crank the 6505 and see how much noise it will leak.

Anyone else who have built an isolationbox??