IM LOSING MY MIND !! Studio help please !!!

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greatlakeshama

New member
January 1st 2016 I decided I was tired of paying beat makers ,producers ,engineers etc for products that I believed i could do myself. I am an aspiring artist and i don't want to bottle myself up in one genre but mainly hip hop rap reggae dancehall type artist. I have purchased a lot of gear in my eyes so far i have a

Imac -2.7gh 8gb ram 1tb hdd
Focusrite Audio INterface 2|2
Rode Nt1 Mic
Machine MK2
Se Shield Reflector
Alexis 49 key midi controller
Akai Mini Mpk
Audio Av40 Monitors
Sennheiser HD 280 headphones

Now i was going to set up all of my gear in a rented studio that was going to build a recording booth for me the total cost a month was going to be 400 a month. i put my deposit in feburary 19 and on March 17 I got impatient and due to many things like already working one full time job having an additional part time job and a dog that i have been neglecting i decided that i was going to try and
save the 400 a month and invest in my own home. Now i did set up my gear at home with no acoustic treatment and my mic was picking up so much exterior noise i got so frustrated i mean i could hear the chirping of birds on the outside i could hear the tv that was turned on downstairs. I have been looking threw the stickies i have been looking on youtube but I think i am missing the answer every time. How am i going to stop the noise from getting to my microphone? Will I be able to record vocals in my control room? Do i have to Turn the closet in my backroom into a recording booth ? I am trying to do whatever it takes to get this job done i feel like I have done so much already and Not with just purchasing the gear but I am just trying to do my best without having to spend thousands and thousands of dollars. Right now i Feel like I'm rambling but i mean its at a point i can't sleep because I feel like my music is moving at a slower pace due to the fact that I can't record and i haven't been able to record anything for the past 3 months because all the money that i could have invested in studio time i have been investing in my own studio. I hope someone can lead me in the right direction and i hope i am not just rambling. Thank you for your advice in advance.

Hama
 
Put your microphone in the corner furthest away from all the noise, hang a blanket or curtain so it covers you standing in front of the mic stand (like a booth). That should help reduce some of the house noises leaking into your recording. Also, it's a longer process (not that long) but you could always just use tools in your editing and slice up and cut out the silences from the audio wave of your vocal recordings. Just remove any dead spaces between your words. You'll probably have to fade in each little part to avoid clicking sound every time your vocal parts play, but it gets the job done. I think a lot of professional producers/engineers use this method in actual studios anyway. Another thing you can do is load your vocals, keep them at low volume level and use compression.

Good luck! Keep us posted.
 
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The kind of acoustic treatment you can buy is designed to make your room sound better, from speakers to your ears or from your mouth to the microphone. But they don't help block out outside noise.

What you're looking for is isolation, or "sound-proofing" as many people call it. This is achieved through raw mass. Some people build with thick cement or cinder blocks. Other people build a new, smaller room within the older, larger room. It's not easy or cheap.


Are there times of the day when the birds and TV don't bother you? Are there windows and doors you can shut to keep things quieter?

A closet might make things quieter, but it could also make things pretty muffled and boxy. Decent studios never have a "vocal booth", unless it's as big as an actual room.


Like the others mentioned, hanging thick blankets around what you're recording will help some with the higher frequency noise pollution. Mattresses or other things would help too. Choosing a microphone with a tighter pickup pattern could help - stay away from omni's, aim for cardioid or possibly super cardioid.

If you can record with your microphone at a time when the birds aren't chirping and the TV is off, when the house is quiet, you should be alright. Edit out any nasty noises that might come through in your silence. Or re-record new takes if a bad moment of noise comes through at an inconvenient time. If most of your music is electronically produced, then most of your work can happen regardless of how loud the birds and TV are.
 
there's this padded filter you could try that sits around your microphone, it's called the kaotica eyeball. it's about 200 dollars but i have heard recorded music from it and it sounded great.
 
Inspirmentalist said:
there's this padded filter you could try that sits around your microphone, it's called the kaotica eyeball. it's about 200 dollars but i have heard recorded music from it and it sounded great.
Click to expand...

I don't think even the Eyeball (or other reflection-reducing filters) blocks noise very effectively though - probably better than nothing, but if you can try before you buy...
 
Sounds like you're looking for acoustic dampening to shut out the noise from the outside world. Home studios can definitely be a bummer sometimes, that's for sure, but don't let it get to you!

To understand why the dynamic of your room isn't working for you, I would suggest looking into the structure itself. Check your angles, measurements, and height of the ceiling. If you're in a room that is eight feet tall, and 50 square feet, no matter what you do, you're likely going to end up with a muffled sound in the recording without some drastic dampening.

UNDERSTAND THE SOUND
See, sound is a fickle creature. Its a fluid vibration that creates music or disconnect. It is often heard, and rarely felt. Anyway, away with the yammering (I've had too much coffee and it's too early for this where I live).

High frequencies pass through material that is lower-density. If your walls are made of base wood, and you have cheap insulation, you will hear the higher pitched sounds reverberating through the walls, and thus, into the control room. Basic installed windows are also an issue at times, as they are cheaply made, and allow some level of high end amplification from the outside frequency. The way to remedy this is not to throw a mattress onto the walls (although it may be somewhat helpful at first). Mattresses are extremely dense and large. What you do when you use a mattress is create a barrier that doesn't breathe, or allow frequency to move. Sounds great! But its not...

See, when you use the mattress method, you are blocking external sound from coming IN, but you're also blocking natural room reverberation for the sound coming OUT of your month, instrument, ect. In essence, don't use a mattress. It's ridiculous, and it doesn't do the job.

WHAT TO DO
In my 9 or so years of sound dynamics and acoustic engineering, I've found that what works is what is not contemporary by any means. If you want to not hear the birds in the control room, focus on the control room, and the dynamics of it. Milo Burke has a good start for you a few comments above me, talking about the soundproofing. Focus on blocking the outside noise from entering the room, not from the noise in the room being a nuisance, that's highly counterproductive. If you are in a tight bind for reconstruction, or simply cannot...consider purchasing four (4) high density acoustic bass traps that fit the height of the ceiling, or a few inches below. These absorb low end frequencies quite well, and are relatively cost efficient. Don't skip on quality, either. Get the thickest, heavy duty corner bass traps you can find or build if you're into that.

Once that is completed, you will probably be hurting for money for a bit with your budget I imagine. Hang the thickest comforters (not blankets) that you can find over your windows, and enjoy the serenity of low level noise floor.
 
Buy a BB-Gun - that takes care of the chirping birds and downstairs TV.

Bass traps have really fallen in price over the last few years but on the cheap - I'm a real fan of rockwool gobos. 40 quid (RWA & timbre) and a few hours graft go along way.
 
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