Mic Placement

Kruise808

New member
Hey Everybody!

I had a question for the people recording not in a legit studio but like a home studio set up in their bedroom...
I have my mic in a corner with blankets on the wall behind it to kill the reverb but when I listen to the recorded tracks it seems like its lower quality/muffled/bassy. Should a place my mic in the middle of the room or something instead? Thanks!
 
Center of the room with no damping materials so that you get the full sound of whatever it is you are trying to record
 
I have made a cabin for the mic myself. The damage was €50. I got a full (open) cabine, the result is very nice.
 
Corners are where bass builds-up the most. See if you can cut it down with something in the corner like a bean bag chair, or some foam bass-traps available at Guitar Center. That being said, you are on the right track, and if you are recording vocals, I wouldn't do it in the center of the room with no room treatment unless you want a very "room-y" sound (lots of short reverb and high-end reflections). Use a treated area like you are now, but experiment with microphone placement, EQ settings, and proper distance from the mike (a dynamic or condenser mike will have "proximity effect" and sound too bass-y if you are to close, and will sound a little thin if you are too far away).

GJ
 
I'd suggest trying a reflection filter. You'd have better control & use of the mic's proximity.

sereflexion_l.jpg
 
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Hey Kruise,

While reverb can be easily killed by blankets, as you've experienced it will not help other issues the room will exaggerate, like bass response and buildup. I wouldn't recommend foam as the tests we've done have shown they don't change the bass response in a room too much, even with all four corners filled floor to ceiling. You can check out our article on foam vs. our GIK 244 bass traps here: gikacoustics.com/news_020912.html

Reflexion filter may help some, but is again too thin to change the response much. They will help certainly with the directionality of the microphone, but still leaves a lot of room for improvement. If you can, I would suggest using a gobo around the mic to absorb bass frequencies, as well as controlling the reverb and giving you a much larger reflection-free area for recording. Something like this: gikacoustics.com/gik_screen_panel_acoustic_panels.html

As for actual mic position, all rooms are different so it is hard to give exact advice. I would experiment multiple locations yourself to figure out whats best. Perhaps try recording yourself saying a passage and move the mic, record it again, etc until you have the best sounding spot. It is time intensive, but will ensure you're getting the best recordings possible.
 
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