A great sounding recording begins with a great sounding room, either live or dead. It is of great importance to ensure that the rooms in which you record and listen to music, do not colour (except intentionally) the sound from the instruments at the input stage, or the monitors at the output stage. Second to an acoustically correct space is the use of detailed, transparent and correctly calibrated monitors. This setup ensures that you are aware of every detail and blemish in the recording process.
On order to achieve an acoustically correct space for performing or listening, it is advisable to deal with problems at the time of construction or Installation. It is usually more difficult and less efficient to try and apply acoustic correction on top of an existing problematic studio setup, although a definite improvement can still be attained.
Half Normalled To Nowhere offer a consultation service for designing or improving your studio or performance space. Please contact us for details.
Some factors to consider when designing or optimising a space are:
Room modes
Modes are one of the main causes of uneven frequency response in an enclosed space. Peaks and
troughs in the frequency response are related to the dimensions and shape of the space and the
materials and design used in it's construction. With proper design and treatment the effect of
the modes of a space can be greatly reduced resulting and a flatter response and more accurate
listening environment.
Reverberation time (RT60) and Initial Time Delay
The reverberation time of a live room is a matter of taste, however the reverberation time of
a control room is very important in the accuracy of the sound. If the initial time delay of the
control room is longer than that of the live room, the effects of the control room will colour the
sound you hear in a way that will mask the original sound therefore hiding sonic information.
Reflection paths
Reflections are another main culprit in the production of an uneven frequency response. Signals
that reach your ears in a direct path from the speaker are combined with
signals that have reflected off one or more surfaces in between and therefore have taken a longer
path. This increased distance results in the two signals having uncorrelated phase relationships
which may cause some frequencies to cancel out or be reinforced.
Isolation
What good is a recording space which does not offer isolation from external noise? If you are trying
to record a soft, intimate vocal take the last thing you want is the sound of the people in the
room next door spilling onto the recording. Isolation is vital to allow interference free
capture of source sounds.
Absorption
Absorption is often confused with isolation. Where isolation is used to stop sound entering or
leaving a space, absorption is used to control the sound within that space. Reflections can be
reduced, reverb time reduced and room modes controlled using absorption resulting in a cleaner
and more detailed sound.
Equipment layout and connection
Having all the latest and greatest gear is all well and good, but bad connections and inefficient
routing can introduce noise and interference to analogue signals, and jitter or clocking errors
to digital signals. An optimised signal chain with well thought out routing will increase
productivity and quality.