Treatments for a single room studio. Both live and control.

[fingerace]

Originally Posted by Audio~Geek

Making critical decisions about things like mic placement on a snare drum without having the snare drum blasting in the room is a big deal.

That's the big thing I was missing. How are you going to place the mic in front of the guitar cab if you don't know how it's going to sound in the real mix.

Thanks a lot for that Audio-Geek.

[Audio~Geek]

yeah because headphones, especially those with enough isolation to let you hear the mic when you're 2" from a Marshall stack, don't come even close to the sound quality of a decent pair of speakers in a treated room.

Trying to with with ringing ears or a headache from rehearsal room volumes all day is no fun.

BUT there are ways around it the problems. There are 1 room pro studios, but not as common.

[fingerace]

So, in my case with a 20x12 room, and myself as a musician is it worth the split?

If not, how shall I configure the treatments?

[Audio~Geek]

Live end-Dead end

Your mixing area is dead, your tracking area is mostly live

[Ethan Winer]

Originally Posted by fingerace

Am I missing something?

Not at all. Especially if the studio is mainly for your own use. My home studio is pretty large at 34 feet by 18 feet with a ceiling that peaks at 12 feet high. It's all one room and I wouldn't have it any other way. I've recorded entire small orchestras in here. Everyone wears headphones. Problem solved.

In the old days of 16 track recording, with an entire band recording at once, you often had to pre-mix eight or more drum mics down to two to four tracks. So it was important to hear the drum sub-mix accurately, without being influenced by sound bleed through the walls. These days with unlimited tracks, just record every microphone to a separate track and you can sort out the levels later.

--Ethan

[bozmillar]

As said above, it can be handy to have a separate control room if you are recording for other people/bands, especially if you are trying to get mic placement right. Plus if you have 5 guys in a room for 8 hours sweating and farting, you probably don't want to be in there with them.

If you are recording for yourself or for smaller setups, I see no reason to split the room. It would just make everything more work.

I'm moving in a couple weeks and I had to choose between 2 houses, one with a dedicated room connected to the garage, with doors that close, or one with a dining room with only 3 walls that opens up into a larger room and the rest of the house. I for sure chose the larger, more open room than the dedicated room. I think isolation is one of the last things I need when I'm trying to record music.

[fingerace]

Yeah, I think two separate rooms are not the solution for me right now.

About mic placement...
Can it be done using headphones? Or should I record something. Play it back, correct the placement and repeat until I get what I want?

[garageband]

Originally Posted by fingerace

Can it be done using headphones? Or should I record something. Play it back, correct the placement and repeat until I get what I want?

Yes. You should do both. Lots.

[brandondrury]

I thought I had covered this topic pretty well in KHR, but maybe I omitted this section.

In my opinion it's ALWAYS better to record/mix/whatever in one room that is pretty good than in 2 rooms that blow. The one room way of working does force you into a few corners (particularly with isolation and getting the sounds in the first place and eliminates the option of getting sounds real time) but it's not the end of the world.

Can it be done using headphones?

Definitely, but I wouldn't do it with just any headphones. Audio Technica ATH-M50 Studio Monitor Headphones | Home Computer Recording
Brandon

[fingerace]

I 've read about the ATH-M50. I am definately getting those for the studio. There is generally a lack of "How to treat a single room studio" articles, but I am following sensible guidelines from you guys.

A big thank you to everybody in this forum.

I think the single room studio will work but it will take more time to get THE sound you want. You ll have to re-record everything for a number of times, other than direct instr. That would suck if the initial take is "the one". You can always use drum samples I suppose...

I don't want to do things the easy way though. I want the studio to be educational. When I play my guitars I want to fight them a little bit to get the tone I want and the speed I want. Same goes for the studio. Samples will be a last resort. Capture the real thing...

Maybe this way of thinking will stop when I see just how hard it can be.

Anyway, thanks for the replies guys.