Recording problem, annoyance at 1K..

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Hi,
I'm currently tracking vocals and acoustic guitar for demo purposes in my
back room until I get something better sorted out. The problem is, I'm
finding I constantly have to cut 1K a lot before anything sounds natural.
Even a quiet singer will cause what I am assuming is room sound to occur.

The room is carpeted, 2 brick walls, 2 plaster, the dimensions are
approximately:
12.5ft x 10.5ft x 8.3ft high

I have a few blankets up on the walls to get rid of the flutter echo at the
top end when I clap in the room, but I know this is very insufficient.

Is it possible that this room could be producing a lot of 1K ? I think I
have reasonable gear, so I'm fairly sure its nothing to do with that.

My signal chain is typically:

Vocals: Soundelux U195 -> RNP -> Delta1010LT -> Cubase SX2
Acoustic guitar: Josephson C42's -> RNP -> Delta1010LT -> Cubase SX2

Signal paths for mixing and monitoring:

Cubase SX2 -> Crest XR20 -> Sennheiser HD21 headphones
Cubase SX2 -> NAD amplifier -> Maudaunt short speakers

I also get a lot of sibilance from the U195 when used on a particular female
singer, but that could just be her. She sings fairly quietly, but I still
get the 1K problem. I'm attempting different micing positions to combat the
sibilance, but am worried about getting her too far back from the mic incase
even more room noise comes into play, especially since I like to use a far
amount of compression on her voice.

I may also try using the Crest XR20 preamps but I really doubt the RNP's
could be causing any problems.

If anyone is interested in helping me out, I will post up some raw un-eq'd
un-compressed MP3's to illustrate what I mean.

I'd be very greatful if anyone could help me out. Like I said, I can put
mp3's up on the web somewhere if anybody is interested. I can take
constructive critisism and am interested in learning and making the most of
what I have. I'm thinking at the moment that my biggest problem, besides
me, is having a bad room. Perhaps I should use my SM57's for now.....
assuming it is the room.

Cheers,

Mark.
--

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

If you can post something, I would give it a listen.

Mike

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

"Mark" <marks@nospamhere.net> wrote in message news:fN6dnQQ7BZLCV6nfRVnyhw@pipex.net...
> Hi,
> I'm currently tracking vocals and acoustic guitar for demo purposes in my
> back room until I get something better sorted out. The problem is, I'm
> finding I constantly have to cut 1K a lot before anything sounds natural.
> Even a quiet singer will cause what I am assuming is room sound to occur.
>
> The room is carpeted, 2 brick walls, 2 plaster, the dimensions are
> approximately:
> 12.5ft x 10.5ft x 8.3ft high
>
> I have a few blankets up on the walls to get rid of the flutter echo at the
> top end when I clap in the room, but I know this is very insufficient.
>
> Is it possible that this room could be producing a lot of 1K ? I think I
> have reasonable gear, so I'm fairly sure its nothing to do with that.


1K is a fairly understandable problem frequency just to listen to, say nothing
of the fact that it might be a room node. I think the actual problems in the
space are going to be further down in frequency, say between 400 & 800,
even though notching 1K tends to apparently smooth things out.... not to say
that 1K isn't there, because brick (cinder block?) can be a funny critter.

DM