Recording Vocals In Untreated Rooms?

#musicproducer #musicproduction #audioengineer

[QuabmasM]

As someome who has recorded in untreated rooms for over a decade, I strongly recommend thick blankets & using old bed frames to hang them on. It can be dangerous if someone bumps into the bed frame lol but other than that you can buy portable clothes hanging racks(itll be bigger though & cost more than taking someone's old bed frame as free junk).

The worst offender in most small rooms is the ceiling btw...so many unwanted reflection bounce off it more so than walls(often blocked by shelves etc) or the floor(usually carpeted) in most cases. So yeah you can get a real nice dry recording if you find a way to shield reflections from the ceiling.

Next time you see a garage sale, buy all their blankets, wash them at a laundry mat, & store them where they can stay clean & ready for building your "vocal tents". Its kinda fun recording solo in a tent/fort lol.

[kudus]

Funny thing. Once I had to record vocals at somebody's house in an untreated room and I was so surprised when it turned out that these recorded vocals sounded really outstanding. It had some natural reverb, what pretty well suited to the record. So... Sometimes some experiments are good;)

[Normalpeoplestillexist]

Love that he actually teaches rather than just show off and say to spend a bunch on equipment. He has taken my mixes to another level. Thank you seriously.

[camiloflores]

I used to take a thick blanket, spread my arms and sing like a Halloween Phantom in my stupid concrete squary little room

[babylemonade]

You’re the man Warren I love these little clips

[ep]

Lots of good advice in these short clips. Thanks.

[bigmike]

Excellent tips Warren! I used to use my walk-in closet for guitar cabs and vocals. Worked great! Cheers! 👍🏻

[georgruzzene]

What I also appreciate, a part from your competence, is your honesty! Thank you very much.

[smeemusic]

Boom stands and shipping blankets make great modular vocal booths. Done it a hundred times.

[BongoBill]

Thank you very much. You spend a lot of time explaining a lot of recording techniques and giving monitor reviews / comparisons. Very much appreciated.

[OdinOfficialEmcee]

You could use a Shure SM7B too, those things pick up hardly any room reflections and sound pretty darn good a lot of the time

[brizzieleif]

When I listen to modern songs on the car radio for some reason I can almost tell they are in an enclosed space or vocal booth. I don't know if its the car sound environment but maybe too much dampening in the vocal booth makes it dry

[DonaldRickert]

I once stacked boxes and covered those with blankets, and had the singer's back to that, and placed the null of the mic into the room. It came out great.

Also, I mix in my "office" room that has a wall to wall bookshelf lined with books. That works well, too.

[lmrock]

My ex-girl friend grew up in Tehachapi, CA with Dwight Yokum. she said that he and his band packed a garage full of old mattresses to sound proof.

[hockeytalk]

Great advice as always Warren! My room is treated but in the process of learning about my room, I have found that just like you said, using any combination of blankets cushions or anything of the like is often times significantly more effective than low or even mid tier acoustic treatment. You can have some pretty crazy looking home recording set ups that actually sound great in the end. If it works, it works!

[grimslater]

More important than any of that... get close to the mic! Every time you half the distance to the mic you will get 4:1 (6dB) reduction in room reflections.

[theboyinstead]

Waves NS1 is perfect for an untreated room. It gates any un wanted noise, reflection, or room noise. You just have to find a balance and have a good pre amp/emulator to make up for gain. But my chain right now = Preamp>NS1<EQ<Rvox

[ChrisM]

The 'surround blanket' trick is an oldie but a goldie. It works very, very well today. Costs nothing (appart from a few blankets/towels/duvets) and gives you a near pro-level result.
Would be good if Warren could maybe do a little piece on this technique in the future, and how to transform the vocal capture into a great end result (reverb etc).

[GregoryKeithe]

A friend of mine used her long closet to record some vocals and they turned out really well! Plus you could check out all her clothes while singing.😅

[songlove]

Great, practical advice from Warren here. Do whatever works to control the echoes bouncing around. Also, you could try an isocube. Not used one in a completely untreated room, but it works great in mine. Also Sonible smart:EQ will help clean up a vocal recorded in a not ideal room.