Many of
us in the business of recording music can all agree that there is a great deal
of investment that we put into our recording studios. Some of us will claim
that the only thing a recording/mix engineer really needs is the space, a sound
source, a medium to carry the signal, a device to capture the signal and
something to playback the signal. Oh and lets not forget the most important
thing of all… Our ears. But if this was the only thing I was writing this blog
about, I could sum it all up in one or two sentences and not waste your time.
This isn’t about the recording process but it is something that will definitely
impact it. “Your recording space”. I empathize with many of you guys who are
leasing an apartment or home and has either gotten a friendly knock from a
neighbor or local law enforcement due to the noise. Not to mention, the
profound effect that outside noise has on your recordings. I understand that in
response to this, we try MacGyver the crap out of our would-be recording
space just to yield haphazard results. This is why I want to focus my energy on
this blog. I will be doing reviews on inexpensive ways to make your
soundproofing more practical, effective, and aesthetically pleasing. Of course
this isn’t a one size fits all solution (so don’t come after me if it doesn't
work) but it may work for you. So lets talk about this. We got to figure out
how energy is traveling though the walls and try to minimize that first. The
way sound waves travel are dependent on several factors. These consist of
frequency, amplitude, area, surfaces, and even temperature. In an apartment,
condo or town home you also need to take the particular type of unit into
consideration (top or bottom floor) I will hit on soundproofing based on room
size and minimizing reflective surfaces in my next blog. Science
lesson 101: Sound waves are partially reflected when they’re
less than or equal to the thickness of the wall. (Learn more about this at www.exploratorium.edu) Higher
frequencies have less energy and shorter wavelengths making them easy to
mitigate with simple paneling or just the wall itself. Lower frequencies on the
other hand, carry a higher amount of energy and have a significantly longer
wavelength. This of course causes resonance making bass our enemy, and because
apartments and some houses were obviously built with sound damping in mind
(joking). This presents a struggle. Of course all of this is equally dependent
on amplitude as well. I found a decent site www.acousticfields.com that
gives some pretty cool tips on temporary soundproofing. I will discuss some
cool finds on my next blog and would love some of your feedback. In the
meantime… go build your studio.
