Three Steps to Recording Better Tracks Without Spending Money

If you’re recording some songs for demos, or maybe just for fun, you might have noticed that it’s hard to get that sound you hear on the radio or CD’s.  Well, that “radio” sound isn’t easy or cheap, but there are a lot of easy things you can do that aren’t expensive, and they’ll give you a more professional sound.  

The first thing we can do is improve our room.  You probably haven’t thought much about it, but a good room is critical for a good sound.  That’s why recording studios spend thousands of dollars for room treatment.  So here are 3 simple rules for better recordings.

Rule 1. Messy Rooms Are Better Than Neat Rooms.

Hard rooms have lots of reflections.  Have you ever noticed a sharp metallic sound when talking in a stairwell?  That sound is caused by the echos bouncing off the hard walls and floors and bumping into each other before they reach your ears.  Some of the  sound waves cancel each other out, the technical term for this is phase cancellation.

You can avoid that phase cancellation in your room by having lots of  ”stuff” in it.  Soft furniture and heavy curtains will soak up the reflections.  Bookcases and shelves will break up the sound waves so they don’t run into each other. You want the full sound of your instrument getting to the microphone.  You don’t want it to sound weak because certain frequencies are canceled out.

This is a great looking room, but not so good for recording. Notice the tile floors, hard walls and lack of soft furniture.

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Take a look at this room.  

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Soft furniture, the lockers along the wall, the carpeted floor all serve to break up reflections that can cause phase cancellations.  A lot of people use their living rooms as their recording room.  Living rooms usually have couches, bookcases and other furniture that help break up reflections.  Bedrooms can be good rooms too. 

Rule 2.  Isolated rooms are better than rooms close to the street.

Look for rooms in the back of the house or not facing the street.  Good clean recordings depend on capturing the sound you want, not cars, or the neighbors Harley.  Cars driving by can also set up vibrations in the floor which can be transmitted to your microphone causing rumble. 

Rule 3. Avoid Other Household Noisemakers.

There are plenty of noisemakers in your house that can add noise to your recording.   Large appliances on the same circuit as your computer or recording gear can add hum to your recordings.  So can fluorescent lights.  I’ve even noticed that halogen lights in the same room can add hum to my recordings.  So can air conditioning noise.  Recording studios use baffles to distribute the air flow from the air conditioner so that it doesn’t blow across the microphones and add rumble.  

So, if you’re laying down some tracks and want to give them a more professional sound, take a look at this list of things to look for and avoid in your room.

Look For This in a Room

• Curtains, shelves, bookcases, couches.
• Odd shaped rooms
• Rooms isolated from the street
• Larger rooms
• Soft furniture.

Avoid This in a Room

• Hard, bare walls, or tiled floors/walls.
• Square rooms.
• Facing the street
• Smaller rooms.
• Hard furniture

So now you know what to look for, get out there and start producing!