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Old 01-21-2018, 04:19 PM
cghbuilder86 cghbuilder86 is offline
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Default Recording quality outdoors.

I was just thinking about how I read that the problem with bad recording rooms is that the sound bounces off the walls. And in studio treated rooms there is foam on the wall so the sound can't bounce. So what would the result be of recording outside? Besides wind, birds, cars, locusts ha. Just curious if you had very still day with no cars and minimal forest noise could you make a better recording than an untreated bedroom that doesn't sound very good? Setup would be portable zoom Q8n. Rode Nt4 mic, recording solo fingerstyle guitar.
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Old 01-21-2018, 05:19 PM
RedJoker RedJoker is offline
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That's the very definition of a "free field" environment!
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Old 01-21-2018, 05:23 PM
jim1960 jim1960 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cghbuilder86 View Post
I was just thinking about how I read that the problem with bad recording rooms is that the sound bounces off the walls. And in studio treated rooms there is foam on the wall so the sound can't bounce.
You're misunderstanding this a bit. Not all reflections in rooms are going to be bad. Some natural reverb is a good thing. So what folks are trying to achieve in a room is to eliminate the bad stuff (like rumbling low frequencies) and tame the good stuff.

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Originally Posted by cghbuilder86 View Post
So what would the result be of recording outside? Besides wind, birds, cars, locusts ha. Just curious if you had very still day with no cars and minimal forest noise could you make a better recording than an untreated bedroom that doesn't sound very good? Setup would be portable zoom Q8n. Rode Nt4 mic, recording solo fingerstyle guitar.
There's no one answer for this as it will depend on how problematic the bedroom is, and on how talented your mix engineer is because a recording made outside is likely to need quite a bit of massaging in post.

I'd suggest that, since your rig is portable, you do a lot of experimentation and find a place in your house conducive to making a good recording.
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Old 01-21-2018, 07:19 PM
cghbuilder86 cghbuilder86 is offline
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Yeah I have experimented around the house. I have some ok sounding recordings. just never really satisfied. I can't understand how some pro's use similar gear and get so much better results. I guess audio editing skills add alot also. My skills are limited to reverb, high/low pass filters and basic compression.
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Old 01-21-2018, 08:27 PM
jim1960 jim1960 is offline
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Watch some videos on subtractive eq. That will make a huge difference for you.
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Old 01-21-2018, 09:08 PM
sdelsolray sdelsolray is offline
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Leaving aside the natural noise floor and noise content of being outside (even up in the mountains 100 miles away for everything), the near total lack of reflections creates a new set of issues.
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Old 01-21-2018, 09:39 PM
mr. beaumont mr. beaumont is offline
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I've tried it. A 3mph breeze sounds like a supercell gust front through a condenser mic.
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Old 01-21-2018, 09:47 PM
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rick-slo rick-slo is offline
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Always wind noise and often various other noises. Many outdoor, in nature, guitar videos you might
have seen that have studio quality sound were dubbed.
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Old 01-22-2018, 04:36 AM
Andy Howell Andy Howell is offline
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It depend on your room. My recording room had terrible reverberation in it. I sorted it by buying a pack of acoustic tiles and applying them gradually until I had the desired effect. A reasonably cheap option so long as you are happy to glue the tiles to the wall.

This room is rectangular with one hard external wall and partition walls and ceiling. I put a lot of tiles up on the external wall End where I have my desk and computer. I then ran the tiles along the rest of the room but as I moved out became more conservative with them.

My thinking was I could have a reasonably tight area around the desk and gradually add in more natural sound of the room as I moved back. This I figured would give me different playing position options.

It worked!
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Old 01-22-2018, 08:18 AM
MikeBmusic MikeBmusic is offline
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BTW: don't buy 'acoustic foam'. At best, it will reduce some 'slapback echo' in your room, but will do nothing for the lows and mid-lows that really affect tracks in a 'home studio'.
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Old 01-22-2018, 09:53 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeBmusic View Post
BTW: don't buy 'acoustic foam'. At best, it will reduce some 'slapback echo' in your room, but will do nothing for the lows and mid-lows that really affect tracks in a 'home studio'.
I was going to say the same thing foam (depending on its density factor ) will only attenuate some of the high mid and high freq. range at best.

That said, in answer to your post and as others have mentioned, outdoors has a different set of issues but if you have a good portable rig no reason not to try it.
But indoor or out good recording and mixing like playing guitar is a learned skill and takes lots and lots and lots of practice and never stops being a learning curve But is a reason just do it, and not a reason to give up.
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