An Update!
Well, I am now officially up and running! I have spent a lot of weekends the last 3 months getting my 'shed' ready for recording.
One brief correction... I got a Miktek CV3 mic instead of the Shure. I have to admit, I think I got 'upsold' by my Sweetwater rep, but I am very happy with the mic overall. We also got a Kawai MP7 electric piano recently, which has been a nice addition.
As for the physical room, we started with a 16 * 20 room with a concrete floor, plywood walls, and a plywood ceiling, with a couple of fluorescent lights. Inside was almost entirely full of junk (leftovers from our home construction a few years ago, and other odds and ends). We cleared it out and painted the walls and ceiling. I changed out the light fixtures for some cheap mounts that I could put LED bulbs in. I installed a 'Lumber liquidators' click-in cork floor. We then bought 18 pieces of Owens Corning fiberglass (703) to place around the room. We built wooden frames, bought a bunch of burlap, and covered them ourselves. We hung 4" thick pads in each of the corners near the ceiling, and have hung six 2" pads around the walls. We still have a four completed sound absorbing pieces to place around as we need, but I think we'll probably keep them flexible in terms of placement within the room. We opted not to just use furniture, clothes racks, etc. because the room is going to be multi-use and we wanted it to be reasonably clean. The room is certainly not completely 'dead', but we have recorded a bit, and the sound overall seems quite good. Framing and wrapping the pieces of 703 fiberglass was a bit of a chore. It's probably worth your money buying the pre-fab pieces if time is worth much to you.
On a side note, someone also gave us a set of Yamaha electric drums that had been gathering dust. I'm not sure what we'll do with them yet, but I'm sure they'll come in handy.
One somewhat fun part of this project is that as it reaches completion, I have found that there are quite a few musically talented people around town who seem enthused about recording. It'll be fun to see where this leads.
Once again, thanks to all in this forum who contributed your ideas, advice, and expertise. It has been a great help.
Well, I am now officially up and running! I have spent a lot of weekends the last 3 months getting my 'shed' ready for recording.
One brief correction... I got a Miktek CV3 mic instead of the Shure. I have to admit, I think I got 'upsold' by my Sweetwater rep, but I am very happy with the mic overall. We also got a Kawai MP7 electric piano recently, which has been a nice addition.
As for the physical room, we started with a 16 * 20 room with a concrete floor, plywood walls, and a plywood ceiling, with a couple of fluorescent lights. Inside was almost entirely full of junk (leftovers from our home construction a few years ago, and other odds and ends). We cleared it out and painted the walls and ceiling. I changed out the light fixtures for some cheap mounts that I could put LED bulbs in. I installed a 'Lumber liquidators' click-in cork floor. We then bought 18 pieces of Owens Corning fiberglass (703) to place around the room. We built wooden frames, bought a bunch of burlap, and covered them ourselves. We hung 4" thick pads in each of the corners near the ceiling, and have hung six 2" pads around the walls. We still have a four completed sound absorbing pieces to place around as we need, but I think we'll probably keep them flexible in terms of placement within the room. We opted not to just use furniture, clothes racks, etc. because the room is going to be multi-use and we wanted it to be reasonably clean. The room is certainly not completely 'dead', but we have recorded a bit, and the sound overall seems quite good. Framing and wrapping the pieces of 703 fiberglass was a bit of a chore. It's probably worth your money buying the pre-fab pieces if time is worth much to you.
On a side note, someone also gave us a set of Yamaha electric drums that had been gathering dust. I'm not sure what we'll do with them yet, but I'm sure they'll come in handy.
One somewhat fun part of this project is that as it reaches completion, I have found that there are quite a few musically talented people around town who seem enthused about recording. It'll be fun to see where this leads.
Once again, thanks to all in this forum who contributed your ideas, advice, and expertise. It has been a great help.
