Let’s talk about improving the sound of your audio in your home studio setup!
Hello welcome to another Switched On Network video, I’m paulfp and on this channel we
cover a range of topics encompassing technology, gadgets, the internet, photography and videography,
including reviews and tests like this one - so if you’re new to the channel please
do subscribe and stick around!
In today’s video we’ll be talking about improving the acoustics and audio quality
in your studio, which is especially useful if you record music at home or if you record
videos like this one.
To get professional, studio-sounding audio, the key thing we want to avoid is lots of
hard, reflective surfaces that sound waves bounce and echo off sounding terrible.
We want to deaden all those echos and make the audio sound really crisp and clear.
This room that I’m in at the moment has laminate flooring in which isn’t ideal,
so I’ve already put down a large rug in the area I stand when recording.
The next thing to think about is these hard walls, and that’s best resolved with special
acoustic foam pads like this one here.
You can pick these up fairly cheaply from Amazon or eBay, and there are links in the
video description below if you want to buy some for yourself and help support this channel.
They absorb the sound reflections which bounce off all the hard surfaces in the room, deadening
the reverb and giving a much better, more professional and crisp sound to your audio.
The foam comes in 30cm squares and the idea is that you arrange them on your walls like
this, alternating the patterns to catch sound waves from all directions.
To stick them to your walls you can use spray adhesive like this, but if you stick them
straight to the walls then you won’t ever be able to move them, and if you want to take
them down in the future you’ll ruin the walls!
So I’m going to show you how I’m going to mount mine on these poster boards and then
simply hang them up with a hook just like a picture.
I bought a back of 24 foam tiles so that’ll work nicely to have 4 groups of 6, and 6 tiles
arranged in a two by three arrangement is nearly the same size as A1, so I bought a
pack of black A1 poster boards (SCREENSHOT) on eBay for less than £20 - see the link
in the video description to see that.
Each board is going to be hung with two of these little D Rings, which again I bought
off eBay for a couple of quid.
Measure and mark the points down the edge of the board where the hooks will go, and
then use a glue gun to fix in place.
Two of my boards are going to be hung landscape, and two are going to be hung portrait.
Once the hooks are in place on the boards, arrange the foam squares in an alternating
pattern like this, then use the spray glue to fix each square in place.
Now it’s crunchtime - do they make a noticeable difference to the audio?
To test that out I’ll record some audio with the foam in place and without.
Before we get into the audio tests, time for a very quick shout-out to this video’s sponsor,
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For these tests I’m going to use 3 different microphones - a directional mic boomed above
my head and pointing down at me and the carpeted floor, which is a Rode VideoMic Pro.... a
lav mic which is a Sennheiser ME2 with wireless transmitter, and this handheld Flashmic.
There are purchasing links for all 3 mics in the video description, if you’re interested.
So first off, let’s hear what the echo is like by clapping my hands with the foam up
and without.
And this microphone’s going to go on the floor at my feet.
So, clapping hands now...
(CLAPPING)
So, clapping hands now...
(CLAPPING)
So, clapping hands now...
(CLAPPING)
I then took down the acoustic foam tiles from the wall - which is very easy to do when you
hang them like this on sheets of poster board.
I placed them outside the room in order to conduct the same test with no sound absorption
going on.
Then the greenscreen went back up, ready to record the tests with no panels up.
I also do a speaking test next, but I won’t bore you with this sequence all over again
before that!
So, now to the clap test with no panels up...
(CLAPPING)
I’ll now speak a sentence and listen to the difference...
This is speaking an intro, Hello my name is Paul Freeman-Powell.
You can follow me on Twitter @paulfp and don’t forget to subscribe to the Switched On Network
YouTube Channel, like this video and share it!
I’ll now speak a sentence and listen to the difference...
This is speaking an intro, Hello my name is Paul Freeman-Powell.
You can follow me on Twitter @paulfp and don’t forget to subscribe to the Switched On Network
YouTube Channel, like this video and share it!
I’ll now speak a sentence and listen to the difference...
This is speaking an intro, Hello my name is Paul Freeman-Powell.
You can follow me on Twitter @paulfp and don’t forget to subscribe to the Switched On Network
YouTube Channel, like this video and share it!
I’ll now speak a sentence and listen to see the difference... or “hear” the difference,
I should say...
This is speaking an intro, Hello my name is Paul Freeman-Powell.
You can follow me on Twitter @paulfp and don’t forget to subscribe to the Switched On Network
YouTube Channel, like this video and share it!
I’ll now speak a sentence and listen to see the difference... or “hear” the difference,
I should say...
This is speaking an intro, Hello my name is Paul Freeman-Powell.
You can follow me on Twitter @paulfp and don’t forget to subscribe to the Switched On Network
YouTube Channel, like this video and share it!
I’ll now speak a sentence and listen to see the difference... or “hear” the difference,
I should say...
This is speaking an intro, Hello my name is Paul Freeman-Powell.
You can follow me on Twitter @paulfp and don’t forget to subscribe to the Switched On Network
YouTube Channel, like this video and share it!
Which of those six clips do you think sounded the nicest?
Leave your comment below!
To my ears, I can definitely hear more of an echo on the clap tests without the acoustic
foam up.
It’s a subtle difference - it’s definitely not earth-shattering but the extra resonance
is definitely there.
On both the clapping and the speaking test, I can hear more of a difference when listening
to the Rode VideoMic Pro boomed over my head.
Out of the three microphones, that was furthest from my mouth so had the lowest signal-to-noise
ratio of them all.
This test just goes to show then that position of a microphone is very important, especially
so in less than perfect conditions, for example a room with no acoustic dampening in place.
There’s a noticeable difference with the foam in place as the audio sounds clearer
and more studio-like, that’s to say with no echos and nasty high-frequency resonance.
I would say that acoustic foam is definitely a wise investment, and ideally get as much
as your budget allows to cover as much of the walls as possible.
Now that I’ve heard the difference I think I’ll definitely be getting even more for
my little studio!
Please give this video a thumbs up if you’ve found it interesting, useful or both, and
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Thanks for watching and I’ll hopefully see you again soon!