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Prepping a room


giraffe

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Well, I played around recording my fiancée and mom a little today, and I can't remember who said it but they were right, I hear the room more then I expected.

(That same person also said a number of other things I found to be correct in my short test, but that's for another time)

 

So what's sop for prepping a room? Just hang blankets anywhere you can (that can't be seen obviously)

Or....

Well, or what do you do?

Like gaff tape mic stands and blankets?

 

Thanks!

 

 

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There is an art, somewhat informed by an understanding of science/physics/acoustics, to treating a room. If all you have to work with are furniture pads ("sound blankets" when in our hands), you can devise any method you want to hang them in places where they will not be seen by camera and do not interfere with lighting. There should always be a space between the pad and the wall and be aware that ANY furniture-type pad will generally only help with high frequencies. Bottom line, almost anything you put in a room may help --- I have gotten significant benefit from just placing a pile of pads in a corner. You just have to experiment.

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Quick helper rule of thumb--if you only have a limited amount of absorptive material, don't use it on opposing surfaces.  Treat two walls that meet, the floor but not the ceiling (or vice versa).  Usually your options for getting "stuff" near talent are severely limited by the shot, props etc.  Being able to "soften" a hard floor is often a good idea, esp if you have furni pads that are black/white.  (It's considered uncool to try and get a pad with any color in it at all (like the ubiquitous blue mover's pads) near talent, or near anything white that's in the shot...)  Beyond this you do whatever you can get away with.   Rented theatrical curtains, 12x or 20x blacks hung from speedrail or a piece of a frame on a high-roller stand, carpet for the floor, and on to more heroic methods, like filling an echoey dome over a set with helium balloons, coating a noisy roof that's being rained on with hogs-hair, and so on.    An illustration of what Jeff said re: how much a little absorption can help: notice the diff in the sound of your bathroom when you take all the towels out!

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Quick helper rule of thumb--if you only have a limited amount of absorptive material, don't use it on opposing surfaces.  Treat two walls that meet, the floor but not the ceiling (or vice versa).  Usually your options for getting "stuff" near talent are severely limited by the shot, props etc.  Being able to "soften" a hard floor is often a good idea, esp if you have furni pads that are black/white.  (It's considered uncool to try and get a pad with any color in it at all (like the ubiquitous blue mover's pads) near talent, or near anything white that's in the shot...)  Beyond this you do whatever you can get away with.   Rented theatrical curtains, 12x or 20x blacks hung from speedrail or a piece of a frame on a high-roller stand, carpet for the floor, and on to more heroic methods, like filling an echoey dome over a set with helium balloons, coating a noisy roof that's being rained on with hogs-hair, and so on.    An illustration of what Jeff said re: how much a little absorption can help: notice the diff in the sound of your bathroom when you take all the towels out!


Buy many tons of hogs hair, check!


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If you're really serious about learning this stuff, spend more time doing.  What did you discover when you tried different methods and materials in different rooms, deployed in different ways? Talking about sound is one thing; listening to sound is yet another.

Train your brain by learning to listen.  It takes years to be really good at it, but the more time spent in actual practice, the better those years will serve you. 

 

 

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When you put your furniture pads/sound blankets up, be aware of what the rest of the setups are for the current scene, I'd which walls will be safe on which setups. It can help a lot to enable you to have a similar amount of blankies up for each setup, even if they are on different walls each time. 

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  • 8 months later...

And be ready to diplomatically explain to the grip that wads up your blanket and throws it into the next room at the first hint that the corner of it maybe encroaching the shot that moving it incrementally will satisfy the camera department; that it is there to perform a valuable function and should not be completely banished from the set when it verges on becoming seen. Been there!

 

     Greg

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I devised what I call 'sound suckers' out of Sonex in 4x4 sheets glued to foam core of the same size initially to cover ballasts that were not my friends.  Better than throwing a sound blanket over an already hot transformer, the sound suckers could cover two or three sides and placing one on top leave plenty of ventilation.  The ballast would virtually disappear when the opening was faced away from mics.  The only problem was grips that would get to them before you.  They are not gentle.  I found these to be good for many things for many years.  In a hollow studio I hung one above, but out of lightings way, over talent with remarkable results.  The room got smaller.  I thought about making them to sell but had a very limited consumer.

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