If you have a home studio, chances are you don’t have a perfectly treated recording environment complete with floating floors and ceilings, acoustic paneling and bass traps in the right places, and a separate live room, vocal booth, and control room. Proper sound isolation and treatment is important, but don’t let the lack of those things stop you from making great recordings. Today I want to give you a few pointers for recording in difficult or noisy environments that hopefully will help you get great results with minimal fuss.
Via CircaSassy Flickr
An Example
First off, I’d like to share a track with you guys that might serve as a good example of what I’m about to go over briefly. A couple of years back I recorded an a cappella (all vocal) Christmas album with some old college buddies who are all great singers in their own right. At the time we decided to record it all in my old apartment up in Virginia. The challenges were that we were in my living room (our “studio”) with hardwood floors, in an old 1950s building, on the street side of a US highway! We knew trying to record an all vocal album in this noisy environment would be our greatest challenge of the project, but at the time we didn’t have a choice. Here is one of the tracks of that album:
“We Three Kings”
Solution #1 – Stay Away From Walls
In a rented apartment with wood floors, white walls, and thin windows the best thing we could do was get away from the walls. Hard surfaces reflect sound which is a problem. These reflections will eventually bounce back into your microphone and mix with the actual source you’re recording, causing many sonic problems. If you don’t have anything on your walls to absorb or diffuse sound reflections (acoustic foam, full bookshelf, blankets, etc) the best thing to do is get to the center of the room. That’s exactly what we did for the track above. I moved my coffee table out of the way and stood the mic right there near my sofas and we all just went to town. It doesn’t completely solve the problem, but it greatly minimizes noticeable reflections.
Solution #2 – Get Up On The Mic
I mentioned this technique in one of my previous posts and it definitely holds true in an untreated recording environment. Microphones “hear” what is loudest and most directly addressing it. In our case we knew that a lot of our vocal parts weren’t very loud, so we had to be pretty close to the mic in order to capture more of us and less of the trucks and sirens outside my window.
Solution #3 – Use Your Hi Pass Filter Often
A hi pass filter is a simple EQ effect that simply shelves off low frequencies completely at either a fixed point (generally 80 hz) or a variable point (as high as you like). Why is this important? Well all the low frequency noise in your apartment (air conditioning, refrigerator, street traffic outside) float around and build up in your recordings. This takes up “head room” in your mix and muddies up your tracks. One of the simplest things you can do to improve your sound and clean up a mix is to just cut out all that low frequency stuff.
How do you do that? Sometimes your microphone will have a hi pass (also called a low cut) switch on it. If so, use it! Also your audio interface or mic preamp might have as well. Again, use it if you have one. These are generally of the “fixed” variety like I mentioned. If all else fails be sure to add a software plugin EQ to address the low frequency later in the mix. These are useful because you can cut as high as you want (I’ll go up to the 300 hz mark sometimes for acoustic guitars). Either way, use the hi pass filter to get rid of a lot of that unwanted low sonic material. It’ll do wonders for your recordings.
Think Big Picture
In the end, just remember that you can’t get rid of all the noise on every single track. It’s a fools errand. What really matters is the big picture, how the final mix will sound. Do what you can to be smart in how you record, use the three solutions above to get a cleaner take each time. But don’t freak out if you can still vaguely hear a lawnmower from a mile away. If you can’t hear it in the mix, who cares?
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My name is Graham Cochrane and I'm the founder of The Recording Revolution, one of the world's most loved audio recording and mixing blogs with over 200,000 readers each month. 
i cant believe how good this sounds
dont know if its the voices or the fact that was recorded in a living room
really outstanding
Thanks Joe. Yeah, this was recorded in probably the most “typical” of home studio settings. Thought it would encourage people to hear.
In all seriousness where could I get a copy of this album? Phenomenal!
Glenn…I may still have a few of these laying around. But you can hear some full tracks at the Myspace page http://www.myspace.com/jblogic
Amazing track, goosebumps and all.I’d love to buy this album, too !
P.S. Just read on your MySpace that it’s your father you’re sharing lead vocals with on this track – wow, both of you are extremely talented and blessed.
Frank, thank so much for your kind words. We had a blast making that record! I’ll try and have the digital version of the album available for sale this Christmas season. Stay tuned!
Really dope. I honestly have no interests in Christmas Music but i would jam this… IT JUST SOUNDS GOOD BRO! Get me some info on buying a copy, I’ll support!
Thanks for your marvelous posting! I quite enjoyed reading it, you happen to be a great author.I will be sure to bookmark your blog and will come back in the foreseeable future. I want to encourage yourself to continue your great work, have a nice weekend!
O M G !!! that’s all I can say. That voices sound Amazing Graham! your posts are very inspirational for me. God Bless you.
Thanks Andres!
Hey Graham, absolutely loved this track (and the ones on myspace) Let It Snow and O Come were incredible. The way you can make it sound so rich and full with nothing but vocals. Really inspiring.
I would also like to buy this album if there is any way?
Free download bro! http://noisetrade.com/jubkeboxlogic/let-it-snow
Hi Graham, I just wanted to say that track is simply out-of-this-world! I’d pay money to look “under the hood” at the mix for that track, but failing that, would love to buy a digital copy of the track itself – is it available to buy on iTunes or anywhere like that? 🙂
Thanks for everything you do with the Recording Revolution! 🙂
http://noisetrade.com/jubkeboxlogic/let-it-snow – Free 🙂
Hi Graham, thanks so much for making this available! I just downloaded and left a tip – I apologise for not being able to donate more.
The album is truly magnificent, I sincerely mean that. As a recording engineer who’s just starting out, and as a musician and arranger, it’s inspiring to listen to. Thanks again for making it available! 🙂
Best wishes from the UK,
Chris
Thanks Chris!
Hello, Mr. Graham. I am Brazilian and I’m 17 years old, so, please, excuse my english ….
I would like to thank you for everything I have learned and am learning with this blog and your videos. I have no words to describe how impressed I was when I heard this song that has been recorded in such negative terms.
God bless you greatly! I hope someday to be half the producer and engineer who you are!
A big hug and, once again, thank you!
My pleasure Marcos!
thats the best version of We Three Kings Ive ever heard.
Thanks!
Whoa… :)!.. This is simply amazing!. Brilliant!. I have been following TRR for more than a year now, cant believe I’ve never come across this post.
This really inspires me. “If you can’t hear it in the mix, who cares?”, So true.
Graham, do I need a Dynamic Microphone? Was this recorded on a Condenser Microphone?. I’ve been stuck with doing instrumentals with VSTs ever since I moved back into the city from my hostel room at college.
Thanks!
This was recorded on a condenser mic. Either will do great.
Hi Graham.
I´ve been following you videos few days ago and are awesome. Thank thank you for sharing your knowledge with us GOD BLESS YOU!!!!
Could you tell what kind of gear (Mic, converter, preamp, compressor) did you use and the session
Rode NT1a straight into a Digi 002 Rack. That’s it.
Hi, I have been researching like a mad dog for a microphone to record meditation cd’s. I found your site and have found your information very approachable and useful. Thank you for making this web site. I live in a somewhat noisy (some street noise, people talking outside etc) apartment and have read about people describing condensers that pick up EVERYTHING vs those that reject everything but a voice within close proximity.
I plan to make a portable soundproof DIY thingmaginny but I have gathered so far (oh budget $100-$150 mic) that my mic needs to be either cardioid or super-cardioid, NOT low sensitivity. I have a smooth low resonate voice so need a mic that rolls off wat down low, 20hz or at least will complement and not muddy or thin out my voice. I have looked at 40 mics. They don’t all give data I need. i wonder if your experience can get me somewhere in the ballpark. I think priority 1 (beyond general quality), is ambient sound rejection and a mic that compliments my voice. And, to make it harder, it would be nice to mic my acoustic and sing for fun, but that is low on the list. Well, I got some thoughts out just writing, so you already helped. Thanks.
Graham is the boss.
Hi Graham,
Hope you’ll see this.
I just listened to We Three Kings and it sounds just amazing. I followed your good advice and started to record myself (vocal only) despite my bad recording environment (ie bedroom with no treatment). But I can’t get it to sound right. Especially when I use reverb, it sounds horrible, kinda “metallic”. I’m an absolute beginner at this so no doubt it has to do with my skills as a mixer but what basic advice would you give me to get a result like yours – not asking for all the details, of course 😉 Would be nice if you could give me a direction for mixing acapella.
Thanks ! You and Peter Hollens are a great source of inspiration, I hope I’ll someday be able to get one of my recordings to sound as good as yours !
Merci beaucoup fiston ! Tu gères !
Greetings from Belgium,
Mat
Hi Graham!
Thanks for all very useful information and videos. My question is: if you have to buy now for your studio mic, preamp and sound card, what you would buy? Hope you will help others too.
Best regards
Willy
Norway
Hey Graham ?
Would you ever consider making a video about mixing acapella vocals (like for you album Let it snow) ? I have been trying to mix acapella vocals (recorded in my bedroom, not the best place but I’ve learned not to care to much about it thanks to someone 😉 ) but I’m struggling to make it sound half as good as your mix (I use We Three Kings as my reference track). Especially when I try to add some reverb on it, it makes it sound awfully cold “robotic”.
Would you have any tips on how to mix like you did on this one ?
Keep up the good work !
Hi!
I’m recording a piano in a room with lots of traffic noise. Besides I found a nice spot with the sm57 where the sound is ok and the noise is none, I’d like to have a sound better than “ok”. In the past (and in a noise free room) I used a Behringer c-2 with better results, but here it picks a lot of noise.
Any recommendations on mics?
Thanks!
Tricky for sure. The SM 57 will be quieter because it’s not as sensitive. You could try and use BOTH mics at the same spot and blend them together.
Totally AMAZING vocals, Graham! Can’t get enough of your awesome tips! I recently created a mini-recording booth courtesy of the following link, and I must say it works wonders! http://www.harlanhogan.com/portaboothArticle.shtml
Any advice for mixing in a noisy environment/adjacent neighbors who won’t turn down four on the floor trance?
Bring them donuts and coffee and become their best friend 🙂