I wonder if someone might give me some tips for optimizing recording environment including set up of the equipment and the space around me.
I plan to record myself reading from my novel (which will become a subscription series). I don’t expect studio quality at this point, but would like recordings to be as fine a quality as possible.
I have a macbook pro and a yeti mic in and live a small farmhouse with no space I can completely dedicate to recording at this point, so I will have to record in one of the rooms in my home. I assume a small room is better than a large one? Any other suggestions, i.e., is a room without books better than with or no difference, etc?
There should not be much “reverberation” and definitely no noticeable “echo”.
Typically, a tiled bathroom will have a great deal of “reverberation” - if you clap your hands you will hear the sound “ring”. That is generally a bad thing for recording.
Typically, a bedroom with lots of soft furnishings and heavy curtains will be acoustically “dead”. - If you clap the sound will be very short without any noticeable “ringing”. That is generally much better for recording. If required reverberation can be easily added after recording using a “reverb” effect. It is near impossible to remove echo or reverberation after it has been recorded.
For high quality spoken voice recording, a "pop shield" is essential.
Thanks so much, Steve! For now, I set up a provisional studio in my bedroom. Sound decent, not as echo-ey as my study.
Trickiest part is positioning the pages I need to read and flip in front of the Yeti Mic, which picks up everything. I just inserted markers so I will come back and delete page sounds. Wish there was an easier way, but for now…
I tried to read from computer screen, but got too tricky clicking between the two apps (MS Word and Audacity).
… which allows recording in a brighter than normal room by isolating echoes from the rear, and both microphones benefit strongly from that doubled-over furniture moving pad on the desk. That will get rid of microphone “slap” and will make voices smoother.
Doing both of those things will allow the delicate, fine details of your presentation to be recorded, including the mistakes.
I did that shoot in a soundproofed conference room, so even though it looks like any old meeting room, it’s anything but. It has padded walls and provision to filter air conditioning noise so it doesn’t record.
Some performers have been known to convert a closet into a “studio” by adding blankets and pillows. I designed a movable studio out of furniture moving pads and a few sticks of lumber.