Having a nice condenser microphone, great studio monitors and even an expensive guitar all helps to improve your sound during a recording. This much we know. However, the truth is that the acoustics of the room have more to do with your sound quality than, for the most part, anything else.
Sound travels from it’s source in all directions. Direct sound travels in a straight line to the microphone while reflective sound hits everything else in the room. It’s those reflected sounds that come back and eventually hit the microphone. Because direct sound travels straight from your mouth into the microphone it really doesn’t change or get “colored” by anything else. Reflected sound however, can be affected by wood, glass, distance, etc. and this can be a problem. This is where acoustic sound panels come in.
Beyond looking like you have a pretty sweet little studio this sound foam also absorbs sound reflections. This allows for you to minimize the reflected sound so that you have the opportunity to “effect” the sound in a controlled environment. This means, that when you start out with only the direct sound you can add on the echo, reverb, delay (or any effect of your choosing) instead of being stuck with the reflected sound from your room. It also eliminates the reflected sound combining with your chosen effects making for a “muddy” chaotic mess.
Diffusion is also a great aspect to combine with your sound absorption but that is a blog entry for another day! ?
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