What is the function of a live room in a recording studio?
The first time I walked into a recording studio, I looked around and noticed a room by the corner
It had a natural sounding reverberate walls ideally with no parallel surfaces and lots of adsorbent walls on the sides
Upon further enquiry, I learnt that it was called a live room
And I am like “What is a live room? And what does it do?
Anyways I asked a lot of questions, did a lot of research and here is my take on what a live room is and the functions
Alright
A live room is a place where the musicians perform and ideally has been designed to have an ambiance that flatters the room
It’s major function is to record various instruments using microphones that are well placed so as to capture every sound produced
Advantages of using a live room when recording
While most people have their own how studios and can get their recordings done their, there is some advantage to recording in a professional studio with it’s own live room
1. Great and optimized acoustics
One thing about big recording studios is that they have the budget to ensure that their live rooms are well treated and optimized
And you definitely need a well treated room if you plan of getting professional sounding audios for your songs
Have you tried to capture the excitement of a rock band playing together?
Now you can do that in your home with studio with not so awesome studio acoustics.
It might sound good a little but it will definitely not have that clean, clear and crisp sound that the professionals have
Pro audio studios offer well treated rooms that have awesome acoustics which makes your audio sound so much better
Also with such a space, you have a lot of options and can record large groups like orchestras and larger ensembles
2. Great line of sight
Another advantage of having a live room separate from the main studio is that it offers you good sight lines when working with other musicians
Sometimes the excitement in a live scratch vocal or sax solo might be impossible to match as an overdub, but these isolated booths helps you capture all session magic cleanly
Also, you need to understand that musicians tend to perform so much better when they can hear exactly what they need to hear, and a modern pro studio will definitely have a modern cue mix system with a personal monitor mixer for each musician.
3. Awesome gear
Like it or not, great gear goes a long way in ensuring you get clean sounding vocals
So one thing you can be sure of getting in a pro studio live room is great gear which will definitely give you better sounding vocals
Of major importance is the studio mic’s locker which is basically the artist’s palette that lets you paint with sounds
Also you get to pick and choose different mics with different sonic characteristics
There are also quality preamps, EQ machines, compressors, converters, Plug-ins and other processors that give your sounds quality
4. Talented Engineers
Finally, you get access to talented engineers that know how to operate the above mentioned equipment
After all what is the point having these equipment, if you have no one to operate them
A talented studio engineer might just be the different between getting a quality sounding audio and getting one that sounds like crap
List of equipment usually found in a live room
A large professional grade mixing console with as much as 72 channels
Smaller mixing consoles of between 4 to 16 channels which can be used for adding other channels to the mix
Preamps for your microphones
Computers
A wide selection of microphones (These usually include condenser mics, cardio-id mics and omnidirectional mics)
A multi track recorder
DI unit boxes and record players
A wide variety of mic stands to help the studio engineers place the mics at the required locations
Studio monitors with flat frequency response designed for listening to recorded tracks and mixes
Power amps for the studio monitors
Studio monitoring headphones (which are typically closed to prevent sound from leaking into the microphones)
A Digital Audio workstation
On Air lighted signs to signal others to be quiet
Outboard effect units such as compressors, reverb and equalizers
How to treat your recording or live rooms
Now I know that studio sessions are really expensive and not everyone can afford them
So here are some tips on how to get started treating your own home studio so you can get that sound you want
Sound is simply a vibration in a medium. If sound is transmitting through the air, then it has to vibrate the wall, induce a vibration on the other side of the wall.
This is how sound gets through the wall
1. Choose the best room
First you need to make sure that the room you choose is actually a good one
Truth is some rooms are better suited for recording than others.
Here are some things to avoid while choosing a good room for recording
Small spaces
Background noise
Poor flooring
Poor acoustics
2. Clear out the room
Obviously you want to remove stuff that is no longer needed from the room
So you want to make sure that you clear off all floor spaces, remove everything from the walls and remove anything that vibrates
3. Add acoustic treatment
Next you want to add acoustic treatment to your room
Here is a handy guide that shows you exactly how to do it on virtually any budget
There are different ways you can get the acoustics right
For the sake of this article, I will advise that you check out this link below as it has detailed explanations on how to get started.
