No doubt some of you have seen some of my posts in the last few days
inquiring about recording a trumpet. I just got a glimpse into what several
of you have said about the room greatly affecting the characterics of a
recording. Just for grins I tempted the wrath of my neighbors and set up a
mic in my garage (with the door closed) to see what it sounded like. It's
got a concrete floor, but sheet rock walls so it's toned down a bit from
typical "bingo parlor" acoustics (terrazo floor, concrete walls).

Holy Moses, wow... what a difference from recording in the carpeted living
room, even with a digital reverb. At the right distance I can hear shades of
some of those haunting movie soundtrack trumpet solos of days gone by. If it
sounds that nice just in my garage, I can at least imagine what an
acoustically designed room must sound like.

I notice that in the more reverberant garage, it does in fact seem to take
some of the edge off the sound, why is that?

In article .net, Doc
wrote:

I notice that in the more reverberant garage, it does in fact seem to take
some of the edge off the sound, why is that?

The trumpet player probably isn't playing nearly as loudly.

--
Bob Olhsson Audio Mastery, Nashville TN 615.385.8051
Mastering, Audio for Picture, Mix Evaluation and Quality Control
http://www.hyperback.com/olhsson.html
Over 40 years making people sound better than they ever imagined!

Doc wrote:

I notice that in the more reverberant garage, it does in fact seem to take
some of the edge off the sound, why is that?

The waveform of the signal coming off the trumpet is VERY spiky. It has
a very low average level, and then these huge narrow spikes every cycle.

You put that into a room where all the sound is bouncing around, and mix
it up, and the average level comes up in comparison with those peaks. You
get a much mellower effect.

If you think the garage is an improvement, just try a nice big panelled hall
with a lot of wood surfaces everywhere.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Doc,

wow... what a difference from recording in the carpeted living room

Now just imagine how good it would sound if your garage had proper acoustic
treatment and better modal dimensions.

--Ethan

The waveform of the signal coming off the trumpet is VERY spiky. It has
a very low average level, and then these huge narrow spikes every cycle.

You put that into a room where all the sound is bouncing around, and mix
it up, and the average level comes up in comparison with those peaks.
You get a much mellower effect.

Going further, this is exactly what happens in commercial recordings of
orchestral or chamber music (even, to some extent, big band). The added reverb
(usually artificial) rounds off the sound, blunting its dry, crisp, "alive"
quality.

Bob Olhsson wrote in
:

In article .net,
Doc wrote:

I notice that in the more reverberant garage, it does in fact seem to
take some of the edge off the sound, why is that?

The trumpet player probably isn't playing nearly as loudly.

In my experience, it's the trumpet player playing a bit louder.

In my living room with no positive reinforcement, I'll tend to clamp down
on the sound, not playing will full power and character because I don't
like what I'm hearing.

In my parent's cinderblock and tile floor beach house (or Doc's garage) the
richness of the reverberant space encourages me to relax and let the sound
come forth.

Bob Olhsson wrote in
:

In article .net,
Doc wrote:

I notice that in the more reverberant garage, it does in fact seem to
take some of the edge off the sound, why is that?

The trumpet player probably isn't playing nearly as loudly.

In my experience, it's the trumpet player playing a bit louder.

In my living room with no positive reinforcement, I'll tend to clamp down
on the sound, not playing will full power and character because I don't
like what I'm hearing.

In my parent's cinderblock and tile floor beach house (or Doc's garage) the
richness of the reverberant space encourages me to relax and let the sound
come forth.