Echo-proofing a recording room?

[Jaela]

Hi.
I’ve gotten a lot of feedback that the lines I record have a sort of echoey quality to them. I thought that it had something to do with the fact that I was using the built-in microphone on my Mac, but I have a professional mic now and the echoing still occurs. So I figure it must be the room I’m recording in. I’ve tried recording with a blanket over my head and the mic, as someone suggested this might work, but recently I got a critique on auditions I recorded with the blanket that still mentioned the echo thing.
Are there any other tips on how to reduce or eliminate this effect? I have a desktop, so moving to a different room isn’t exactly an option right now.
Thank in advance.


-Jaela

[fthrll]

Hi.
I’ve gotten a lot of feedback that the lines I record have a sort of echoey quality to them. I thought that it had something to do with the fact that I was using the built-in microphone on my Mac, but I have a professional mic now and the echoing still occurs. So I figure it must be the room I’m recording in. I’ve tried recording with a blanket over my head and the mic, as someone suggested this might work, but recently I got a critique on auditions I recorded with the blanket that still mentioned the echo thing.
Are there any other tips on how to reduce or eliminate this effect? I have a desktop, so moving to a different room isn’t exactly an option right now.
Thank in advance.

-Jaela

I've also tried with a blanket over my head, which helped a bit, but the only thing I found worked was recording at a higher bit rate. Recording at 192 bit rate seems to work very well to stop echo. (I still hang a blanket over a door or on the wall behind me, or record against curtains).

It's meant I've not been able to audition for a couple of productions that have insisted on a 96 bit rate, but overall it seems to have worked fine. All the best with it!

[Russ]

I have my mic sitting in a packing box, with the interior covered with sound-proofing foam (cost of box+ foam about $10, if you go in with a friend or two to split the cost).

[Kage-Ichihashi]

I'm not entirely sure if this might be your problem or not but I have the same issue. One thing I did realize is once I got the professional mic, I have to make sure that whatever I'm recording in is recording from that mic in particular and not my internal laptop mic. When I first got my Samson, I spent two months recording with my internal mic before realizing that Audacity hadn't picked my Samson up.

But even so, I still have the same issue with a slight echo. I haven't figured out what to do about it completely because I've recorded in the closet about the size of a recording booth before, which didn't make things any better. :/ I found that downloading Goldwave helped me some, but still, there's an echo-type quality that just won't go away.

I hope you figure this out soon for yourself! :/ Good luck!

[Sapphire]

Same here. When I recorded anything through Adobe Audtion, the feedback would sound echoey. Before I decided getting Goldwave again I did a bit of an experiment. When he quality of my recordings were echoey, I was in a wide room with lots of space. When I was in a small area, my closet, the echoing disappeared. So you can try moving to a small sized area.

But then Goldwave did get rid of all the echoes for some reason as well. So you can try the first option or Goldwave-- or both.

[Jaela]

Same here. When I recorded anything through Adobe Audtion, the feedback would sound echoey. Before I decided getting Goldwave again I did a bit of an experiment. When he quality of my recordings were echoey, I was in a wide room with lots of space. When I was in a small area, my closet, the echoing disappeared. So you can try moving to a small sized area.

But then Goldwave did get rid of all the echoes for some reason as well. So you can try the first option or Goldwave-- or both.

Unfortunately as I said before, I have a desktop that I can't really move easily. I'm using a Mac, too, so Goldwave's not an option for me right now either.
I'm thinking more and more that it might be nice to get a laptop with a Windows OS once I have the money... ^^;


-Jaela