The rise of the home recording studio has opened the door to a wide variety of recording settings. While most recording studios are acoustically treated to control every aspect of sound, the home studio does not have the same advantage. Whether you're recording vocals in your bedroom or trying to get the perfect acoustic guitar track, getting a clean, professional sound starts with managing your environment.
A great place to start is by using an acoustic shield to create a mini acoustic treatment zone around your microphone. Let's take a closer look at this acoustic treatment solution to learn more about what it does, and how it fits into a recording setup.
What an Acoustic Shield Actually Does
An acoustic shield (also known as a reflection filter) wraps around the back and sides of your microphone, reducing the reflections of your voice or instrument from nearby surfaces that can bounce back into the microphone, thus muddying the sound. The advantages of using an acoustic shield is:
- Cleaner Takes: Vocal takes will have fewer room artifacts
- Greater Focus: Recordings will have more presence because there is less reflections
- More Intimate: making your recordings sound tighter
What an Acoustic Shield Doesn't Do
While a reflection filter is a great tool, it is not a substitute for a completely acoustically treated room. Here is where it falls short:
- Limited coverage: They don't block reflections from the ceiling, floor, or opposite walls.
- No bass trapping: Low frequencies bounce around your room with much more energy and require dedicated solutions such as corner bass traps.
- Minimal background noise isolation: Acoustic shields won't eliminate air conditioning hum, barking dogs, train horns, or loud kids.
Best Practices for Using and Acoustic Shield
Now that we have a better idea of what an acoustic shield does, let's look at some ways to get the most out of using one:
- Record in the quietest part of your space. Try to avoid being close to windows, doorways, or large empty spaces. A corner or a closet will often work best.
- Tweak your recording space with a few simple hacks. Adding a thick rug, curtains, or a few foam panels can help to make a difference.
- Monitor and adjust. Record a short take, play it back, and see what you like. Make small adjustments and repeat the process until you get the sound you are looking for. Taking the time to do it right the first time will help to eliminate hours of frustration later.
The acoustic shield is not a magic bullet, but it can greatly enhance your recordings. Ideally, they are used as part of a larger acoustic solution, but if that is all you have they can definitely help.
