Treating the source rather than the room?

[full_bleed]

What are your feelings on treating a specific problematic source acoustically rather than the room as a whole to compensate for this source? Specifically for smaller rooms that may not have room for proper bass trapping for a kick drum or bass amp. For example I've seen people recording a guitar cab with a mini fort made up of fiberglass or mineral wool. Do you feel the same general idea would work well if you were to surround the resonating side of a kick with a "fair amount" of treatment or a bass amp fort? How much do you feel would be a "fair amount" of treatment when used in close proximity to the sound source?

[Ethan Winer]

If you're close enough to the source, the contribution from the room becomes pretty small. Close mic'ing is okay for guitar amps and kick drums, but maybe not so good for acoustic instruments like guitars and cellos etc. That said, a "fort" can work well.

--Ethan

[full_bleed]

Thank you for chiming in Ethan. Perhaps a cello or upright bass would activate the lower frequency range but, as the expert on the matter, do you think that there is really that much low frequency energy being generated by an acoutic guitar to where it would impact the tightness or clarity of it?

[Ethan Winer]

do you think that there is really that much low frequency energy being generated by an acoutic guitar to where it would impact the tightness or clarity of it?

The problems caused by reflections are not just at low frequencies, which all guitars are capable of (82 Hz for open low E string). Broadband comb filtering caused by reflections is at least as damaging, giving that hollow off-mic sound we always strive to avoid.

--Ethan

[full_bleed]

Right, I may have phrased that incorrectly. I meant given that a room has been treated thoroughly for mid and high frequency issues, but there is no where near proper treatment for low frequencies. In the case of my room I was going to end up losing too much valuable space due to the small size of the room compared to the sources that would be in it, mainly drums, so I will be covering 85% of the room with 3" of AFB and omitting the vertical superchunks. I am planning on installing super-mini-chunks around the ceiling, however.

Does this sound like it would be adequate treatment given that my personal plan would be to treat the problematic source directly to save critical space?

For instances were there would be a single individual tracking a... cello... I could always roll in some strategically placed bass traps in order to deal with those issues, right?

Sorry if these are dumb questions. I'm trying to get a feel for what realistic results would be if I decided to proceed in this manner and what some of my other options would be for making the best out of the worst...

[Ethan Winer]

In the case of my room I was going to end up losing too much valuable space due to the small size of the room compared to the sources that would be in it

Since you never told us the size of your room I can't even guess. But I can tell you that the smaller the room, the more bass trapping it needs proportionately. Yes, you could put bass traps on stands and place them in the corners when needed.

--Ethan

[full_bleed]

What? You can't read minds? My room is the dreaded 10x10x8. The walls will be splayed as much as possible however I'd have to go back and measure again to tell you the exact amount as my memory is pretty awful. I want to say it was only 5 inches.