B. Thomas Cooper - Editor
A close friend of mine, record producer and studio designer Tony Bongiovi has an unusual way of approaching the theory of soundproofing. It is a mindset that has served him well during his four decade-plus career in the music industry, and it helps explain why he gets paid the big bucks to arrive at such obvious conclusions.
Mr. Bongiovi is primarily remembered for his work with artists like Ozzy Osbourne, the Scorpions, Jimi Hendrix and others, but in the music industry, he is also known for designing world class recording facilities. His crowning achievement being the incomparable Power Station Studios in New York City, where Tony had a hand in the recording of over four hundred Gold and platinum albums.
But just what does Tony know about soundproofing that the rest of us don’t? Nothing, really. It’s all common sense, admittedly, a rare commodity when addressing sound pressure issues and learning to control transient response.
Sound travels much like a rubber ball in a handball court, or perhaps like that little cube in the old ‘pong’ video game. Sound does not stop when it reaches an object. It keeps bouncing around. When sound encounters an object, some of the sound is absorbed by the object, some bounces off the object, and some travels through the object and is transferred to other objects. The sonic properties of each and every object within the studio will ultimately effect the sonic properties of the original sound.
Volume can be a major issue in even large studios. High levels of sound pressure will adversely effect the recording process. Your guitar may sound great on eleven, but the room doesn’t like it, and even expensive microphones can’t effectively reproduce the sound emanating from your speaker cabinet.
So what then does any of this have to do with Tony Bongiovi or soundproofing a recording facility? I was just about to get to that.
As Tony would say, first, ask yourself the following question. Am I soundproofing to inhibit unwanted sound bleeding into other rooms (like say perhaps the neighbors office next door) or am I primarily concerned with gaining control of the sound being produced within the studio? Obviously, these are two very different questions requiring very different solutions.
As I stated earlier in this article, every physical object in the studio will effect the sounds being produced. Padding the interior of the room walls with high tech soundproofing material is a great start, but it won’t cure all of your problems. Microphone placement plays a major roll in the process. The closer the microphone is placed to the sound source, the greater the sound pressure, producing a punchier, sound, and reducing potential transient interference. Placing the microphone further from the sound source increases ambience and producers a warmer, smoother response, but becomes more susceptible to sonic clutter.
When considering soundproofing for your studio, try to visualize the sound waves traveling in your room. Learn to recognize the cause and effect relationship between the sound source and the recording environment. Be patient and absorb all you can about sound and recording. Most importantly, enjoy the creative process.
B. Thomas Cooper - Editor
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