YouTube content creators will often hear quite a bit of echo in their videos, or a Twitch streamer will get complaints from their teammates if they use a microphone to make productions in their spacious room or studio without treatment.
Why Does the Echo Exist?
There is going to be a really loud reflection from the walls, even if you just speak directly into the microphone. And they come in a delay, which is what causes the reverb or echo effect and ruins your audio job. Typically, the louder you speak, the larger your room, the more noticeable the echo.
Set Up the Echo-free Studio Budgetly
So our goal is to absorb the reverberating sound that will be picked up by the microphone. We're going to build an echo-free studio on a budget, which means the relatively "costly" acoustic panels (compare with stuff lying around your home) are not one of our choices.
The Ideal Materials
Mattresses, towels, and blankets are pretty good at absorbing frequency across the frequency spectrum, extremely efficient at treble. But keep in mind, it should be the blankets with a coarser surface. For a better result without spending much more, there are specifically designed sound blankets for your consideration.
Place the Materials
Hang Up the Blankets
There are actually four reflection points in your room: floor or desk, front and back walls, side walls, and ceiling. Literally any flat surfaces reflect sound. Since you will speak into the mic, the first point is the front wall, then the sides. And the desk is overlooked most of the time, which can be problematic as well. Just a reminder that when two boundaries meet, the bass builds up, making the sound bounce worse. So the corner is definitely not a good place to do any audio-related project.
Place the Blankets on a Flat Floor
Knowing where to hang the blankets, but how to place them on a flat floor? Spring clamps will work great to hold the moving blankets to the shelves. Or a much simpler and cheaper one-off method is to use gaffer tape to paste the blankets onto the walls and take them down when you finish recording or streaming.
It is not only for video production and streaming but also for webconferencing and even interviews. Up your game of audio with just a simple trick!