Portable Acoustic "treatment"

AntonHunter

Most of my recording is done in non-ideal spaces, including "some church we've got access to" "an old school classroom" "my house" and so on. Always live all in the same room together as I only really record improvised music.

I was just wondering what solutions anyone has for improving the sounds of rooms they're faced with on an ad-hoc basis like this? I've got an SE Reflection Filter, which I sometimes use, and have draped duvets over mic stands to reduce spill between instruments. Obviously nothing is going to be perfect in this scenario, but is there anything I'm overlooking that might take the edge of a harsh room, or improve isolation a tiny bit? Or is it a case of buying a van to cart round big heavy rockwool-filled bass traps and anything else isn't worth it?

I know this is pretty open-ended, but any tips?

Winny_Pooh

I have a pair of iso acoustics 5cm panels that I made wooden stands for so they are higher. Used for cleaning up recording room and vocals/acoustics mainly

You would need an estate car and and perhaps 4 panels if you have multiple players or want two v shaped corner "booths". In practice its most useful to have them behind the player/object being mic'd so they reduce what spills into the front of the mic, rather than trying to control the acoustics of the entire space. 

If you want to take off the top end reflections of a room for say overhead drum micing that will help too. Bass control will need more than you would want to cart around though.

AntonHunter

Winny_Pooh said:

I have a pair of iso acoustics 5cm panels that I made wooden stands for so they are higher. Used for cleaning up recording room and vocals/acoustics mainly

You would need an estate car and and perhaps 4 panels if you have multiple players or want two v shaped corner "booths". In practice its most useful to have them behind the player/object being mic'd so they reduce what spills into the front of the mic, rather than trying to control the acoustics of the entire space. 

If you want to take off the top end reflections of a room for say overhead drum micing that will help too. Bass control will need more than you would want to cart around though.

That's a really good point. I think in the past I've been more worried about putting dividers between musicians to reduce direct spill, but direct spill is maybe less of a concern than room reflections in a bad room.

PrecisionGuided

Cheap hollowfill duvets, boom mic stands and tarp clips work well and make a very good 'mic booth'.

EGYPTO Soft Hollowfibre Duvet with Jumbo Pillow Set - Luxurious Warm Quilt for Home, Hotel (Double, 13.5 Tog) : Amazon.co.uk: Home & Kitchen  or similar