Speaker and microphone placement for Impulse Response Utility

The placement of speakers and microphones in the recording space has a significant impact on the echoes and reflections that your impulse response captures.

There are no hard rules for recording, so you should experiment with different microphone and speaker positions and try a variety of microphones and techniques. There are, however, some guidelines that may help when you make your initial recordings.

In environments with hard floors, made from materials such as concrete, you may find that a “chirp” is recorded at the beginning of your impulse response. This sound is actually the generated sine sweep resonating through the floor into the microphone stand, then into the microphone itself. Sound moves much faster through floors and concrete than through air, resulting in a pre-impulse response that starts before the impulse response you want to record. To circumvent this potential problem, you can use studio drum pedestals and specialized microphone mounts that have strong built-in acoustic absorbers. If you cannot transport drum pedestals or do not have access to microphone mounts, try placing a thick carpet under the speakers and microphone stands.

The following sections outline some specific approaches that you might want to try when creating impulse responses. These contain suggestions only; there are no rules regarding the best angles, ideal distances between speakers and microphones, and so on. You may want to try a number of different techniques and positions to find the ideal arrangement. See Virtual listener approach for Impulse Response Utility, Auralization approach for Impulse Response Utility, and Virtual echo chamber approach for Impulse Response Utility.