July 2014 Newsletter: Bad Racket Recording Studios Cleveland

Live From Bad Racket: Reverse The Curse

Here at Bad Racket we are very excited to announce that in a few short weeks, Reverse The Curse will be in the studio to record a few songs and shoot a video. They are currently on their Summer 2014 Tour. More info can be found here. I hope to see you there!

This will be the second in our series that is filmed at the new space; We are very excited to do this one….and subsequent future ones that are already in the works. For this shoot we are working with the amazingly talented Andy Wells.

Three Dimensional Quadratic Residue Diffusers! 

If you saw our back room, aka our kitchen/wood-shop, in the last few weeks you might think we are crazy. The mess has been colossal, but we’ve been hard at work creating what are known as Three Dimensional Quadratic Residue Diffusers, made from well over 5000 individual blocks. For those of you who aren’t huge audio nerds like me, this what it is…

The easiest way to illustrate what it does is to explain how sound waves propagate in the first place. When a sound wave strikes a surface that is dense enough to reflect off it, they bounce off and come out at the opposite angle they entered in. So if it’s struck at a 90° it reflects back at 90°, if it strikes at 45° it will reflect out the opposite 45°. This can cause a lot of acoustic problems in a room. The phase relationship between the source of the wave and its reflection can cause two major acoustic problems, standing waves and flutter echoes. Diffusers however, within a given frequency range don’t reflect sound in one direction, instead they scatter it in all directions. This in turn not only helps eliminate some of those problems, but makes the room sound larger and more live.

All you really need to take away from that audio nerd rant is that in combination with absorption, our live room here at Bad Racket sounds great, so we can capture all the nuance of your performance in an honest and real way.

New Boutique 2×12 Guitar Cabinet

Taking full advantage of the upgrades our wood shop has recently gotten (i.e. Table Saw, Miter Saw, and Router), we designed and started building a very controlled sounding guitar cabinet loaded with two 12 inch speakers. What makes this cabinet so unique are two features that sets it apart. We added a dividing wall between the two speakers, this in turn reinforces the baffle helping tighten the low end as well as eliminates phase issues between the two drivers within the cabinet. We are also going to line the inside of each cavity with rock-wool (the highest performing acoustic material), helping further control phase issues and help tighten the mid-range.

It’s going to be wrapped in a wine tolex, have black hardware, and a salt and pepper grill cloth. I’m confident that combination will look sharp. Best news is, if anyone is interested, it is for sale, or if you’d like a custom one built to exactly suit your needs we’ll build it for you! To receive a custom quote on getting a Bad Racket Boutique Cabinet for either guitar or bass, contact us at: play@badracket.com | 216-501-1204.

Now Booking July & August!

We have some time still open for a few sessions in July and August. If you’re ready to record a heartfelt and soulful record, then come tour our space and see how we will meet the individual needs of your project, to give it the vibe it needs In order to carry the emotive tone of the record. Contact us via Phone or Email;

play@badracket.com | 216-501-1204 | 216-905-5714.

Thanks, Henri.

Our CFO, Dorothy

Dorothy ‘Frog Dog’ Furface, when she’s not hard at work around Bad Racket, or supervising James and I to make sure we don’t hurt ourselves, she likes to go out for a day of sailing.

Blocks! Blocks! Blocks! A little glimpse into our insanity when building diffusors.

Early Progress shot of Boutique Cabinet A little peak inside to show the divider wall and baffle reinforcement. This will help make the sound of this cabinet far clearer, punchier, and more defined then your typical enclosure.

Intern Chris Baker For the last several weeks our latest inter chris has been with us. He’s been a huge help, between helping us build diffusors and speaker cabs, helping set up for sessions, and even keeping us way more organized. Its been great having him on board.