Newbie wanting to optimize recording location

[sopherFellow]

Just getting started - my measurement mic is on order and on the way and I'm trying to understand what I can do before it gets here.
Objective: in my weird (not a box) untreated room I'd like to record vocals and acoustic guitar. I know that the sound field in any room varies tremendously (move the measurement mic a tiny distance and results can change drastically/move speakers can dramatically change results). I'd like to find the place in my room with the best response for recording (no ringing, no cancellation dropouts, even decay times (shorter is better). So, I want to find a place where the response of the room to a signal originating at the recording location is most favorable at the same recording location (less room noise coming back into the mic). There are some obvious things like looking at first reflection points, but I'm wondering if REW can be used to do a more sophisticated analysis to help me minimize the amount of acoustic treatment needed in my living room as I'd rather continue to be married.

The only way my so far uneducated mind can think of this is I would have to have the speaker and mic at the same location (which seems impossible) - this would simulate my situation where the signal is coming from the voice or guitar at the recording position and I want to evaluate the resulting signal at the recording location (how much reflection, how much early, how much late, etc). I know that I can determine "room modes" by evaluating results for a speaker in the corner, but the varying strength of those modes at different prospective recording locations in the room are my interest and I'm not sure they vary the same from a speaker in a corner as they do to a sound source elsewhere in the room (recording location).

So, obviously, some portable treatment panels can be used to surround the recording location, but those probably absorb a lot more hi freq than low freq and may cause an unbalanced response all on their own.
I have not seen any guides on how to evaluate a location in a room for the response at that location to a noise originating from that same location.
Please advise if there is something out there that I can study.
Please also advise if I have stumbled down a rabbit hole and I should extricate myself as quickly as possible!

Thanks for any hints you may have.

 

[sopherFellow]

Ok, so my brain is starting to work - it seems I can have the "speaker" and the mic at the same location if I sing into the mic and record it. Assuming that Mariah Carey is not available to sing a 15Hz to 20kHz sweep into my mic, how do I take a recording of vocal or guitar and analyze it for reflections, for example? Is there no useful data to be extracted from this or by comparing recordings from different places in the room?

As my tea soaks in to my brain it occurs to me that my body is going to be an obstruction in the sound field anyway while I'm recording. So maybe standing there and holding a medium size speaker to play the frequency sweep would be a decent approximation to what I want. I could even face different directions at each location to see what effect that has. I believe I might try this!

 

[DanDan]

Welcome and Happy New Year. Best to fill in some more info in your profile. Location often provides context. REW is pretty much a full blow Acoustics Lab.... So yes of course it has various ways of analysing a space. ETC, Clarity Index.
New facilities are constantly being added so I am way behind. I do seem to remember that an audio file can be analysed, so you could try the voice thing. But it would be quite limited in frequency range.
So obviously you need a mobile speaker on an adjustable stand.