How do u measure room (sound+mic) for treatment ?

[Plendakor]

I figure treating a room, you get the response from placing a condenser mic in the middle of the room and test some sounds ? I could borrow a condenser mic from a friend for that

I'm in a medium room (half the basement) and my desk/computer/monitors are in the left corner but not in angle. Speakers have a good placement. I'm not looking for a perfect setup but would like to enhance it a bit because I want to record acoustic guitar (with an sm57 and another mic similar ). Of course there is also my computer, making a little noise but I can live with that as long as the room doesn't make the guitar sound dead or something.

It's a mess because I'm in the process of sorting the stuff in the big room, but yeah there's a tv + 2 other work tables and a workbench. You can see the ceiling, it's.. meh

I seek your help peepeeeoollllllllle! :hotjump:

 

[pikachu69]

I wouldnt use an ordinary condenser. You could if you really have nothing elso to use but you should really use a proper flat responce mesurement microphone. I have a DBX one that works well.
Dont place it in the middle of the room as this will result in to much phase cancelation from room modes and make it too hard to tell what in the room needs treating. you are best to place it in your mix position (where your ears are).
Play pink noise through your speakers at the volume you will normally mix at and record the pink noise through the mic. Do this several times moving the mic a little bit each time to get a consistant reading. Look at the recorded file in something that displays a frequency plot to see what areas a lacking/needs fixing. If you compare a pink noise file with the one you recorded then you should see quite clearly where the differences are.

 

[RedDog]

What model DBX do you own? And what's the polar pattern, I'd imagine it to be an omni?

 

[vespiz]

Time to study!

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/stud...basic-acoustic-measurement-primer-v3-0-a.html
http://www.realtraps.com/art_measuring.htm

http://www.hometheatershack.com/roomeq/


Loads more here:
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/stud...tics-treatment-reference-guide-look-here.html

 

[Plendakor]

Hey thanks a lot for the input
!

 

[pikachu69]

What model DBX do you own? And what's the polar pattern, I'd imagine it to be an omni?

I use this:
DBX DriveRack RTA-M

Yes it is omni.

I use this live and in the studio as I have a drive rack for both setups.

 

[SethTheGreat]

This is what I use.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000HT4RSA

Also from what I've read, the acoustical difference from microphone to microphone is extremely small compared to the differences from room to room. While a "flat" mic like the ones mentioned ARE more accurate, you can still get an idea with whatever condenser you already have.

 

[SethTheGreat]

Oh, and don't place the mic in the middle of the room. Place it in the listening position. Use "room eq wizard" and focus on the "waterfall" graph (there are lots of tutorials on gearslutz at the link vespiz provided).

If the waterfalls look really terrible, you want to focus on moving your speakers and your listening position around as a first step. You can get much more drastic results by moving your speakers and listening position than you ever will with treatment. Once you have found the best position for your speakers and chair, you can focus on bass traps, diffusers, whatever you're going to use to treat.

If you need advice on treatment as well let us know. There's a TON of information about this stuff all over gearslutz though so go search and study!! Read the stickies in the acoustic design forum!

 

[vespiz]

Yes, the Behringer ECM8000 gets used a lot (myself included). But any OMNI-pattern mic will do just fine.