Need to treat my mixing room. Some advice/ideas?

[Tesseract]

Yow peeps,

I'm moving house in a couple of days to Studio 33. The studio is mainly gonna be used for recording so that I can mix in a smaller room while other bands can be recorded.

My setup is going to be in what is currently the dining room. Bit of a semi-temporary solution until theres some money to convert the out buildings into some properly constructed rooms.

Just wanted some ideas on treating a typical, rectangular room. Fairly big in size so I'll be able to have a gap between the speakers and the wall etc. I may invest in some Mopad things to seperate my monitors from the desk. We're going to make some DIY acoustic panels to help treat the room. What do you think will be the best placement for these? I guess behind the speakers and the wall parralell to that. What about flutters and the corners of rooms/bass traps.

Any input would be sweet!

 

[Ermz]

Hit up Gearslutz and the John Sayers forum for instructions on how to build some acoustic panels.

There is a lot to read about when it comes to room acoustics, but the general rule for DIY treatment of rooms is this:

1) Treat your first reflection points. So that's the side walls and ceiling in between speakers and mix position. Use a mirror to check if you're unsure. If your room is long then you can use diffusion in the back, but if it isn't, treat first reflections there also.
2) There's no such thing as too much bass trapping. Straddle every corner with 6" thick bass traps, or ideally construct some Superchunk traps.
3) Smaller rooms don't do well with diffusion and room tone, so all you can do is deaden them.
4) Make sure your mix position is at 38% of the length of the room as a starting point. Move back and forwards slightly from there to fine tune to your own circumstances.
5) Make sure the side walls are as symmetrical as possible.

 

[Metaltastic]

Hit up Gearslutz and the John Sayers forum for instructions on how to build some acoustic panels.

Or just watch this



And read these:

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/andy-sneap/377128-basic-acoustic-treatment-help.html (Great overview)
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/...ou-not-thinking-about-treating-your-room.html (Great overview)
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/andy-sneap/352943-some-advice-diy-bass-traps-2.html (Info about 703 vs. 705, esp. on pg. 2)
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/andy-sneap/361142-bass-trappin.html (Good info on DIY bass traps)

 

[Joematthews]

Where abouts is studio 33?

Joe

 

[Fox Mulder]

...And last but never least - Just in case - Check the frequency response of the room with a good omni directional mic and a spectrum analyzer...

 

[Tesseract]

Awesome thanks for that.

Yeah im on the sayers forum. So much info on there. Just wanted a condensed version I posted on there and they didn't wanna answer unless i gave them room dimensions :Smug: Cool though!

Good idea about putting a mic in there. Whats the best way to do it? Just a 1khz test or some music and compare the two analysers?

Studio 33 is in spalding...peterborough direction. In the middle of no where which sucks...but is great for the fact that there is no distractions which is what i need for the next couple of months for finishing the tesseract album and writing FS stuff.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Good idea about putting a mic in there. Whats the best way to do it? Just a 1khz test or some music and compare the two analysers?

Any reasonable measurement mic (they're really cheap and can be DIY'ed, too) and a room acoustics measurement software and you're good to go

 

[Joematthews]

Studio 33 is in spalding...peterborough direction. In the middle of no where which sucks...but is great for the fact that there is no distractions which is what i need for the next couple of months for finishing the tesseract album and writing FS stuff.

Thats just down the road from me, I live in bourne, the centre of absolutely fuck all.

Joe

 

[Fox Mulder]

Awesome thanks for that.

Yeah im on the sayers forum. So much info on there. Just wanted a condensed version I posted on there and they didn't wanna answer unless i gave them room dimensions :Smug: Cool though!

Good idea about putting a mic in there. Whats the best way to do it? Just a 1khz test or some music and compare the two analysers?

Studio 33 is in spalding...peterborough direction. In the middle of no where which sucks...but is great for the fact that there is no distractions which is what i need for the next couple of months for finishing the tesseract album and writing FS stuff.

White/Pink Noise would do, or any singal generator plugin.
Keep the mic at your listening position. For analyzing, use Waves PAZ analyzer.

Cheers!

 

[Melodeath]

or get Room EQ Wizard