Low frequencies in my mixing room

[Glenn Kuras]

You really need to turn you desk so you are facing the short wall. Also you want to sit 38% length of the 15 foot wall (5.7 feet).
As far as placement you want to straddle the front corners from floor to ceiling and hit the first reflections on the side walls. Many other things you could do but this should start to get you into the ballpark... First thing though is your (hate to say it again) going to have to move.

Glenn

[tINY]

Burn your mix to a CD-R and take it with you:

-listen to it in your car

-take it to a freinds house (the guy with the big living room and nice system

-take it to the hi-fi store and call it your "reference CD"

-listen to it on your headset and on your IPod with IEMs




-tINY

[Ethan Winer]

> I don't have time to make any more traps <

So buy some. No matter where you are located in the world, I'm sure someone near you sells bass traps.

--Ethan

[bannerj]

ethan and glenn, thanks! for your helpful sites. I admit that I read through them a while back and just found myself in a bind for mixing this little EP. I do plan to make more traps later after I have moved and assessed the situation in the new studio I am taking over. I will no doubt then also buy some too becuase I will have a bigger budget.

I can't rearrange the room unfortunately. My wife would frown because we are trying to sell the house, but I moved the absorbers out to the corners and pulled my desk even further away from the wall. There was a bit more clarity. I think I am just going to have to make do with an awkward room and A/B the mixes in other rooms on other systems for tweaking.

thanks

[Glenn Kuras]

Originally Posted by bannerj

ethan and glenn, thanks! for your helpful sites. I admit that I read through them a while back and just found myself in a bind for mixing this little EP. I do plan to make more traps later after I have moved and assessed the situation in the new studio I am taking over. I will no doubt then also buy some too becuase I will have a bigger budget.

I can't rearrange the room unfortunately. My wife would frown because we are trying to sell the house, but I moved the absorbers out to the corners and pulled my desk even further away from the wall. There was a bit more clarity. I think I am just going to have to make do with an awkward room and A/B the mixes in other rooms on other systems for tweaking.

thanks

Sometimes you just have to deal with what you got. Good luck and let us know if you need any other help.

Glenn

[timmcallister]

If you want a "quick/cheap" bass treatment fix, go buy some "bales" of OC 703 or 705, or (way cheaper) buy some bales of rockwool.

Most of this stuff comes in bales 2x4 foot and maybe 2 feet deep, wrapped in plastic.

For each corner, take two bales and stack them so they are 8 feet tall. You can leave the plastic wrap on them and they will still treat low end just fine. Yes, it will look ugly, but this will make a HUGE difference for the low end.

Of course, you still need to hit the first reflection points. I'd use some OC 703/705 for this, as it is very rigid and you can just take a few pieces and lean them against the wall at first reflection points. Wrap them in cheap sheets from the goodwill.

You can move all this stuff in/out of the room in 15 minutes, so put the material in the garage when you're showing the house.

When you have some time, you'll have the material to make "good looking" treatment.

[Burton Nash]

bannerj,
I saw no mention of what loudspeakers you intend or are using in the room. some speakers work well when others do not. Case in point, speakers with rear firing passive radiators will excite the room differently than simple front firing woofers or full range speakers. i don't pretend to know much but i do read. the Grado phones you are getting do have a better overall sound quality than the Sony phones you are using. To me, the Sonys are very bright and " in your face", practical to listen for molecular structure problems but not good for establishing a balance. The grados being headphones are also going to have the same basic problems if you intend to use them for reference or mixdown (too close to ears for accuracy sakes)

I have not heard the Grado 125 but i have heard the 80's and they shouldbe close to each other. We are talking about rooms and you are talking about headphones so a general idea of your speakers may help the experts here form a better opinion of what direction you may take. if you have posted about your speakers elsewhere, i apologize for not having read it, only this thread.

the experts warn against the use of phones for mixing. i admit it is totally a different world, headphone vs speaker mix.

I use some old jbls that belonged to a family member, some cheezy car door speakers in boxes someone built (alpine speakers) and an old sorry sony rack system someone was throwing away. based on this, my opinion is most likely bunk and unworthy but having read these things and remembered them, hopefully a few words i wrote could be of some form of help. my room has an old mattress leaning against the wall (covered with a sheet) and the room did improve quite a bit. it is behind me about 6 feet. i dont suggest you get a mattress.
One thing i do know, all of these systems sound different but good in their own way. i know if any one of them sound bad, something is wrong upstream and the mix or recording needs work. even the worst of speakers should sound somewhat like a form of music.

ps, if someone has a keyboard (computer or otherwise) laying around they want to donate, i can provide an address (ehe)

[bannerj]

I've got event TR8s. I am not sure how they "fire." I assume what you call front fire.

The trick of this whole thing is that this will be my first mix to "print." I have been only tracking for people and then sending everything out to be mixed by others. So I do want it to sound good, but then again and on the other hand...its a little indie EP and I doubt the artist will run more than a couple hundred. So, it is a good first step for me without tons of pressure. I might post some of the songs over the next two weeks. So if you guys have time to listen down and give me your thougths...that would be amazing.

I do like the idea of the bales of insulation. I have in the past just grabbed the thick cushions from my couch and chair and used them for baffles. I might experiement with this tonight...and I can easily put them back in place to show the house.

[tINY]

Actually, if you start using multiple sub woofers and move them around, you can make the bass response more even in a room.

But, in a small room, the bandaries (walls) are close and you'll get peaks and nulls at 1/4 and 1/2 wavelengths from them.

Best to put a lot of bass traps in a small room......




-tINY