No low end response with my hr824???? What's wrong with my room?

[Noritaka]

Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum and definitely new to acoustic treatment...
So here is my issue, I'm a bedroom producer. The room is 10 by 20 feet and I put some attached pictures and a (child handmade) plan.

I noticed when I go to a professional studio my music sounds way too bassy and muddy, whereas when in my room it seems perfect.....Plus, I got mackie HR824 which are known for being pretty bassy, so I'm not supposed to have bad surprises like this.....

I also noticed that, as I move away from my listening position and get nearer to the back wall, the low end reponse gets bigger until it gets boomy and a bit muddy.....

So, how come that the nearer I am from the monitors, the less I hear the low end? Is there some treatment I got to do?

Thanx a lot for any feedback from anyone....also sorry for my limited english, I'm a froggy frenchie!

[Noritaka]

Forgot these ones...

[BlueSprocket]

My greatest complaint with the 824s was that I could NEVER get a feel for the bass, even in good rooms. I personally hate those monitors.

First thing first. Bass Trap your accesable corners. Sadly, you have a mirror behind one monitor and a mirror to you one side. This asymetry will make it very weird to monitor at anything other than low volumes. If you could put some kind of surface absorber, like Auralex foam behind both monitors, that would help a little. That Mirrored clothes chest is likely going to create some nasty early reflections.

Good Luck.

[moracspace]

Its a bed room with no acoustical treatment.Mixing position is shallow
Fire speakers down long wall.

[rainsinvelvet]

I would also say that when you sit close to the speakers you are not giving the low end time to develop before reaching your ears. This may be why you hear more bass as you move back..

ERic

[Noritaka]

Thanx a lot for the advices guys,

So Blue, maybe I could put some curtain on the closet mirror at my side, would this help, and some foam on the mirror at the side of my left monitor? or if necessary I could just drop this mirror....
Yeah those mirrors sure must do some nasty reflections.

But yeah there is no treatment at all in this bedroom, and indeed I'd like to know some basic tips in order to put what absorber or difuser or bass trap and where to put them (considering the cheap solution like pieces of foam etc Acoustique ColSound - Performance acoustique)

Blue, I have to put absorbers benhind monitors, should I put them on the wall between them? Should I get something like a basstrap on the back wall (wall facing monitors)??? Excuse my english, when you say"absorbers on every corner", do you mean "angles" or accessible parts of the walls?

Thanx Eric and Space, I think I will tend to move my mixing position backwards as the distance is to short for the low end to develop (makes sense...)

[dadumtish]

i had the same problem with the smaller 624 until i fixed the room
the advice from ethan and glenn ( and the rest of the guys ) was what fixed it for me - pure genius .
you have to be committed though , to improving the room - its pays off in spades with the big sound you get when finished.
loaaaaads of basstrapping and re positioning of the mix setup to face down the long wall , set up in the middle of the end wall
the window end is good if you put movable bass trapping into the window area ( i did this )


you can put monitors against the wall if the corners and wall are heavily bass trapped
i have up to a foot thick of bass trapping in the corners wall to ceiling .

now they sound amazing low end is incredible and my mixes sound the same on any system i play them on

i still smile every time i switch it on ;-)

see room pics here :
studio - a set on Flickr
ignore the chart , its way better than that now .

note due to the amount of bass trapping i had to set the shape switches to normal - and put the monitors on their side - but now the room sound nearly flat at the mix position plur or minus 6 db - best i can do for a cubic room

[Glenn Kuras]

But yeah there is no treatment at all in this bedroom, and indeed I'd like to know some basic tips in order to put what absorber or difuser or bass trap and where to put them (considering the cheap solution like pieces of foam etc Acoustique ColSound - Performance acoustique)

Start off by seeing the following page for some ideas on set up.
GIK Acoustics: Room Setup

For your room you want to move the mix spot so you are facing the short wall (the 10 foot wall) and start by sitting back 38% of the room length. Next put proper broad band bass trapping in as many corners as possible and treat early reflection points on left/ right and ceiling.

Glenn

[Weasel9992]

Originally Posted by Glenn Kuras

Start off by seeing the following page for some ideas on set up.
GIK Acoustics: Room Setup

For your room you want to move the mix spot so you are facing the short wall (the 10 foot wall) and start by sitting back 38% of the room length. Next put proper broad band bass trapping in as many corners as possible and treat early reflection points on left/ right and ceiling.

Glenn

Just to add to what Glenn already said, the problems you're experiencing are almost certainly acoustic, not because the Mackies suck. I'm not making any judgements at all about the speakers...I can say that an 8" Mackie will produce plenty of low end, and because you're facing the long wall, you have a primary length mode at around 100Hz. As you move back toward the back wall you're moving right into a peak, then as you move forward again, right into the adjacent null spot. The 824's also fire from the rear, and that's complicating things further because you're so close to the wall.

Glenn's advice is spot on. Flip things around so you face the short wall, then bass trap the heck out of the room.

Frank

[Noritaka]

Thanx so much everyone!

So, first and foremost I must flip my mixing spot.....

Sadly, there are 2 doors left and right on the short wall, as you can see.
Worst, the left one one (with glass windows on it) gives access to a little bathroom.

Is there something I can do to fix it, maybe just put basstraps on those doors can help it????

[Glenn Kuras]

Originally Posted by Noritaka

Thanx so much everyone!

So, first and foremost I must flip my mixing spot.....

Sadly, there are 2 doors left and right on the short wall, as you can see.
Worst, the left one one (with glass windows on it) gives access to a little bathroom.

Is there something I can do to fix it, maybe just put basstraps on those doors can help it????

How about putting them on stands??

Glenn

[jwl]

Stands are a great option.

If you don't want stands, you can put traps on the doors, or on the perpendicular wall across the corner from the door, or both. Either way, space the traps out from the wall by 3-4", as shown here:



2 traps mounted this way will perform about the same (or even slightly better than) one trap straddling the corner.

[Glenn Kuras]

Just as long as the door opens out of the room.

Glenn

[Weasel9992]

Originally Posted by Glenn Kuras

Just as long as the door opens out of the room.

Glenn

Yeah...you might want to be careful about that!

Frank

[timmcallister]

Originally Posted by Noritaka

Thanx so much everyone!


Is there something I can do to fix it, maybe just put basstraps on those doors can help it????

Consider mounting your bass traps at the ceiling/wall. Bass doesn't know up from down !! :-)

Heres some pictures of my recent build:
Ceiling mounted bass traps with pictures

[Tomer1]

I would consider redesigning the room completly.
That mirror is not doing you any good, maybe use it to find your first reflection points

As advised first thing to do is change your sitting position.
Second, start off building or buying broadband panels.