Hi,

I could use some feedback on my studio setup. Mixes that I take directly from my studio do not translate properly. The low end is over represented.

I have switched from my Event TR6 monitors to the Tascam VLX 5 units that I got with my FW-1884 DAW front-end/audio interface. The Tascams are 5.25" bi-amplified active monitors with adjustable settings, currently on the default non-attenuated EQ curve. I like these better than the Events for a number of reasons. Mostly they provide a clear image and don't suffer from RFI/EMI, even if they don't push as much air.

Before I invest in acoustic treatment for the room or teach myself how to use an FFT analyzer, to fine tune the monitor EQ - I wanted to ask a basic question.

I've read that you should setup your monitoring equipment facing the long way in a room - my studio has an odd footprint which makes me wonder what the best arrangement in your opinion might be?

For the last two years I have monitored from desk 1 along the long wall on the east side of the room (see attached jpg). The back or west wall has a large window in it. So I wonder if some of the bass, which me and my neighbors understand is omni-directional, disperses out the window? If keeping things at desk 1 would be better than having the monitoring station moved to desk 2, or even moved to the opposite side, where the sofa is along the west wall, in front of the window.

Other items of note: H is a column that juts out, HVAC is the old-school water-based heater. Record shelves flank the mixing station.

In some sense the room is almost square, but the apartment is obviously longer in the N-S direction.

Let me know your thoughts on the positioning of the monitoring system.

I will try and post some pictures as soon as I get a chance. Thanks for your help!

Thomas
www.basswaves.com

basswaves.jpg (47 Kb, 45 downloads)

Hmm, well I'm not sure I fully understand your issue. You have too much bass in the monitoring environment, or too much when you bring your mix to other systems? I don't want to attempt to solve your problem without first understanding it.

As for layout, what if you moved to either desk 2, put the couch along the wall where desk 3 is right now, and put up shelf units for your records above the couch. That would keep things stereo, and you'd have a bit of bass trapping from the couch, and diffusion from the records. Although, in a room that size, you need absorption rather than diffusion.

Some people might argue that for nearfields, especially small ones, the room doesn't play a huge part in what you hear. I'm not saying don't treat your room, it does make a difference. I'm just saying that if you're having major, major problems with your mixes, it might be something else.

I envy that room! Thank you for making the bed and turning down the covers.



Going by nothing but the 'room dimensions, shoot down the length of the room' thinking:

Move your Desk 1 mixing-position setup to the north wall where Desk 2 is now, and try to center it evenly between the east and west walls.

Move the sofa to the south wall, where Desk 3 is now, and try to center it evenly between the east and west walls.

Move your Desk 2 and Desk 3 setups to the east and west walls.



However, I would personally be tempted to buck the rules a little bit, and switch all your stuff 180 degrees from where it is now:

Mix position centered on the west wall (yeah, I know there are reflective windows there, but you can use heavy curtains or portable acoustic panels like Dot's setup if need be, looking out the window at 'visual' anything can help break you out of creative ruts, and the stuff that comes out of Peter Gabriel's and David Gilmour's studios does not sound all that bad, and they have a lot of windows in 'wrong' places in their 'A' rooms...)

Desk 2 and Desk 3 setups moved to North and South walls.

Couch moved to East wall - acts as an absorber and bass trap for your back wall, and gives you a 'client couch' like a real commercial studio - and you can chill back there and check your mixes from a different position.

Add RealTraps style panels diagonally across the NW and SW corners, which are now symmetrical to your mix position.

Add additional acoustic panels at the 'first reflection' points on the North and South walls, and in a 'cloud' position on the ceiling at the 'first ceiling reflection' point - and possibly diagonally across one or more (symmetrical to the mix position) wall-ceiling corners, since you can't put traps diagonally across your 'back' two corners without blocking the doorways.

Keep your 'records' shelves on the back (East) wall flanking the couch, to act as absorbers/diffusors. Consider putting shelves of books/software boxes/extra gear/manuals above the shelf as additional 'utilitarian back wall diffusors'.

Add another plant to your 'control room' - maybe one in front of each acoustic panel in the NW and SW corners, for vibe and all-important CO2 reprocessing.

If there's not going to be a door to the entryway room doorway, remove the door from the 'bed' closet/room, so that both open doorways are symmetrical, and you don't have a reflection off the door on one side that isn't matched on the other side. Maybe replace both 'doors' to the room with (moveable) heavy (theater style heavy) curtains. Having the open doors will effectively turn the room into a larger acoustic space, and act in an ersatz bass trap/resonator capacity that might be cool (that small room with the bed in it might act as an unexpectedly cool 'acoustic treatment'...

Contrast - thanks for taking the time to get a better understanding of the problem. To be clear, when I take a mix from my room to another space - the bass is over-represented and is often muddy in the new environment.

I suspect this is because I cannot hear the bass properly in my space. When I look at my mixes across the frequency spectrum, there is usually a peak at 62hz or so and a big shelf at lower frequencies.

This has not sounded "too big" at home, but in a live sound reinforcement environment, especially alongside pressed vinyl the difference is huge, more than I think mastering would account for, given the A / B 'ing of pre-mastered and mastered tracks I have heard. So I'm going back and rexamining my mixing situation.

Thanks!
Thomas

Chrisrnps - thanks for the feedback - the bed is not actually made! Visio makes everything look so neat!

I feel the creative approach... I had also thought of basstraps diagonally placed in the west corners, so it is nice to have that thought reaffirmed.

Swapping the locations of desk 1 and the couch makes sense from an esthetic as well as work perspective, in that all the work surfaces are then on one side of the room. Easier to configure power in a branching tree format, run audio and data cables that way too.

I've been setup with the couch facing outward and the energy is very open that way, different from the inward facing energy of the current setup. I like both for different reasons...

Hey, thanks for the suggestions!

Thomas

www.basswaves.com

No problem, I hope I can be of some assistance. I have Event TR6's, but have no experience at all with the Tascams. I can tell you that the Events are light in the bass compared to consumer speakers, as (tiny) monitors tend to be. You won't be holding any raves in your control room with them on, that's for sure. Perhaps I phrased that badly; they're not boosted in the bass as most consumer speakers are. If the Tascams are at all similar, I suspect you're adding too much bass to compensate. Treating your room probably won't have much effect on that. Just curious, are you using the Waves analyzer? If so, set it to a different resolution so it goes down to 10 Hz (it's default is 40, which gives the shelf appearance you're talking about to all the freqs below). Also, it's really not representative of what you'll be hearing. Mixes that have very similar plots on the analyzer can sound very different from one another in the real world. I'd highly suggest not using it unless you absolutely need to (can't figure out a problem freq. etc.); it can give you a bad image of what's going on in your mix and kill your creative process.

Have you spend much time listening to mixes you love on your monitors? How long have you had your monitors for? What volume do you mix at? It's possible you're just not familiar with what a good mix should sound like coming through the Tascams.

Hi Contrast,

I've had the events for 2 yrs, so compared to the 15 years I've had my bookshelf speakers they are new.

The tascams I have just started using in the last few months.

I tend to do rough mixes at lower volumes and then fine tune at higher volumes. The less loud DB exposure the better.

I will be moving my speakers further up and back. Also I've been changing my listening position, moving from my chair to the couch to hear more of the bass as it fills the room.

Thanks,
Thomas

How tall are the ceilings? Could you fit a lot of bass trapping in the wall-ceiling corners without sacraficing too much room? How about the wall-wall corners? When you did move around were there any spots in the room that sounded better? A lot of times I have to stand up and move a bit to the right to get the flattest frequency responce. Even being an acoustics guy I still can't get a totally flat response from my room. The problems are small though and I've learned to adjust.

What kind of music do you do? Do you record a lot or use a lot of soft synths? Does the sound change much when you leave the doors open?

Nick Fournier

Hi Nick,

The ceiling is about 9' up, so there is room along the ceiling corners for bass traps.

The west wall corners could also probably fit another pair of bass traps.

The bass sounds better when stepping back from the mixing position. I plan on moving the monitors off my mixing table and onto adjustable stands.

I make techno, although I have clients who work with more R&B/hip hop material. I've done some audio-post for video as well. Most of my source material is softsynths in logic, although I have been using my virus c more and more recently.

I haven't experiemented too much with the door being open or not. It seems intuitively to make more sense to keep the door closed or mostly closed, although I have not empirically tested this.