weird bass problem

[thomaswomas]

my band have recently moved into an old social club to rehearse. the space is huge and has a small room in one corner which i've turned into a control/ mixing room and we use the main room to rehearse and record live.

i've built some gobos from doors with carpet attached to the sides for some basic separation and hung a couple of clouds over the drums which has made a big difference to the drum sound.

we've recently recorded some new demos, tracking everything live then overdubbing lead guitars and vocals. the recordings sounded really good but when i got the mixes home they were very bass heavy.

i thought this to be weird because there seems to be a lot of bass in the mixing room so i thought, if anything, i would be over compensating for this and the mixes would end up too thin.
the ceiling in the mixing room is very high so i hung some blanket which took away the echo and then i added some absorbers and bass traps which you can see in the pics. i've noticed that the further away from the monitors you get, the more bass you hear.

can anyone advise me on where i'm going wrong or how i should improve the sound in the mixing room

thanks

[Freudian Slip]

What monitors are you using?

F.S.

[mixsit]

Originally Posted by thomaswomas

.. the recordings sounded really good but when i got the mixes home they were very bass heavy.

... i thought this to be weird because there seems to be a lot of bass in the mixing room
... i've noticed that the further away from the monitors you get, the more bass you hear.

It's pretty common to have holes and hot spots.
Take the difference between the sound in the c/r vs out side (home, wherever) and compensate. You can also make the most of the variation within the room position to get different views on the relative bass levels.

[thomaswomas]

Originally Posted by Freudian Slip

What monitors are you using?

F.S.

i'm using wharfdale diamond 8.1 passive monitors. they're not the best. in fact, they've sounded pretty harsh in previous rooms so i've gone with my mordaunt short MS20i stereo speakers most of the time. but in this room they don't sound harsh at all, but quite nice and flat except for the excessive bass.

[pandamonk]

How have you made your bass traps? How thick are they? I don't like the sound of those gobos(doors covered in carpet).

Maybe the room increases volume at some of the frequencies, but then reduces others. So you mix and get rid of some of the bass frequencies, but add some others. So when you take it elsewhere, it's these others that you hear. And maybe the other place(s) even increase volume at these frequencies.

The room also looks a bit lopsided, with one half covered in treatment, but the other with barely any. Maybe that's needed for that angled wall though. How's the stereo imaging?

The bass traps you've drawn look about half the width of the other panels. You'd probably be best with 2' wide panels. Also, you could add more traps, like this:

[elementary]

Reference with a pro recording you like and see if it sounds thin in your bassy room.

Keep A/B ing your track and the pro track and you should be able to get a nice level of low end on yours

[Freudian Slip]

Originally Posted by elementary

Reference with a pro recording

Elemetary gives some good advice there.

I have a couple thoughts. The reason I asked about the monitors is I wanted to see the porting config.

For one I would try messing with the speaker location. it looks like they are pretty tight in. From the picture you don't have alot of room to work with but, you may try moving the desk away from the wall some and see what that does for you. You can spread the speakers further apart to make the distance to you further with out taking up much space, if you have room.

I can't find spec's on the speakers, but I had the same problem with my Proto-j's. I was working blind in the low frequencies. They seemed to have bass but, it wasn't an accurate representation. I always had to take the mix elseware make notes and come back in to finish the mix.

Pro mixes that are mixed well to work on many systems may sound very good on your setup but, what are they taking out that you might be leaving in because your speakers aren't producing them well.

Make sure you are hi passing everything at 80hz except the kick at about 60hz. Hi pass the tom's as high as you can without killing the sound (that can get up to 250hz or higher).


The long and short of it is, With my tannoys I had to finish mix's by notes from outside systems, with my BX8's I also had to do it about 1/3 as much and with my ASP8's I know I can take it out and it will sound good.
I have used them all in the same room.

If I had had the ASP8's first I would have had way better luck on the Tannoys because of habbits I have picked up.

Anyway, I know I am not alot of help, but I don't want you beating your head against the wall for what is pretty normal.

Good luck

F.S.

PS I'm in no way trying to know your equipment at all. I started with minimis 7's 3 inch radio shack Just telling what my experiance has been.

[89gtsleeper]

You know really, I am in a similar situation where the farther you get from the speakers, the more overwhelming the bass becomes, but so what. When I sit at my designated listening position it's just right.That's all that really matters for what I'm doing.

[bpape]

Also, in tight spaces like that, boundary reinforcement issues become huge (SBIR). YOu need to make sure you have at least 2" material directly behind and directly beside the monitors on the hard surfaces - not just at the reflection points.

Bryan

[pandamonk]

Originally Posted by bpape

Also, in tight spaces like that, boundary reinforcement issues become huge (SBIR). YOu need to make sure you have at least 2" material directly behind and directly beside the monitors on the hard surfaces - not just at the reflection points.

Bryan

Think he does brian, by the looks of the pics...

[bpape]

Oops - missed the top view. Looks like you've got that covered. Have you tried anything on the rear wall of the room directly behind the mix position?

Bryan

[TexRoadkill]

That room looks way too small to be good for anything other then editing.

[pandamonk]

Originally Posted by TexRoadkill

That room looks way too small to be good for anything other then editing.

It looks bigger than my room will be, haha

[Freudian Slip]

Originally Posted by TexRoadkill

That room looks way too small to be good for anything other then editing.

Ya got me interested to see what you did for a controll room in your new place TexRoadkill. Got pics up anywhere?



F.S.