How to avoid bass note resonating in my homestudio

manuel_vdn

manuel_vdn

New member
I recently found out that some bass notes resonate real loud and muddy in my room. I first heard it on David Bowie’s Heroes but since then heard it on different songs and I found out that it’s always the D-note that's causing the buzz/resonance/....

Putting an acoustic panel right behind both my monitors doesn’t fix it. Putting them where the first reflections happen doesn't help either. I also have bass traps in all my corners and the walls on the inside are made of OSB panels which already absorb a bit on their own. The ceiling is rather low and turning the speakers around doesn’t change anything either.

Monitors: Yamaha HS7
Soundcard: Tascam Model 24
Dimensions room: 370 x 340cm (or 146 x 133 inches)

What can I try to do to fix this? Will diffusers help? Or absorbing panels on the ceiling? Or a carpet? I know all these things help a tiny bit. But I’m looking for a specific solution for the ring this one note has in my room. Because besides this one note I think my room sounds pretty good.
 

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What you need is a "Tuned membrane absorber" probably at least two in fact and they are not cheap! You will also need to find the precise frequency of the offending note. "D" you say? You can probably work out F from that or run a sweep and record it, an SDC mic probably the best for the job. You can stuff the result into RightMark Analyser and see the peak.

There was a thread about this in Sound on Sound forum just last week. I'll see if I can find it for you.

Forum

www.soundonsound.com www.soundonsound.com

Dave.
 
manuel_vdn said:
What can I try to do to fix this? Will diffusers help? Or absorbing panels on the ceiling? Or a carpet? I know all these things help a tiny bit. But I’m looking for a specific solution for the ring this one note has in my room. Because besides this one note I think my room sounds pretty good.
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A diffuser above your listening area and maybe one at the back would help - a D note is pretty specific - you first might measure your speakers to see if they are the problem - in which case a EQ would solve that - I've included a DIY Diffuser YouTube if you wanted to make it your self - it's very inexpensive that way.

 
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If there is something actually resonating - like a panel, or something behind the panel, find the offending frequency with a sweep and then generate that frequency and hunt it down - occasionally, just a screw into a wall panel can fix these.
 
You have a small space. The smaller the space, the more absorption you need. The bass traps are a good start and probably helping out with other freqs. I suggest hanging a cloud over your chair made OC703 or something similar. And a large panel on the back wall; maybe even the side walls at the first reflection point.

My room is a small cube, about the worst shape possible. At one point, I had 14 OC703 panels and it still had a horrible peak at about 500hz. Sometimes, there is just nothing you can do but live with the compromise.

Eventually, I removed most of the panels and just deal with it. I think my mixes actually got better. lol who knows.
 
Could it be your desk? It looks as though you drilled a hole through the desk to fit the left monitor stand through. The right one looks like it's behind the desk.
Are there pads underneath the monitors?
Does it happen at a particular volume level?
 
Thanks for all your advice, some real helpfull and interesting stuff. I tried out some more things and discovered that the ring/resonation/muddy tone is gone when you sit on the floor (the breaking point is when your ears are lower than the monitors). As long as my ears are on monitor-level or higher you hear it everywhere in the room.
I guess this discovery points more towards diffusers on the wall behind me? Since I think it's because these frequencies bounce against each other... Does that make any sense?

@Chili When I hold an expensive acoustic panel over the monitors close to the ceiling I still hear it, so as you said this might help a bit, but not entirely fix this specific issue.

@Dave Matthews both left and right speaker go through the desk and are the same distance from wall and listening position. I guess it's a bad picture/optical illusion. It does happen at all volumes though, it's just more and more annoying the louder you hear it.

@Papanate I was already looking into building a diffuser myself. To hang behind the listening position above the couch. Knowing what I know now, I have a feeling that that might be the good spot. Let me know if you disagree since we now know the nasty sound is only on monitor-level or higher.
 
manuel_vdn said:
@Papanate I was already looking into building a diffuser myself. To hang behind the listening position above the couch. Knowing what I know now, I have a feeling that that might be the good spot. Let me know if you disagree since we now know the nasty sound is only on monitor-level or higher.
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A Diffuser might work - but with a specific problem like yours - there is something else going on - how did you place your speakers?- are they isolated from the Desk and then environment? At the very least you should have a isolation pad - I used Yoga blocks on my monitors - they are very good at isolating the speakers from the desk or any thing that would resonate - they are better at isolating than Monitor Pads which IMO tend to be lacking - what do you think?


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Papanate said:
A Diffuser might work - but with a specific problem like yours - there is something else going on - how did you place your speakers?- are they isolated from the Desk and then environment? At the very least you should have a isolation pad - I used Yoga blocks on my monitors - they are very good at isolating the speakers from the desk or any thing that would resonate - they are better at isolating than Monitor Pads which IMO tend to be lacking - what do you think?
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The monitors aren't touching the desk at all. There's a whole in the desk left and right where I put my monitor stands in (see pictures below for which stands I use). You think adding extra pads on these stands will help? I thought this set of monitor stands were already desgined to prevent these kind of issues.

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Get some tones going and find the resonance - make it rattle, then find it, and stop it. My one was a stud in one wall, behind the plasterboard, and it vibrated at Eb at the bottom of my bass. One long screw (missed it to be honest with the first one) into the timber and the noise went away. Could be in the room, but could be a pipe or metal bracket, radiator any crazy thing that can vibrate.
 
manuel_vdn said:
The monitors aren't touching the desk at all. There's a whole in the desk left and right where I put my monitor stands in (see pictures below for which stands I use). You think adding extra pads on these stands will help? I thought this set of monitor stands were already desgined to prevent these kind of issues.
Click to expand...
Like @rob aylestone says - it sound like you have a something resonating in your room - if the note is specifically around a D - then get a Keyboard and lock down a D note and search for what's vibrating or resonating,
 
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