analyzing my monitors

[cakewalkr7]

I want my mixes to sound as good as I can, and I know that part of that is accurately hearing what's going on in the mix. So, if my room and monitors are exaggerating frequencies, that'll mess things up, right? Problem is, I really don't have much of a clue about how to analyze and fix any problems. I'm stuck in a concrete / cinder block wall basement. I do a lot of my miced recording inside a booth, so as far as the recording goes, I'm not too worried about coloration. But, when I listen back, I want to make sure I'm hearing everything accurately. Does a spectrum analyzer (like in samplitude) provide the means to see what frequencies my monitors / room are boosting? I've never done anything like this, so I'm not sure where to start. Can anyone give me a newbie tutorial on monitor analyzing and what I can do to modify my system after I've found potential problems? I'm using Samplitude. Thanks.

 

[kylen]

Pull up a chair to your computer, grab a coke, make some popcorn...now do a Google search on Ethan Winer. You'll find his website and a vast periphery of folks that he discusses things like this with on his forums, you'll also find other paths to informed sources this way also. It can take a bit of time to get your head around.

One thing you'll need is a small cartridge omni (a cheap behringer ECM8000 costs $40 - an expensive Earthworks costs a few grand, you pick - hehe) to put at the apex of your listening triangle as well as other places around the room so you can capture some of the room sound and 'see' what it is in a spectrum analyzer - there are also ways to walk around the room and listen for the comb filtering so you can get an idea about blocking reflections & flutter as well as bass trapping. Good luck !

 

[manning1]

cake7. there are many viewpoints on creating an accurate mixing environment. and for most home studios its difficult.
ive even seen commercial studios spend a lot of money and not be happy.
so all i'm saying is be carefull how much time and money you spend pursuing
this holy grail. ive done mixes in perfect control rooms, and still they dont translate well. ive been on this roundabout more than a few times without a satisfactory solution. and many others have as well.
the basic problem being the variety of millions of playback stereos in users homes. all you can do is try your mixes on various playback systems from small mono spkrs, bud headphones all the way up to proper stereo studio montors. believe me...this is a tear your hair out excercise with no perfect solution. peace.

 

[Mr Nice]

I want my mixes to sound as good as I can, and I know that part of that is accurately hearing what's going on in the mix. So, if my room and monitors are exaggerating frequencies, that'll mess things up, right?

Yes and No! It would be better to mix in a sound controlled environment but us home studio guys dont have that luxury, so the next best thing would be to learn your monitors. Do a couple of mixes and burn test copies to image on "other" stereos, even listen to them on clock radio speakers if you can. By doing that you will start to learn the room acoustics and you then can compensate when mixing on your monitors in your basement. Dont be pissed if you dont get mixes right the first time, it sometimes takes me a few runs to get it right too. I would even go as far as saying some pro's make mistakes every so often.

Hope this helps!

 

[MadAudio]

There's a lotta truth to what Mr. Nice is saying, but I say it's better to make the mountain come to you. For years I mixed on a pair of Yamaha NS-10's, and found I had to adjust my perception to get a mix that sounded good on other speakers. And then I got my Wharfedales. The more I use them, the less I like listening to the NS-10's, and the more I wonder why I waited so long to upgrade my monitoring set-up. The better your monitoring system is, the better you can hear what's going on with all them frequencies, and the better you'll become at making it sound good. My 2 cents, anyway.

BTW, what monitors are you using?

 

[lpdeluxe]

The best place to start is with a test CD: http://www.tmenet.com/audio.htm and a Radio Shack SPL meter. You'll be able to identify what's going in your room and hopefully you can then take steps to tame things down a bit. TME has good instructions on using the CD. Basically you want to set up the SPL meter on a tripod or other solid support, and measure each speaker with the meter a measured distance from the speaker.

One of the most ear-opening tracks (at least for me) was to listen to the frequency sweeps in my room: it was like listening to the room expand and contract.

 

[cakewalkr7]

Thanks everyone for your responses. Someone asked what monitors I'm using. Right now I'm using a pair of Tannoys that I bought a long time ago before I knew you had to listen to monitors first before buying them Well, I think they sound good (although I'd love to have the HR824 Mackies) and I've done some pretty good mixes with them. I guess I don't really have anything to complain about.... it's just the perfectionist in me that wants to see if there's anything I can do to tweak my system to see if I need to compensate for anything. Thanks again.