Does anyone RTA for mixing?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Booda
  • Start date Start date
Booda

Booda

Master of the Obvious
I just got back from a studio where my friend (a house engineer) was RTAing the controll room to do some mixing... It's a older studio that got a complete overhaul... the only thing old now is the name and most of the gear. There is still some debugging going on and I'm not sure if the Controll room is finished but it's very Live and my friend says he can't get any decent mixes in there, so he's RTAing it.

He told me to pick up the Behringer Ultra Curve.

In theory this RTAing sounds like a good idea. & I know Behringer is lame but for this particular purpouse the automatic RTA would be cool and how much can a EQ like this screw up your monitored sound?

So... I've done some searching and most of what came up was to Not RTA.

I have Event 20/20p, in a fairly dead room.
Why would RTAing cause harm if it's just giving me the perception of a flat EQ?

Thanks,
B.
 
EQing monitors is a VERY bad idea. The phase shift that the EQ introduces is one major problem plus the fact that any EQ "corrections" you make only apply to the point where your measurement mic is placed. If you have a problematic room to monitor in, it's a much better idea to treat the acoustics of the room and more important, LEARN YOUR MONITORS so you know how they resolve what's coming out of them in the room they're in.
 
Track Rat is correct. RTA doesnt work for midrange frequencies and above (and there are better ways to get the bass accurate). The reason is that your ear/brain mechanism is not like a microphone. Your brain can tell the difference between the direct sound and the reflected sound (or room sound) where as a microphone sums the two. It is known as the hass effect. For a detailed explanation go to this site and download the first (and second) issues which are free.

www.audioperfectionist.com

Follow Track Rat's great advice. Reposition speakers and use acoustic treatments if room acoustics are bad. Dont RTA.
 
Just to add to Track Rat's post......

Booda said:
Why would RTAing cause harm if it's just giving me the perception of a flat EQ?
Click to expand...
Because it's not giving you flat EQ in the room... at best, the EQ is "flatter" at the 1-inch spot you put the RTA mic at.... move a couple of inches over and the response is skewed again.

Maybe if you used measurements every foot and averaged them together.... but then of course, that average doesn't represent flattening "the room" either - there will be many spots the average won't apply, so you're no better off...... now you can easily see why the theory fails.

As is typical in recording engineering, what appears to make sense upon first thought turns out to be impractical and ineffective once you get into the details.
 
It doesnt even work at the point where you place the microphone and did your RTA analysis from. Your brain does not work the same as a microphone. It can distinguish between the sound coming directly from the speaker and the reflected/room sound. The microphone doesnt and just sums the two. That is flaw in RTA theory. RTA is correcting for the summed frequency response but that is not what your brain is hearing.
 
Thanks guys. That's pretty much what I expected to hear... just wanted to hear it.

My Event 20/20s have Lo and Hi (+)(-) 3db trim, for some room compensation if and when needed. I run em flat, and believe in the "get to know your monitors" theory.

I don't have a problem in my room, but I was thinking that if there is something to this RTA stuff... for $180 it would be worth the improvement. Obviously not.

The only thing I have a situation w/ is the Low end, (Sub stuff)(Bass guitar and kick). So I just take a mix into my Home stereo w/ a sub, which is pretty decent, to see where it's at. (& yes I check my mixes on many different sources)

Thanks,
B.
 
Also, the ultracurve is a disgustingly bad, poorly implimented piece of kit. You would need a much better equaliser to keep up with the quality of your monitors, if you bother at all. Sort out acoustic problems with acoustic solutions, in other words fix the room.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top