How do I get accurate and consistant Bass/Low end?

[adclark]

I have a bedroom, carpeted, typical drywall. Fully furnished. I have 2 Tapco s-5's with the rear Bass control turned up. The monitors are approx 3-4 inches from wall at an angle facing listener (one on each side of desk). My problem is the mids and highs seem accurate when I play mix on different systems. But the Bass and low end sounds muddy and overbearing. What I do is make a mix...listen in car, home stereo, headphones etc...make mental notes and go back and tweak. I go back and forth. What can I do with my monitors or room to at least make the bass more accurate so I can do less back and forth tweaking?

 

[Kevin Deschwazi]

Bass trapping.

Take a look in the studio building forum. The room treatment experts hang out in there.

 

[chessrock]

Yup. That plus you also need more accurate monitoring of the low end. This might mean more accurate monitors, or the use of a sub-woofer.

 

[Middleman]

5 inch speakers are never going to provide accurate bass response in a bedroom. First they just are not pushing enough of the low end for you to hear. Second, as mentioned above, even if they were sending the proper bass levels, you may are may not be able to hear the bass depending on where in the room you are standing. This is due to the characteristics of bass sound waves in small spaces, things called nulls and nodes come into play which completely make it impossible to mix properly.

You need a subwoofer to match with your current speakers and as stated above, you will need some bass traps to soak up the bass in that small space and give you a more even and proper response in the listening postion.

I mixed on subs and satellites for 3 years and finally sold that setup and got 8 inch speakers which do throw the proper amount of bass, I then treated the room with bass traps. This almost eliminated my need to run to the car to check mixes.

 

[kylen]

5 inch speakers are never going to provide accurate bass response in a bedroom. First they just are not pushing enough of the low end for you to hear. Second, as mentioned above, even if they were sending the proper bass levels, you may are may not be able to hear the bass depending on where in the room you are standing. This is due to the characteristics of bass sound waves in small spaces, things called nulls and nodes come into play which completely make it impossible to mix properly.

I mixed on subs and satellites for 3 years and finally sold that setup and got 8 inch speakers which do throw the proper amount of bass, I then treated the room with bass traps. This almost eliminated my need to run to the car to check mixes.

Amen, same here!

In addition to that I'm learning the art of performing critical listening at lower SPL levels in a closer nearfield. Changing those 2 things excite less room modes but I have to learn additional listening skills - we'll see if I can do it since it's a new thing for me. I'm not alone though...

 

[Gorty]

I have a similar setup as adclark and like Middleman said due to the characteristics of the Bass sound waves in a small room, I find my kick drum and low end bass soundwaves hide in the opposite corners to my monitors.

I just take a casual stroll into the corner and as silly as it sounds I even lean over the monitors and have a little listen behind them, a casual wander into the adjoining bedroom gives me a slightly different take on what the bass is doing.
A little bit of up and down, but it's less mileage than out to the car, come back, another mix.
Not the most ideal situation but has been effective!