How many people mixing in parallel rooms without bass traps

  • Thread starter Thread starter malcolm123
  • Start date Start date

Do you mix is a Parallel or Rectangle room?

  • Parallel or Rectangle room with Bass Traps

    Votes: 12 46.2%

  • Parallel or Rectangle room without Bass Traps

    Votes: 14 53.8%
  • Total voters
    26
  • Poll closed .
malcolm123

malcolm123

New member
Just and idea as to how many of you are mixing in Parallel or Rectangle rooms with or without Bass Traps.

any comments on the results you are getting are welcomed as well. Also how you may work around low problems if you have any during mixdowns.


Thanks

Malcolm
 
I have a parallel space and have 4 bass traps. 4 in the corners and 1 centered on the front wall. PLus the front wall has high absorbers and back wall has a failry large slot resonator. Above the mix position I have a acoustical cloud, and a polydiffusor hanging from ceiling near the back.

Sadly I use the space for mixing and recording so, I'm fighting with it being alittle dead for recording. But I still have a little dip at 80hz I did'nt recheck yet since redoing the slot resonators. Which it seems to have helped bring some of the highs back. It'll never end..... arrrgggggghhh....

The low end has tightened up compared to being trapless though.
 
Bass traps?
Come on... a $1000 pre looks a lot sexier than $200 worth of room treatment. So does getting that P4 3.2MHz instead of a P4 3.0MHz for just a couple of hundred $ more.



If you know what I'm getting at...
Aren't we all a bit like that? I spent like €700,- on new gear this summer and nada on acoustics..
 
Who needs bass traps when the perimeter of your room is lined with speaker cabs, and gear/instrument cases?

:D
 
I'm behind exactly what M.Brane says.

Plus, for any nagging frequencies left after that, there's a 10-band graphic eq w/spectrum analyzer/mic-loop, that I use to do more spot-freq adjustments. JFYI, I have a BIG hump at 125HZ, which I try to tame with the EQ. Also, I flatten out the 1k-2k-4k area & boost the 15k, where natural rolloff occurs.

What I do with the monitor/EQ/room environment sounds pretty good, and is practical. I'd consider bass traps, if there was space, but there's not. My method works for me, and there's a lot to say about 'ear training', for lack of a better term. That is, knowing what your monitors 'should' sound like in quantifiable terms, and judging everything from that baseline.

I guess that's the long & short of it, from my perspective.;)
 
I agree with all of you.

The initial post was to get an idea as to who in here is doing what.

Personally, I have never had Bass Traps and yes my mixes would translate because I knew my environment and my monitors.

Once I changed enviroments and monitors I had to learn both of them all over. So before I got too tuned to what I knew I should do to fix this or that,, I got some Bass Traps. Before I got the Bass Traps I would run that program that generates sinewaves at different Freqs and move around the room. Like a lot of people I would get a huge bass build up in the back of the room as well as other areas. After installing the bass traps the build up was minimized a lot.

Summary, this now allows me to mix easier. What I hear now in my room in regard to low freq is a lot closer to what I hear when I playback in other environments. I no longer have to boost certain low freqs in my room which was irritating to me. I would boost because I knew I needed that for my mixes to translate better.

I guess if your monitors dont really pump low freqs that hard then it really wouldnt bother you. Mine pump and it bothered me during real mixdowns.

Thanks

Malcolm
 
I have [4x] 15"-4-way speakers, so no,... there's no bass there!

Kidding, you guys! There's TREMENDOUS BASS, and clarity, I must add.

PLUS, [4x] 15"-4-ways are not all, there's also a set of 12"-3-way speakers and a 10"-3-way speakers in my environment. Yes, I have 8 loudspeakers on my system, but it's not large and bassy,...
IT'S HUGE AND THUNDEROUS!;)
 
Re: I have [4x] 15"-4-way speakers, so no,... there's no bass there!

REEL, how are you patching them??

A Reel Person said:
Kidding, you guys! There's TREMENDOUS BASS, and clarity, I must add.

PLUS, [4x] 15"-4-ways are not all, there's also a set of 12"-3-way speakers and a 10"-3-way speakers in my environment. Yes, I have 8 loudspeakers on my system, but it's not large and bassy,...
IT'S HUGE AND THUNDEROUS!;)
Click to expand...
 
Series/Parellel

;)
Don't worry, the load's right, still 8 ohms.

The reciever normally handles 4 speakers, [A/B], and functions in the 4-16 ohms range. So, with one [A] pair of 8 ohm speakers, you're running a nominal 8 ohms. You kick in the second set of speakers, , and given that your second pair of speakers is also 8 ohms, your reciever is then functioning with a 4 ohm load, technically. THEN, consider that I'm running a 16 ohm load/ea speaker tap, by wiring each speaker [Al/Ar/Bl/Br] with two loudspeakers/ea in SERIES which DOUBLES load to 16, and the speaker count to 8, total. So, technically, I'm still pumping power into an 8 ohm load, by running two 16 ohm loads in PARALLEL.

I thought I was a bit fuzzy to explain the loading, but there'ya go.

It works fine, thank you.;)

The A/B speakers function on your amp as two speaker loads in PARALLEL, which by the wonders of electricity, halves the load when used in this configuration. By essentially doubling the speaker load, with each speaker tap now running two loudspeakers wired in SERIES, and by virtue of running in this PARALLEL A/B speaker mode, it sets the total load back down to 8 ohms. I think of it as series/parallel basic electronics, in this case, FWIW.

I guess I'm repeating myself.;)
 
========================
Speakers, set A
========================

[+]TERMINAL/SPKA/LEFT[+]<--Red wire-->([+][8 ohm/1st spkr][-])<--(interconnect wire)-->([+][8/ohm/2nd spkr][-])<--Black wire-->[-]TERMINAL/SPKA/LEFT[-], 16 ohm load.

[+]TERMINAL/SPKA/RIGHT[+]<--Red wire-->([+][8 ohm/1st spkr][-])<--(interconnect wire)-->([+][8/ohm/2nd spkr][-])<--Black wire-->[-]TERMINAL/SPKA/RIGHT[-], 16 ohm load.

========================
Lather, rinse, repeat. B- Speakers.
========================

[+]TERMINAL/SPKB/LEFT[+]<--Red wire-->([+][8 ohm/1st spkr][-])<--(interconnect wire)-->([+][8/ohm/2nd spkr][-])<--Black wire-->[-]TERMINAL/SPKB/LEFT[-], 16 ohm load.

[+]TERMINAL/SPKB/RIGHT[+]<--Red wire-->([+][8 ohm/1st spkr][-])<--(interconnect wire)-->([+][8/ohm/2nd spkr][-])<--Black wire-->[-]TERMINAL/SPKB/RIGHT[-], 16 ohm load.
 
christiaan said:
Bass traps?
Come on... a $1000 pre looks a lot sexier than $200 worth of room treatment. So does getting that P4 3.2MHz instead of a P4 3.0MHz for just a couple of hundred $ more.



If you know what I'm getting at...
Aren't we all a bit like that? I spent like €700,- on new gear this summer and nada on acoustics..
Click to expand...

but in truth, $200 worth of room treatment makes your studio look "professional" and will get you more clients... well, i spent more than $200 but that's not the point. the acoustic treatment really did make my room sound much better.

i bought the room treatment (primacoustic), then i got the new preamp.

i set my room up to try to maintain a "live" feel while reducing bass buildup and reflections.

now i'm moving, so i'll have an opportunity to start from scratch with no existing drywall and such.
 
Man ... my room is almost SQUARE (!) with a bookcase (diffusor) in the back of it ... Added a 'broadband absorber' (put up rockwool in the corners, floor to ceiling -> €50) and it helped.. echo gone, bass audible.. there's still problems, but I'm halfway there.


Herwig
 
heh I was going to build the "perfect" small room but my transmission in my car went out so I redid th interior of a 12x12.5x7 shed. The interior is all hardwood chipboard with a auralex roominator kit and 3ft by 5ft doormat like those that they have at schools ;) for the drum kit. Also because the ceiling is so low the walls and ceiling meet with a diagonal piece about 1'6" wide so I could raise the ceiling in the center a bit more. amaizingly the frequency response cam out ok ...alot better than the basement I was in... and the fun part is that there are high harmonic distortion points typically a little close to the corners but along the wall making it very warm sounding... but theres a huge 1k distortion peak at my mix position...

For recording drums I put the overheads right infront of the bass traps about 8ft away in the opposite corners... it comes out with fairly smooth cymbals.

I also plugged the reflex tubs in my monitors with socks... THAT was the biggest difference in bass response
 
My room is shaped like an "L" so that the mixer is sorta recessed out of the room. Im still not done with the thing even though I running clients through it. I need some corner traps and 2 diffusers and Ill be done pretty much except for spraying some fiberglass into the air cavity above the drywall.
Next comes the semi-floating floor and sealing out the garage for a bigger 20X9 live room ;)

SoMm
 
malcolm123 said:
Just and idea as to how many of you are mixing in Parallel or Rectangle rooms with or without Bass Traps.

any comments on the results you are getting are welcomed as well. Also how you may work around low problems if you have any during mixdowns.


Thanks

Malcolm
Click to expand...

I think the title / poll question makes an assumption which is not correct. The assumption is that rooms that don't have parallel walls, don't suffer from room modes. This is just not the case. The biggest acoustic factor in all small rooms, below 12,000 cubic feet, are room modes. Angling, tilting, or splaying walls, may help at MID to HF frequencies, by helping to redirect energy away from the monitoring area, but it will not change the problem of room modes. However, it does make them harder to predict.

Having said that, it is more important do get the ratio of length, to height, to width to be "ideal", along with using LF absorption, to come up with a room that has good LF performance in the monitoring area. Additionally, using a bass-managed sub/sat monitoring system can also be helpful - www.abluesky.com/fullrange <---- more information here.

Just for reference, here are some guidelines for room geometries that yield good LF performance.

1 - The room ratios should conform to the following equation: 1.1 X W/H is [= to or greater than] L/H [= to or greater than] 4.5 X W/H-4 (sorry could not get the symbols to work right) (l=length; w=width; h=height)
2 - The length or the width should not be greater than 3 times the height.
3 - The ratio of dimensions should not be in integer multiples.
4 - The number of modes should increase within a 1/3 octave band with each increase in center frequency.
5- The room should not have significant overlap of room modes from the three different axes (length, width, height) at any frequency from 20Hz to 150Hz.

* For a reference, a room that has the following interior dimensions will meet these guidelines. 21x16x9 feet. This room is about 3k Cubic Feet in volume.

Hope this helps...
 
Last edited:
Thanks Bluesky :)

Now throw in a pile of square equip racks and try again ;)



SoMm
 
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