live room acoustics

[frequency_]

i understand how important acoustic treatment is for control rooms, but should similar treatments be done to a live room? (bass trapping, diffusion etc)?
I guess same as in a control room there will be problems with ringing and standing waves... and instead of the ear of the engineer there will be microphones. but is it as important as in control rooms?

and...Is there an ideal decay time for a live room depending on its volume? .

 

[RezN8]

I've been reading a lot on this very subject ... I would definitely be more concerned with treating your recording room than your control room.

You can always change your mixing environment AFTER you get 'cleaner' recordings in a well-treated room.

 

[Ethan Winer]

> should similar treatments be done to a live room? <

Sure, especially if the "live" room is small. All small rooms have the same problems with excess ambience, ringing, a skewed LF response, and early reflections that cause comb filtering. You don't want those screwing up your monitoring, and you don't want them contaminating what the mikes pick up either.

> Is there an ideal decay time for a live room depending on its volume? <

Yes, there are formulas for that, but mostly as it affects listening rooms. For recording spaces there's no one "correct" decay time. Big studios often have a large heavy curtain, or moveable absorbing baffles, so they can change the decay time to suit the type of music being recorded.

--Ethan

 

[frequency_]

i see, thanks ...the room i have in mind is small, do you think difusion would be nesesary?

 

[Ethan Winer]

Small rooms need absorption much more than diffusion IMO.

 

[myfipie]

I've been reading a lot on this very subject ... I would definitely be more concerned with treating your recording room than your control room.

You can always change your mixing environment AFTER you get 'cleaner' recordings in a well-treated room.

IMO for a live room you want to put as much bass trapping in it as possible, but keep the facing of the rigid friberglass on it. That way the low end is taken care of but you leave the "life" (high end) in the room.. Then I would build some 2 inch panels without facing and move them to taste.. More for a dead sound and less for a open sound..

Glenn