Mixing in my apartment.

A

asi9

New member
Here's the deal: I'm going to be mixing our full length album, which will require a lot of time and experimentation (I want this thing to sound GOOD), so I'm considering doing it at my apartment where I live, giving me the freedom to stay up late experimenting with effects, eqs, or trying something any time I feel the urge to.

I just need to know how to treat the room in a cheap way. I planned on sticking the PC in the corner, so that the speakers aren't facing at a wall and bouncing back and getting standing waves, etc. What else do I really need to do? Here are the facts:

-I live in a studio apartment, rectangular.
-I don't have a lot of furniture to absorb the sound
-Neighbors are cool, they don't have a real problem with it
-I am a bachelor, and no one ever really comes and visits me, so I can pretty much do whatever I want to the room (even if it's ugly) short of altering the room itself.

What cheap and effective way can I either deaden or diffuse the sound, so that I hear the frequencies from my nearfield monitors with more accuracy? I'm picturing hanging up blankets or a material of some sort on the walls where the sound would first bounce.....

Or maybe if someone could direct me to a link on acoustically treating a room.....

Thanks!
 
LOL. This brings back memories.

I was once in your EXACT situation. I had just moved to a suburb of Chicago (for my job), and knew exactly NO ONE in the state of Illinois. If only I had pictures of what I did to that apartment!

Anyway, here's what I did:

1) Took my bed mattress, and put it up against one wall.

2) Took my couch, and stood it straight up, vertically, to the side of the mattress in sort of a "v" /_ - Hung thick blankets and sleeping bags all over both.

Thick sleeping bags are good, by the way.

3) Took the CUSHIONS from the couch, and put them together somehow to form yet another "wall." Looked sort of like this (top view) : \_/

What I wound up with was a mini vocal chamber composed of sleeping bags, bed mattress, couch, couch cushions, whatever else I could find.

Be creative with what you have. Just make sure not to invite anyone over, and don't tell anyone where you live. Outsiders just won't understand.
 
HAHA, that's great. The ultimate make-shift vocal booth.

I was actually starting to think after I posted this, rather than trying to treat the whole room, make a miniature "room" within the room. My idea was to make a "barrier" with three faces of some sort, which would surround me and the computer in the corner, standing up it would look something like this. \__/

What could I make it out of, though? I thought about a big piece of cardboard, but I would have to make sure it was completely covered to keep it from reflecting, and to cover it that much might make it too heavy for the cardboard. If I could just make some kind of frame that I could hang a sleeping bag and sheets over.... It woulc be cool if I had some coatracks or something.
 
Some good hardware for mounting temporary baffles are
C - Stands. They are used in TV/Film production for mounting lights and reflectors and are similliar to boom mic stands except they are much more heavy duty. They are not cheap but you can find them used.

Another option is old office cubicle dividers. They are self supporting and usually have a soft fabric covering. You could even add a sleeping bag over the top of them. See if you can find a used office supply store.

For the dividers like you described above just get a couple pieces of 4x8 plywood, hinge them together and cover with something to minimize reflections.
 
I'm in the same boat, verrrrry interested to hear ideas, I like the whole office divider idea, I've also thought about those cheapo plastic panels that some High schools (atleast mine) used during band/chorus concerts, those would be perfect and cheap, no idea where to get them though, well except my old high school!


Laj
 
I just finished being in that boat over Xmas break. I was mixing/majorly editing (EQ, compression, etc.) my band's first album. Actually getting the goods mastered this tuesday (YAY). After sitting in my room for 5 weeks, I learned the room quite well. There were some funky reflections, but I learned to deal with those quite quick after checkin playback on other good systems. It was awfully ghetto....no baffles, no absorption, no nothing basically except a room. It's really more about learning what you got than trying to change it all. I couldn't afford baffling, so my bass was kind of mushy, but again, it took time to fix that. If I could do it again (and had some cash), I'd put some absorption right behind me. I was getting some real funky reflections when I tried to pan stuff (which is one of the reasons I kept the album mono except for the drums). It'll help with it. Also, put some absorption in the corners. It'll keep the bass down. Other than that, if you got the time, don't rush yourself. I hated even having a deadline of a month and a half! Rushing, unless you're a pro, will usually result in shit. You've got the time so use it and try your stuff on every system you can.

Mikey
 
Hello!
You might try this:

http://www.acoustics101.com/

I know you talked about cheap (same boat here!), but it's full of practical guidelines on positioning absorption material,theory etc.
Might be of some use even if u don't plan on buying expensive material such as the one they suggest...
Hope it helps

Cheers! :)
 
Go online and google "bass traps" and "Hemholtz resonators" You can find ones to buy, but they are easy to make, so you can totally get cheap material and make them yourself. I can post somethings later about figuring out what problem frequencies your room has, and how to fix those (I just took an acoustics class, and I have the book at my house). I think I have the mathmatical equation to figure out how big or small of a bass trap you need too for your problem frequencies. That's really the most important part, standing waves. They color your mix and make it muddy, and gross. If you can find those and eliminate them, you should get pretty good mixes. If you want I have information on diffusers too, those are cheap and easy to build as well. I used this info on my room, and it sounds pretty good. It's not 100% great, but like mikemoritz said, it's all about getting used to what you're hearing. Put in a professional cd that you know inside and out, and just listen to it for an hour in your mixing space, and then keep a song up that sort of sounds like what you're trying to accomplish and a/b it, so you know what your's is sounding like in comparison. Sorry this was so long, but I hope it helps. I will try to post that info about standing waves, and bass traps and things later today.
 
In general, what are the principles governing good tuning for a mix room? That is to say, what am I trying to do? Am I trying to absorb or distribute/diffuse sound? If both, when is it one and when is it the other?

Thanks guys.
 
Rian,

> what are the principles governing good tuning for a mix room? <

What most rooms need more than anything is plenty of absorption that's effective to as low a frequency as possible. For the complete story see the Acoustics FAQ, second in the list on my Articles page:

www.ethanwiner.com/articles.html

It's a long article, but it explains exactly what you need.

--Ethan
 
omodigamog said:
Hello!
You might try this:

http://www.acoustics101.com/

I know you talked about cheap (same boat here!), but it's full of practical guidelines on positioning absorption material,theory etc.
Might be of some use even if u don't plan on buying expensive material such as the one they suggest...
Hope it helps

Cheers! :)
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Gentlemen,

Please check the dates of the last post before bumping a 2 year old thread.


I bet his lease is up.

;)
 
invisiblenemies said:
Gentlemen,

Please check the dates of the last post before bumping a 2 year old thread.


I bet his lease is up.

;)
Click to expand...

Good eye invisiblenemies. I was deep into this thread and after reading your post I went back to see the dates. Ha Ha
 
I've decided to stop celebrating xmas & start celebrating the 1 year anniversary of this thread.

Happy 'Mixing in my apartment' everybody!
 
invisiblenemies said:
I've decided to stop celebrating xmas & start celebrating the 1 year anniversary of this thread.

Happy 'Mixing in my apartment' everybody!
Click to expand...

That's great!! :D And the same to you!!
Maybe we could find ol' asi9 to say a few words?
 
invisiblenemies said:
That would really make this year's celebration mean so much more.
Click to expand...
You’re right. The whole “peace on earth and good will towards all man” is terribly over-rated. What we really need to hear at this time of year is (and maybe sung to the tune of We Wish You a Merry Xmas)


”-I live in a studio apartment.
-I don't have a lot of furniture to absorb the sound
-Neighbors are cool, they don't have a real problem with it
-I am a bachelor, and no one ever really comes and visits me, so I can pretty much do whatever I want to the room (even if it's ugly) short of altering the room itself.”

I’m getting “misty” just reading it! :D
 
I should do some treatment of some sort in my apartment maybe.... or maybe not.

I dont plan on doing too much serious mixing or recording in there, although I might try to do an acoustic album of some of my newer stuff (family and people would like that; haven't released an "album" since a couple years ago when I put a bunch of my recordings on a cd and smacked a pretty cover).

Moving into somewhere for the school year, and then back home, and then somewhere else, is a really good thing to show you just how much difference a room makes. I'm always amazed at how dramatically different things sound when I set up in a new space, although last couple places I've been in have sounded pretty much the same - mainly more bass.

I dont think I have too much of a problem with bass in the garage area I'm used to - got carpet under me, the insulation is exposed in the walls to diffuse stuff, and I wouldn't be surprised if the low end stuff is just going straight through the thin things that are there and never coming back.

Plus there's all sorts of crap in there - maybe one reason to turn your control room into a storage closet!

Although it sounds too dead for tracking...

Keepin the thread alive.
 
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