Room Resonance?

H

hognogger

New member
I've just recently bought some monitors (have previously been mixing with headphones).

One thing they seem to have brought out is a kind of congested quality in everything I have recorded in my (untreated) room.

I did an EQ sweep and boost through some tracks, and I found, at exactly 194Hz on every track I recorded in the room, this really pronounced sound, like someone blowing over the top of a bottle. I did a narrow bandwidth cut at that frequency, and everything opened up quite a lot.

Unfortunately, room treatment is not an option, owing to the fact that this is my bedroom in a rental property, and there is no room to place anything that cannot be affixed to a wall (and I will probably lose my bond if I affix things to walls).

Does this sound like a likely artifact of the acoustic properties of my room? Any other things to look out for when reviewing my recordings, that might be room related?

Thanks. :)
 
Foam isn't going to cut it. Broadband absorption and plenty of it. GIK Tri-Traps stand alone in the corner. Assuming you have 8' ceilings, you can stack two of them in every corner you can. Short of that, the 244's are light enough to hang from a pair of picture hangers. Straddle the corners (again, floor-to-ceiling if possible).
 
hognogger said:
(previously been mixing with headphones).
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Well, that says more to me than room treatment. Mix with your monitors and never use headphones for mixing ever again! 2nd, check out Auralex.com, specifically here

You'll need something to absorb the highs as well... Hell, man! You can work with what you got! :)
 
Golden said:
Well, that says more to me than room treatment. Mix with your monitors and never use headphones for mixing ever again! 2nd, check out Auralex.com, specifically here

You'll need something to absorb the highs as well... Hell, man! You can work with what you got! :)
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Also, EQ... Practice!
 
ecktronic said:
Always always always start at the source.
In this problem, I mean fix your room before fixing with EQ.

Eck
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The Truth.
 
hognogger said:
Unfortunately, room treatment is not an option, owing to the fact that this is my bedroom in a rental property, and there is no room to place anything that cannot be affixed to a wall (and I will probably lose my bond if I affix things to walls). :)
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Did anyone else read the post? He said room treatment is not an option. So I offered some alternatives. Open your fucking eyes superstars!
 
I also provided him with a link to Stand-Mounted LENRDs... Who's being helpful here? These two guys with over 3000 posts talk like they know shit. Maybe try recording something and laying off the internet. eat it!
 
and also, eq is very important. what's wrong with mentioning that? In fact, eq is part of the source ya dim fucks! It's all relative. So get off your self built high horses and use your nut sized brains.
 
haha, calm down....

I think what eck is getting at is don't rely on EQ to fix your problems when it can be corrected at the source. Either by adjusting the sound of your instrument, the location of the mics, the type of mics, or the actual sound of the room. Your post suggested that EQ will solve room problems.

I think the original poster just doesn't understand what can be done to his room to improve the sound. And without doing any major construction that will piss the landlord off. Hence why I asked if he can at least mount pictures...because then he can mount broadband absorbers on the walls. Or place traps in the corners.
 
hognogger said:
I've just recently bought some monitors (have previously been mixing with headphones).

One thing they seem to have brought out is a kind of congested quality in everything I have recorded in my (untreated) room.

I did an EQ sweep and boost through some tracks, and I found, at exactly 194Hz on every track I recorded in the room, this really pronounced sound, like someone blowing over the top of a bottle. I did a narrow bandwidth cut at that frequency, and everything opened up quite a lot.

Does this sound like a likely artifact of the acoustic properties of my room? Any other things to look out for when reviewing my recordings, that might be room related?

Thanks. :)
Click to expand...

Are you sure the problem is not with the monitoring environment as opposed to the recording environment? Perhaps they are the same for you, but it is an important distinction anyway.

For example, maybe you close mic'd a guitar amp. In this application, a room resonance probably won't be very pronounced in the recorded track. But play back the track in a room with a resonance and it sounds like there's a problem with the recording. This could explain why you never noticed these things in headphones.

So your actual tracks might, just might, be ok. But playing them back in that room is messing with your mind.

One test might be to play back something that was not mic'd like a software instrument or something and see if it has the same resonance.

Or, better yet, you could run a frequency analysis on the room to see if there is a mode at 194Hz. There probably is.
 
bennychico11 said:
I think the original poster just doesn't understand what can be done to his room to improve the sound. And without doing any major construction that will piss the landlord off.
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Exactly. And even more basic than hanging treatments - though that's a good idea too, and can be done without marring the walls and losing a security deposit - is mix/monitor position. I know the OP says he is in a bedroom, so maybe his choices are limited in that regard, but if he can do his best to pull his monitors out of the corners, symmetric with the room dimensions, and at least somewhat away from the backing wall, that can help a great deal in many cases.

Additionally, sometimes just the movement of The Comfy Chair (complete with soft pillows) or a movable bookcase into the rear corners while doing the audio thang can help tame the acoustics too.

There are many options that don't have to cost much and don't require an episode of This Old House to implement. Hit the Studio Building forum for more info on this stuff.

G.
 
Wow! :D Golden, take it easy. No ones picking on you. Well they will now for being a hot head. There are plenty of options for treating rooms that will work in small rooms without messing up your walls. Many of which are cheap.
It's also true that EQ is best used sparingly and not as a room fix.

Just because other people have suggestions doesn't give any excuse to fly off the handle and stamp your feet like a 2 year old. All of the other peoples suggestions are for teatments that are non-distructive to the room.
Perhaps when you give advise everyone else just needs to shut up and not offer any other suggestions. If someone here said you're an idiot or you suck why don't you quote them and step up to the plate rather than blanket everyone on the thread with your juvenile insults.

Everyone on this thread has been nice enough not to call you what you are being in public which leaves me with one conclusion. The only person on this thread that has made a lasting impression on me with thier statements is you and it's not a good one.

F.S.
 
Golden - Wow. You don't have access to guns, do you? :eek: I really can't see where or why you got so offended. :confused: Your input is welcome and appreciated, your insults are not. It's a place of discussion, of sounding out different ideas......some great, some not. No one here can expect everyone here to agree with everything they say, but we can expect to treat each other somewhat nicely. OK?
 
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