Room Testing and Acoustic Problems

[executivos]

So I just moved into a new place (and a new control room to treat and adjust to) and I'd like to find out where my problems are and address them with acoustic treatments.

I have a behringer test room mic (actually I have 2 they aren't bad as omni OH's for drums in a good room) but I'd like to use them for their original intent----to test my room.

What exactly do I need in terms of equipment? I have that free rtas plugin---inspecter which has pretty accurate metering. Shouldn't I be able to generate tones through my 20/20 bas, plug in the mic and measure whats happening, or do I need more equipment? I know that most monitors have bumps in response---will this create a problem?

I just built some diffusors for the back of my control room and I'd like to figure if they are more valuable than just cool art. HA!

Also if I were to do this, should I use singal generator and sine wavs or is it pink noise or white noise? (sorry I get those two messed up)

Any ideas?

[RBaker]

Aww man...nobody?? OK I guess I'll mess around some more and try to figure it out.

[Third Eye Studios]

Well, it's two days later, and I'm not an expert by any means, but I'll give it a try. First of all, it is pink noise that you would use to check a room's frequency response. The volume of the pink noise will greatly change the response of the room, so it is a good idea to use a SPL meter as well to analyze the room at a volume that you normally listen to music at (pink noise at that volume is very irritating). I suppose you could set up one of the test mics through Pro Tools and use the Elemental Audio plug-in to check it out. Put the mic in your mix position so it hears what your ears do (also just for kicks, move the mic around the room to see what the rest looks like-try the corners) If you are generating the pink noise in Pro Tools, be sure to mute the mic to avoid a feedback loop. Look at the meters with the diffusers up, then compare with them down. I would use peak metering and set the time to fast. There are many more factors at work here though (frequency response of the microphone, placement of the microphone, amplitude of pink noise, etc......), so I think at best you will just get an estimate of what's happening more than an accurate measurement. I think diffusers on the back wall and bass traps in the front corners are the best improvements a small room can make.