Studio Treatment

[Barry Johns]

So I've finally got my home studio setup in our new home purchased recently. I've completed all of my acoustical treatment, and now am making sure that I've got everything done that I need.

Understanding the various software out there for analyzing room acoustics is my weakest point, and frankly I feel like an idiot.

Pictures below are from measurements taken with FuzzMeasure. I'm not sure how to read them. They seem good to me, but honestly, I have no idea how to interpret them.

Any insight would be much appreciated.

[Barry Johns]

There has to be somebidy here that understands this stuff.

[Rich Breen]

Hi Barry - there's not near enough information here to be helpful. Just looking at a single graph/waterfall display is meaningless. How was the measurement taken? What mic? What distance from source? What speakers are you using? Are the measurements taken with multiple speakers driven or a single speaker? What's the physical space like? Distance of walls from mic/speakers? Location of speakers/mic within the room?

That would give someone a rough start at helping you.

There's a lot of strange looking stuff in there (some very suspicious comb-filter like stuff in the top, and that weird response up in the 12k area), plus the lack of bottom end, but without knowing more it's impossible to say much at all.

You might get more input from a forum dedicated to acoustics.

best,
rich

[Barry Johns]

Originally Posted by Rich Breen

Hi Barry - there's not near enough information here to be helpful. Just looking at a single graph/waterfall display is meaningless. How was the measurement taken? What mic? What distance from source? What speakers are you using? Are the measurements taken with multiple speakers driven or a single speaker? What's the physical space like? Distance of walls from mic/speakers? Location of speakers/mic within the room?

That would give someone a rough start at helping you.

There's a lot of strange looking stuff in there (some very suspicious comb-filter like stuff in the top, and that weird response up in the 12k area), plus the lack of bottom end, but without knowing more it's impossible to say much at all.

You might get more input from a forum dedicated to acoustics.

best,
rich

I placed the mic pointed directly at the center locating between my monitors, at tweeter level, right where my ears would be.

I had 38 1/2" between each monitor, and 38 1/2" from each monitor to the tip of the mic.

I only took that one measurement based on the details above.

The room is 9' wide x 13' deep

The listening position is 38% back from the wall.

The mic was a generic Behringer ECM8000, which based on everything I read online was up to the tasks. All was done using my hd rig as the sound source.

I did the test using Mackie HR824's as well as JBL LSR803's. The results were fairly similar between both monitors, but he graphs posted are from the JBL monitors.

Below is a picture of the room.

I really appreciate any help you can provide.

[Barry Johns]

Here is a better view, but it was before I moved the desk and listening position back to the 38% point. This one gives you an idea of what is i the upper corners as well as the ceiling.

[albee1952]

I would say the lack of low end on the graph is due to cancellation due to a lack of bass trapping, AND the parallel walls (including the ceiling and floor). The foam corner pieces are pretty much useless below 150Hz. The excess low mids on the RT chart are probably a buildup in that range, again caused by all the parallel surfaces. Heavy bass trapping in the rear corners will help(in all 4 corners will help more). A thick cloud overhead(not hung flat) will also help. At the end of the day, a room that size and shape will be tough to "fix" so you will need to "learn" the room and do the best you can

Some google searching will give you some formulas to calculate the room nodes by entering the room dimensions and I bet that will be eye-opening.

[s.d. finley]

Lava Lamp!!!

As albee suggested, I also concur, add some bass traps. Real low end bass traps and not just the lenerds corner fill foam stuff. Although those do have their uses. At least 4" of 703 or its mineral wool equivalent. I built super-chunk style bass traps in my corners which are floor to ceiling stacked triangles of 4" mineral wool at 6lbs per sq ft density. I added a frame to the front with some fabric to keep the fibers in. I would also put some 2" panels, maybe 2'x4' sized, on the side walls to help with reflections. Add diffusion to the back wall too.

[Rich Breen]

one speaker driven, or both simultaneously? This still looks strange to me. No way should either of those speakers dive off a cliff below 100hz, and room related issues would show up as nulls and peaks, not as a total nosedive. Something else odd there...

[TVPostSound]

Agreed with the foam. No good.

I would start by chunking all 4 corners, floor to ceiling.
A 2" bass trap at either side of the first reflection. ( Om walls between speaker and ears)

Measure after that and treat accordingly.

[albee1952]

BTW, are those Mackie 824's? Those use a rear-firing passive radiator, which might be contributing to the lack of bottom. Moving the entire rig closer or farther from the end wall might alter that(for better or worse, I can't say). My first room was 21'x14 and I started with 824's and maybe half of the treatments you now have(but slightly more corner trapping) and I had 2 peaks of +12db and 2 nulls of -12-14 db, all between 40 and 170Hz(measured with SMAART LIVE). Switching to Event ASP8's(front ports) helped a little, but not enough for me to recommend a speaker change. Just wanted you to be aware that the passive radiator brings its own set of potential issues