Avid Pro Audio Community

Avid Pro Audio Community

How to Join & Post  •  Community Terms of Use  •  Help Us Help You

Knowledge Base Search  •  Community Search  •  Learn & Support


Avid Home Page

Go Back   Avid Pro Audio Community > Legacy Products > 003, Mbox 2, Digi 002, original Mbox, Digi 001 (Mac)

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1  
Old 09-18-2004, 07:12 AM
STUDIO A STUDIO A is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 87
Default tuned control room?

Hi All
How can I tell if my control room, which is basically a room I built in my basement constucted of cynderblock foundation with foam insulation and sheetrock, nothing fancy. The room doesn't sound bad but I can't tell if it's tuning is ok or if it's poor. What can I do to check this? I guess I would need a spectral analyzer? Any advice?
Thanks
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 09-19-2004, 01:56 AM
Guerrilla Tech Guerrilla Tech is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Hollywood
Posts: 116
Default Re: tuned control room?

Listen to a few well mixed CD's and see if they sound right. Notice I said "right" and not "good" or "great". Choose songs you know intimately, and listen to what is boosted or lacking. Then mix a few tunes, and see how they translate to other systems.
I use:
Steely Dan "Babylon Sisters",
Shania Twain "No one needs to know
Seal "Kiss from a Rose"
Tracy Bonham "MOther Mother"
Johnny Cash "The Beast in Me"
The Pulp Fiction Soundtrack
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 09-19-2004, 08:59 AM
GregV GregV is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Posts: 405
Default Re: tuned control room?

Technically, to tune a room you need to buy a stereo graphic EQ, and rent a spectrum analyzer. You need to set the EQ so that when White Noise is coming out of your speakers, your spectrum analyzer reads completely flat. Then leave the EQ like that.
You now have a "flat" room.

However, if your room sounds "pretty good" right now, and you're using decent gear, trust your ears.
But as suggested, EDUCATE your ears.
Listen to as much music in that environment as is possible. Get your ears accustomed to the sound of those speakers in that room.
Once you know what your favourite music sounds like, then you know what your mix should sound like.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 09-19-2004, 09:09 AM
martian martian is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Dec 1969
Location: hong kong
Posts: 337
Default Re: tuned control room?

i would go along with that- additionally you can play a note at same velocity up and down the scale-

if you have a smaller room you may notice some bass notes sound much louder than others- lots of hard surfaces and high pitch rings can happen on the higher stuff.

putting absorption can solve some bass problems, diffussors can be made simply and cheaply to solve.

maybe go on a acustics news group to learn more- or visit the libary and get a book on acoustics, F. Alton Everest has a pretty good book on this and is rellatively easy to digest.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 09-21-2004, 06:44 AM
cigam cigam is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Orlando, Florida
Posts: 86
Default Re: tuned control room?

An Eq in the control room is NOT the way to establish a tuned room, but bass traps and diffussers are.

EQing the room is not effective because it is so dependent on where you are sitting in the room.

Even if you EQ the sweet spot, you can still have dips and peaks in the frequency response if you move your head slightly to the left or the right.

There are certain types of bass traps that are actually tuned to the suspect frequencies in the room so that when that frequency is produced the traps absorb the peaks. If I am correct this is called a Helmholtz Resonator. http://homepages.tig.com.au/~audio/e...c/helmholz.htm

High frequency absorbtion and diffusion is much easier than low frequency control, but......

Check out Acoustics 101 at www.acoustics101.com

Also go to www.realtraps.com/info.htm

I've learned A LOT from these sites.

My Two Cents,
CIGAM
__________________
Is This Cosmos or Chaos?
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 09-21-2004, 11:54 AM
Lowfreq Lowfreq is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Newbury Park, Ca.
Posts: 651
Default Re: tuned control room?

Quote:
Technically, to tune a room you need to buy a stereo graphic EQ, and rent a spectrum analyzer. You need to set the EQ so that when White Noise is coming out of your speakers, your spectrum analyzer reads completely flat. Then leave the EQ like that.
You now have a "flat" room.
That would require Pink Noise, not White Noise. And the Spectrum Analyzer will never read 'flat' (within 1dB or less) anyway. Unless your room is an anechoic chamber.

Quote:
Even if you EQ the sweet spot, you can still have dips and peaks in the frequency response if you move your head slightly to the left or the right.
This has nothing to due with using EQ alone. Depending on the room & monitoring variables, 'out of the sweet spot' is inherently not sonically accurate anyway.

Using EQ to SOLEY tune aroom is hardly the 'right way'. Acoustic treatments (typical trapping, absorbtion & diffusion) would certainly offer a smoother alternative. Using EQ (1-3dB MAX) to smooth out of the response of room that has been acosutically treated is hardly out of order though. Especially in a home recording rig situation.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 09-21-2004, 06:32 PM
GregV GregV is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Posts: 405
Default Re: tuned control room?

Quote:
That would require Pink Noise, not White Noise. And the Spectrum Analyzer will never read 'flat' (within 1dB or less) anyway. Unless your room is an anechoic chamber.

Really?? It's not white noise?
I thought that white noise was "all frequencies equally represented", and as such gave a perfect source by which to EQ a room.

And you're correct... it will never read totally flat... but that's what you're aiming for - using the EQ to cut or boost frequencies in order to reach as-close-to-flat speaker response as possible.

Again, I think that the most important tool is your ears though... as long as you are intimately familiar with the "sound" of your room, you'll turn out good mixes.
(For the first few, it'll be a great benefit to have lots of appropriate reference material on hand. By "appropriate", I mean don't use AC/DC's Back in Black if you're mixing a Celine Dion record... common sense dictates)
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 09-21-2004, 08:47 PM
Paul Cavins Paul Cavins is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Cincinnati
Posts: 328
Default Re: tuned control room?

http://johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/index.php

This is a link to a great studio design site. If you send in a drawing of your room they usually will give great suggestions. They are really helpful.


PC
__________________
I don't know karate but I know KA-RAZY!
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 09-22-2004, 07:42 AM
martian martian is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Dec 1969
Location: hong kong
Posts: 337
Default Re: tuned control room?

but ( at one hell of an extreme) if you are mixing in a toilet then it would be pretty hard to do- because the amount of muddy coloration wouldn't allow a fair comparision- saying they both sound crap in your toilet isn't saying your tune will sound as nice as their's outside the toilet.
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 09-24-2004, 07:54 PM
Lowfreq Lowfreq is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Newbury Park, Ca.
Posts: 651
Default Re: tuned control room?

Quote:
Really?? It's not white noise?
I thought that white noise was "all frequencies equally represented", and as such gave a perfect source by which to EQ a room.
You have them switched around. Pink Noise is 'all frequencies equally represented'. It sounds like a water fall.

White noise is purely random in frequency and amplitude. It sounds like static.

The dark side of EQ is phase shifting. Mild use is one thing, and only for cutting freq's., not boosting them.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Euphonix MC Control V2 - Control room knob PT9HD-HELP hugoleitao Artist Series 3 06-09-2012 06:03 PM
Control room pot noise? PT2GO ProControl, Control|24, Command|8 4 09-14-2007 07:11 AM
400 Sq Ft Control Room Available in NYC relaxo Tips & Tricks 0 03-30-2003 08:49 AM
Control Room Size? seeds Tips & Tricks 24 07-06-2002 03:19 PM
How Do You Configure Control Room Vol. Control MeltMediaMusic Pro Tools TDM Systems (Mac) 1 05-09-2000 10:07 PM


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 05:52 AM.


Powered by: vBulletin, Copyright ©2000 - 2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Limited. Forum Hosted By: URLJet.com