Bad Room, Good Monitors?

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Hi all,
I'm looking for a little advice. I am recording/mixing in a terrible
room. specs~12x12x8, nearly square. I also am using stereo speakers to
mix. I know it's awful.

My question, is it worth it to invest in monitors when my room
conditions are so poor?

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in article 7157910d.0408051411.17dc47a7@posting.google.com, Greg at
nospam@doctorodd.com wrote on 8/5/04 6:11 PM:

> Hi all,
> I'm looking for a little advice. I am recording/mixing in a terrible
> room. specs~12x12x8, nearly square. I also am using stereo speakers to
> mix. I know it's awful.
>
> My question, is it worth it to invest in monitors when my room
> conditions are so poor?

what's wrong with your current speakers?

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

No don't buy good speakers in a terrible room. Do these things:

Get a Behringer test mic. Get some analyzer software. BORROW good monitors.
Test the room in various mix positions, find out all the peaks and valleys.
Call an acoustic company and tell them what is wrong with the room. Get ALL
THE TREATMENTS necessary to fix it, spend if you got to, just fix the room.
Then buy good gear and monitors and live peacefully and happily knowing that
you're mixes will translate well.
Steve
www.bangrecording.com
www.blacklinerock.com

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Thanks Scott, JoVee and Dave,
Just to follow up a bit,

>What's wrong with my current speakers?

They don't give me an accurate sound image. I need to check the mix on
multiple systems to get a not-so-terrible sound.

>> Are you stuck with this room forever?
I could move somewhere else in my place however it would just be
tighter. I suspect the hall or bathroom would not help to much. I'm
stuck here for at least 3 years, until then I don't expect a miracle,
I just want to make improvements where I can.

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nospam@doctorodd.com (Greg) wrote in message news:<7157910d.0408051411.17dc47a7@posting.google.com>...
> Hi all,
> I'm looking for a little advice. I am recording/mixing in a terrible
> room. specs~12x12x8, nearly square. I also am using stereo speakers to
> mix. I know it's awful.
>
> My question, is it worth it to invest in monitors when my room
> conditions are so poor?

Hi there Greg,

I just wrote about my situation in another thread too, but here goes
again.

I record & mix in a small room, 3m x 4m x 2m. I use Tannoy Active
monitors (about USD 500/pair). The walls are made of concrete &
bricks. I had some serious problems with the sound (boominess,
boxiness). But a couple of days ago, I did some extensive research
(from Ethan Winer's articles, among others) and decided to re-arrange
the whole room.

1. I changed the mixing desk to a symmetrical position in the room.
Behind and sides and top (ceiling) of the mixing desk & monitors are
completely symmetrical now in terms of furniture etc. It is pretty
much in the middle of the room, whereas it used to be in a corner. Now
the monitors are more farther away from the wall too. That got rid of
the boominess.
2. I bought panels of a certain rock-wool -type of material, and put
that:
- on the wall behind the speakers (thicker panels there, to absorb
more bassy frequenzies)
- Elsewhere where there are big open wall surfaces to absorb higher
frequenzies. Not everywhere though - there has to be some wallspace
left to where I can put the picture of my meeting with Bruce
Springsteen
3. I put small (but high) bookselves on every corner of the room, in
slightly different angles.

The sound of monitors is so much better now! Even in higher volume
levels. I can feel the bass but it not that muddy anymore. Also the
room reverbs of higher frequenzies have reduced significantly. Also,
now with the more correct placement of speakers I could really benefit
from the actual sound that they provide.

So I'd suggest that you get some good monitors. But also invest some
time to really investigating acoustic treating and absorbers. It pays
off in the end. And that knowledge will stay with you always, and you
will always be using it throughout your life.

Sometimes it's not the money that you put in, you can also improve the
sound of the room with some existing furniture and other material you
already have. Although some fiberclass will most propably be needed
too

Here's a good forum where there are some of mr. Winer's writings too:
http://homerecording.com/bbs/

Good luck!

Kalle

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

On 6 Aug 2004 09:53:43 -0400, kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

>Fix the room. Then you'll at least be able to do a good job tracking.
>THEN start worrying about monitoring.


Would the panel like to describe a room that DIDN'T need treating?

CubaseFAQ www.laurencepayne.co.uk/CubaseFAQ.htm
"Possibly the world's least impressive web site": George Perfect

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Raymond wrote:
>
> Is there a perfect speaker? Maybe yes or maybe no

There's no maybe about it. No.