Would this work ?

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

I've recorded a small acoustic group (voice, guitar, flute,fiddle) direct to
stereo via a spaced pair of Rode NT2's in omni pickup pattern. Mix is fine,
but as the room was reasonably small with low ceiling there is a bit of
"boxy"colouration to the overall sound. I'll be using Wavelab to master the
mixes, ultimate aim is for demo CD to get gigs. To trim and tame the
colouration, I figure I'll need some eq-ing of the overall sound, perhaps
via multi-band parametric ?
Could I feed pink noise into the room at the same spl as the musicians
playing levels, then analyze the spectrum via Wavelab's analysis tool to see
where the rooms peaks are ? Or should I just use my ears to zone in on the
offending frequencies...? Any advice on this necessary corrective process
would be welcomed.
Thanks,
Ray


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

It would probably be easier with white noise.

/Jakob

"Ray Thomas" <rthomas@chariot.net.au> skrev i en meddelelse
news:4136eada_1@news.chariot.net.au...
> I've recorded a small acoustic group (voice, guitar, flute,fiddle) direct
to
> stereo via a spaced pair of Rode NT2's in omni pickup pattern. Mix is
fine,
> but as the room was reasonably small with low ceiling there is a bit of
> "boxy"colouration to the overall sound. I'll be using Wavelab to master
the
> mixes, ultimate aim is for demo CD to get gigs. To trim and tame the
> colouration, I figure I'll need some eq-ing of the overall sound, perhaps
> via multi-band parametric ?
> Could I feed pink noise into the room at the same spl as the musicians
> playing levels, then analyze the spectrum via Wavelab's analysis tool to
see
> where the rooms peaks are ? Or should I just use my ears to zone in on
the
> offending frequencies...? Any advice on this necessary corrective process
> would be welcomed.
> Thanks,
> Ray
>
>
> ---
> Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
> Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
> Version: 6.0.746 / Virus Database: 498 - Release Date: 31/08/2004
>
>

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

While the approach you mention may work to evaluate the frequency
peaks and null, this is only part of the problem with a smaller room.
The thing that makes a recording sound boxy or small are more likely
the early reflections that you get when walls are too close to mic's
and instruments. Absorbers on the close wall's are a better solution.
Then of course, you get uneveness that you may need to eq depending
upon the absorption method/material. Diffusing can also work in this
regard to spread a short 'echo' less pronounced. After treating
with absorbers and diffusers your method will work fairly well to
identify the really severe issues. The rest gets subjective. Essentially,
this is what you do when you EQ a room. If you try it you'll quickly
find yourself wondering where to best interject the white noise..
at the speaker position or the musician, and which musician... chicken,
egg, etc...

Good luck. Hope some of this helps.

Sryan



>Could I feed pink noise into the room at the same spl as the musicians
>playing levels, then analyze the spectrum via Wavelab's analysis tool to see
>where the rooms peaks are ? Or should I just use my ears to zone in on the
>offending frequencies...? Any advice on this necessary corrective process
>would be welcomed.

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

In article <4136eada_1@news.chariot.net.au> rthomas@chariot.net.au writes:

> "boxy"colouration to the overall sound. I'll be using Wavelab to master the
> mixes, ultimate aim is for demo CD to get gigs. To trim and tame the
> colouration, I figure I'll need some eq-ing of the overall sound, perhaps
> via multi-band parametric ?

Yes, that could work.

> Could I feed pink noise into the room at the same spl as the musicians
> playing levels, then analyze the spectrum via Wavelab's analysis tool to see
> where the rooms peaks are ? Or should I just use my ears to zone in on the
> offending frequencies...?

Do you really need to ask? Of course, use your ears. But perhaps it
would be better to let someone well established in the "mastering"
business do this. In addition to all the other things like more tools
and more experience, the most important thing when doing this sort of
work is the accuracy of the monitoring system. Chances are yours isn't
up to par, so using your ears on your own system may not give you the
correct result. However, analyzing the room with a spectrum analyzer
and trying to create a reciprocal frequency response curve will not
work.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers (mrivers@d-and-d.com)
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

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

Ray,

> the room was reasonably small with low ceiling there is a bit of
"boxy"colouration to the overall sound. <

You got a lot of good advice, but one thing I didn't see mentioned is *why*
it will be nearly impossible for you to remove the boxy coloration:

The cause of this is comb filtering that occurs when sound waves reflect off
a nearby hard surface. A comb filter is a series of *many* peaks and deep
nulls that ripple throughout much of the audible range. So 1) there are
dozens of frequencies affected and you'll be hard pressed to identify them
for "counter" EQ purposes, and 2) the nulls are likely very deep - too deep
to be able to bring back successfully.

For more on this phenomenon see my recent article "Recording Spaces" from EQ
magazine, now available on my company's web site. Here's a direct link:

www.realtraps.com/art_spaces.htm

--Ethan

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

Thanks to you all (thus far, more replies welcomed !) for your generous and
sagely advice..typical of the best spirit of this newsgroup, and very much
appreciated. You have approached my dilemma from many angles, and been very
constructive, informative and kind in your guidance. One thing's for sure..I
violated one of the cardinal rules of recording: "Get it right at the
source" !
Many thanks for your contributions so far,
Ray
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
"Ethan Winer" <ethanw at ethanwiner dot com> wrote in message
news:1budnQp-9Ozv-6rcRVn-sA@giganews.com...
> Ray,
>
> > the room was reasonably small with low ceiling there is a bit of
> "boxy"colouration to the overall sound. <
>
> You got a lot of good advice, but one thing I didn't see mentioned is
*why*
> it will be nearly impossible for you to remove the boxy coloration:
>
> The cause of this is comb filtering that occurs when sound waves reflect
off
> a nearby hard surface. A comb filter is a series of *many* peaks and deep
> nulls that ripple throughout much of the audible range. So 1) there are
> dozens of frequencies affected and you'll be hard pressed to identify them
> for "counter" EQ purposes, and 2) the nulls are likely very deep - too
deep
> to be able to bring back successfully.
>
> For more on this phenomenon see my recent article "Recording Spaces" from
EQ
> magazine, now available on my company's web site. Here's a direct link:
>
> www.realtraps.com/art_spaces.htm
>
> --Ethan
>
>


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