User Manual

12
A Brief Tutorial on Studio Monitors
much, the bass response is going to be much more
powerful than if you’re in a room where the walls are
normal sheet rock construction and the floors are
hardwood.
Reflectivity. Another way a room interacts with
sound waves is through reflectivity. Like most room
anomalies, reflections can be good and bad. Consider
the eect of a cathedral’s reflections on a choir or
a piano. This type of reverberation (reverb) is quite
desirable for recording but not so much for mixing.
If a speaker is placed near a reflective surface (such
as a brick wall or window), the direct sound coming
from the speaker and the reflected sound coming
from the wall can arrive at the listener’s ears out of
phase with each other, causing cancellation and/or
reinforcement. If they’re 180 degrees out of phase
with respect to each other, they will cancel each other
out.
If you are setting up your mix environment in a reverberant
space, position your speakers so that as much sound as
possible is focused on middle of the room and steered
away from reflective surfaces. You should also install
acoustic treatment to lessen the impact of reflections at
your listening position.
Mitigating Room Problems
Even the best room can use some acoustic treatment.
This can be as simple as strategically positioning couches,
bookcases, and rugs. In general, acoustic treatment falls
into two categories: materials that absorb sound and
materials that diuse sound. Placing the correct type of
acoustic treatment will reduce unwanted reflections that
can impair the quality of your listening position.
Absorption. Materials that absorb sound will help
to reduce reflections. The best types of absorptive
materials are generally dense and porous. Heavy
cloth, acoustic foam, pillows, and fiberglass insulation
are all examples of absorptive materials. This type of
acoustic treatment is best for reducing the mid- and
high-frequency energy bouncing around your room.
An easy trick to figure out whether and where you need
absorption in your room is to sit down at your mix position
and clap loudly. If you hear your clap reverberating around
your room, you’ll benefit from some acoustic absorption.
Take a look around your room and look for potential
culprits that could be reflecting the sound back at you. The
usual suspects are the walls around you, including the wall
behind your studio monitors and the ceiling above your
head.
Acoustic foam is relatively inexpensive, can be purchased
at your favorite music-equipment retailer, and comes in
dierent thicknesses. Generally speaking, 2-inch foam will
best reduce frequencies above 500 Hz; 4-inch foam can
reduce frequencies all the way down to 250 Hz. Whatever
the thickness, acoustic foam is easy to attach to the wall
using spray adhesive or tack nails.
If you are in a space where you are worried about
damaging your walls, you can purchase a shadow box at
your local arts and crafts store and attach the foam to that
instead. Once the foam is attached to the frame, you can
hang it on your wall just like a picture.
With your high and mid frequencies tamed, you’ll need
to tackle low-frequency buildup. Uneven bass response
is a notorious problem in project studios. Bass energy
can build up in corners and other boundary points and
make the bass response in your mix position muddy and ill
defined.
Low-frequency energy behaves very dierently than high
and mid frequencies. Materials that absorb high and mid
frequencies may not eectively absorb low-frequency
energy and vice versa. To add to the problem, bass energy
is not directional, so it can build up pretty much anywhere.
Bass traps are a special type of acoustic absorption
material that reduces low-frequency resonance. Placing
bass traps in your room’s corners and other boundaries
(like where the wall meets the floor or ceiling) is usually
adequate, but if you’re handy and don’t want to damage
your walls, you can construct a mobile bass trap by
wrapping layers of carpet and carpet padding around a
large frame or bookcase and mounting castors on the
bottom. This will allow you to create a custom mixing
environment without permanently altering your room. The
Internet is a great resource for other creative ideas to build
custom acoustic treatment.
Acoustic foam in frames behind mix position