DIY acoustics testing, part 7: results and solutions
In this series, we’re going through all of the basics on how to run acoustic tests in a DIY setting.
In previous articles, we’ve gone over some basic plots you can use inside your acoustics testing software (the free/open-source program Room EQ Wizard, in this case) to interpret what's going on in your space.
Today, it's all about using this data to drive results.
At this point in the process, you should have used some of the graphs we’ve discussed to find the best natural sounding mix position inside of your room. But, that position will still be acoustically uncontrolled, and we want to get it sounding better.
So what’s the solution? Well, some solutions will depend on the individual characteristics of your specific room. But, all pro production rooms should have the following as a baseline that will make things sound much better.
Basic small room acoustic control
Bass traps in as many corners as possible, ideally in all four corners.
A ceiling panel (or “cloud”) to control ceiling reflections from the speakers.
Wall panels on the left and right walls to control wall reflections. Where you place these panels on the walls and ceiling will depend on where you’ve found your best natural sounding position.
A light rug to control floor reflections.
The live-end, dead-end acoustic design for studio control rooms
Once you’ve got these basics set up around your mix position, take some new measurements at that same position and then compare them to your untreated baseline to confirm your results.
You'll likely still need to tweak things a little. What you do next will vary, depending on the specific issues that you find.
If your room is too wet
If you’ve still got too much reverb in the room, especially in the mid range, consider adding additional absorption panels and/or bass traps, or swapping your existing panels out for thicker ones.
This is getting more advanced, but you can also measure the reverb time in your room using Room EQ Wizard. There's a few ways of doing this, but looking at the RT60 tab is a good place to start.
For a control room, you're looking for an RT60 value of about 200-600 ms as evenly as possible across all frequencies. It’s OK if the lower frequencies in your room (anything below about 300 Hz) aren’t perfectly even, and are ringing out a tad longer.
If your bass area is still uneven
If the bass area in your room is still very uneven, you could add additional bass trapping to the ceiling soffit area.
Or, turn an empty closet into a bigger structural bass trap filled with acoustic absorption.
Or, you could explore more complex options like active bass traps or resonant bass traps custom-tuned to your room.
If your room is too dry
If your room is a little too dry, go slightly thinner on the wall or ceiling panels (4’’ thick is acceptable in this situation).
Also, consider adding some diffusion to the back wall behind the mix position: this can help provide a more natural sense of space.
Most of the time when a room has been made too dry, it's because it's been set up using only acoustic absorption tools, and acoustic diffusion tools have been ignored.
Don't focus too much on perfection
Doing these things should get you most of the way to a fantastic and even sounding music room, one which is certainly good enough for doing music production work at professional quality.
Keep in mind that no room is ever going to be acoustically perfect, even if you spend millions of dollars.
In addition to the acoustic treatment we’re applying, what’s also important is simply knowing the weaknesses of your individual room more precisely.
The data you get just by doing these measurements will help you out all on its own:
You can compensate for small known inconsistencies in your room by using a variety of different monitoring references during music production.
Knowing precisely what your room is doing can help you choose what those specific monitoring references are.
