My First Graph

[BobXylan]

I successfully managed to create the first graph of my mixing room. There's no sub, only a pair of nearfields. The room is very small, about 2x3 meters. How does it look?

Regards,
Bob

[brucek]

Change your scale from LINear to LOGarithmic, and use a horizontal axis scale from 15Hz-1000Hz and a vertical axis scale fro 45dB-105dB.

brucek

[BobXylan]

Ok, how about this one?

[brucek]

I think it's overall fairly well behaved. There is a dip in the 60-120Hz area, but it's not excessively bad.

You might try some placement adjustments of your monitors to see if you can clear that. I suppose it would be difficult to alter seating position, since you are likely sitting in front of your mixing board.

There are a couple sharp cancellations at 350Hz and 500Hz, that are fairly narrow, but still might clear up a bit with speaker movement.

I find the RTA fairly useful for finding good placement (and also for seating postion placement).

Select the RTA tab and select the Generator and select Pink PN (periodic noise). A good set of parameters would be to use RTA 1/24th, FFT=65536, Average=2, Window=Rectangular, No bars option, Y-Axis=dBFS with scale -70 to 0, then press the RED button. Now you can just move the mic around or the speakers around and watch the dynamic response graph until you find the optimum spot.

brucek

[BobXylan]

Thanks brucek, this is awesome!

In a small room, is 75dB SPL optimal? Would using lower SPL result in better response, or is it just that we humans perceive the sound being louder in a small space?

Should the measurement be done using only one monitor at a time?

Thanks for your help!

Regards,
Bob

[brucek]

In a small room, is 75dB SPL optimal? Would using lower SPL result in better response

Using 75dB is a fairly standard level. I suppose you have to consider what level you feel is reasonable for someone to listen to your mix at. We do perceive frequencies differently depending on the loudness (as I'm sure you know). So, you have to mix at some reasonable level. I don't know what they use professionally. That isn't really my field.

Should the measurement be done using only one monitor at a time?

I suppose you have to consider a stereo signal as sometimes producing unique signals from each monitor and then other times the two signals will be the same.

That would say that you should do each monitor alone and try and reduce wall reflection cancellation, along with the smoothest response. Then play the two in concert (considering that REW is producing a mono signal) and see if the two are cancelling each other at any frequencies, and move them around to get the best response. I guess a bit of back and forth will occur in the testing.

brucek

[BobXylan]

I did some changes. First of all, there was -6 dB bass tilt activated in my monitors - I set monitors to 'flat' position and took them away from the wall some 10cm. Secondly, I installed a second 'cloud' layer of OC703-ish material on the ceiling. I think there's some improvement now, what do you think?

[brucek]

I think there's some improvement now, what do you think?

Yeah, that's really quite good - beautiful. I'm assuming that this is both monitors?

So, what's the standard policy now with regard to mixing a recording? Is a subwoofer frowned on to extend the flat response down to ~30hz for music, or is the use of two good stereo monitors the standard choice.

brucek

[Ricci]

What kind of monitors are you using Bob? That's a good looking response curve in that 2nd graph.

[BobXylan]

Yeah, that's really quite good - beautiful. I'm assuming that this is both monitors?

Thanks. Yes, it is both monitors.

So, what's the standard policy now with regard to mixing a recording? Is a subwoofer frowned on to extend the flat response down to ~30hz for music, or is the use of two good stereo monitors the standard choice.

Well, it depends on genre and purpose of use. For some it is imperative to have it flat down to 30Hz, some depend on a single monitor with 100-15000Hz freq response . Some use cans exclusively; that's is the only choice if the room is not up to the task. Commercial mixing facilities provide whatever the client needs, of course

Now that my room is almost finished and the results look promising, buying a subwoofer is a captivating idea. My current monitors (Genelec) go down to ~65Hz, which is inadequate. But there's a nice sub available...

Thanks for your help! I'm now off to do some RTA tests

Bob

[BobXylan]

Ricci wrote:

What kind of monitors are you using Bob? That's a good looking response curve in that 2nd graph.

Hi Ricci, I use a pair of Genelec 8020A. But I can assure you, it is not the monitors, it is the room.

[Ricci]

Those are nice monitors. I've heard them a time or 2. That's a good room and a good set of monitors at work there. What sub are you thinking about?

[BobXylan]

Ricci wrote:

Those are nice monitors. I've heard them a time or 2. That's a good room and a good set of monitors at work there. What sub are you thinking about?

Genelec 7050B (25-85Hz), it supports 5.1 and is designed to be used with 8020A.

Yeah, the room... It is such a tiny nook that if I put a sub in there, well then there's no more room for me

[Bori]

How can I improve this graph?

[brucek]

Change your graph mode from LINear to LOGarithmic. Use the Freq Axis button for that.

I would suggest starting your own thread.

brucek