rearranging one room studio at mix time?

[joninc]

hey all -

i work at my home studio for 90% of the work i do - it's a one room studio/control room with a small iso booth. approx 300 square feet. i track in the room and mix (and occasionally master).

i have to have my monitors and console up against the wall to maximize the space but i know this is not ideal for monitors to be right against a wall. i have been thinking about finding some way to move my speakers out when i am in mix mode.

does anyone do anything like this?

right now they sit on a shelf just above my board and i don't have stands for them but even if i did they couldn't be on them while i am tracking as there isn't space.

how far off the wall is enough to make an appreciable difference?

(i find a bit of a build up around 125hz a lot of the time.)

would love any input/insight/tips...

[sir hills]

The seemingly best (untested) idea that I can come up with after an hour or so thinking on it while cooking dinner, is:

Depending on the size of your monitors - what about a couple flatscreen tv arms? You'd have to drill your speakers to accept proper attachment to the arm (or figure out a way to avoid drilling the cabinets) but, to me, this seems it could be ideal for your situation. I suppose it will mess with the resonance from the monitor cabinets...I don't know?? Anyone feel free to tell me of my idiocy!

[Marc Alan Goodman]

Yeah, I think those computer arms may react negatively with a speaker. For one thing most of them are hydraulic, and letting the low end flex against a shock absorber like that would probably seriously curtail the bottom.

I'd just work with the space you've got. Picking stuff up and moving it around every time you want to mix is going to waste time that you could just be mixing, and you'll never have a stable enough environment to get comfortable with the way the room sounds. In my experience the less ideal a room is the more time and attention it takes to really learn it and get good mixes out of it. It's not impossible, but I think moving stuff around all the time would complicate the whole thing significantly.

[MoreSpaceEcho]

agreed.

[Nick Sevilla]

hey all -

i work at my home studio for 90% of the work i do - it's a one room studio/control room with a small iso booth. approx 300 square feet. i track in the room and mix (and occasionally master).

i have to have my monitors and console up against the wall to maximize the space but i know this is not ideal for monitors to be right against a wall. i have been thinking about finding some way to move my speakers out when i am in mix mode.

does anyone do anything like this?

right now they sit on a shelf just above my board and i don't have stands for them but even if i did they couldn't be on them while i am tracking as there isn't space.

how far off the wall is enough to make an appreciable difference?

(i find a bit of a build up around 125hz a lot of the time.)

would love any input/insight/tips...

Hi,

125Hz is a 9 foot wavelength. So if one of your rooms dimensions equals 9 ft, say between two opposite walls, there is a room mode which is causing that frequency to build up. And there is nothing you can do about it by simply moving your speakers, as this is a function of the room itself.

What you can do is move your speakers into the room, in order to install some sort of large and hard diffusors behind your speakers, or in the back wall where your speakers are pointing at, in order to break up those low frequencies.

Also, when mixing, monitor at a lower level, say 82dB or thereabouts, minimizing the amplitude of the buildup.

Cheers

[T-rex]

I don't think I have any pics, but my new set up has my console right up against a wall but I have my speakers on stands that sit about halfway from the front of the console to the wall. Ye it takes up about a foot on either side of the console, but they come out any further than the console so they don't really take up any extra room and it gets them away from the wall. Also, I have some bass traps on the wall, directly behind the monitors - which also helps.

[CedarSound]

I have one of these...

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/accessor ... 0000257000

My studio is also in a small, but well treated space. The nice thing about this desk is that it's not huge, but large enough for me to attach my (minimal) rack gear and monitors, etc all on the desk. I have my computer and power supplies and everything sitting on the shelf underneath. Basically, everything is on/in the desk to the point where I have a single power cable and a few mic cables hanging off the back of it. When I have people tracking or band rehearsal, I keep it up in the front corner of the room, to maximize space.

When I am ready to mix, I just roll 'er out to the are of the room where I have my RFZ set up (panels on the ceiling and the side walls to kill reflections at the mix position). I even have a couple of permanent marks on my floor so I know exactly where to put the desk based on where I measured the room previously... works pretty well. Something with wheels may be helpful in this situation?

[Ethan Winer]

i have to have my monitors and console up against the wall to maximize the space but i know this is not ideal for monitors to be right against a wall.

Actually, the best place for loudspeakers is inset flush into the wall, so putting them as close to the wall as possible can be second best in some situations.

how far off the wall is enough to make an appreciable difference?

The best way to find where your speakers give the flattest response is to measure as you experiment:

Room Measuring Primer

Two other points: The ideal solution is to buy or build some bass traps. The more you have, the closer you'll get to a flat response. It's that simple. Also, frequency response and ringing in a room is independent of playback volume. Acoustics is linear, so whatever happens at loud volumes happens exactly the same at soft volumes.

--Ethan

[Jed]

I?m in the finishing process of building out my new one-room studio which doubles as the practice space for my band. Space is a major consideration for the band practice use, so I have been planning on eliminating a desk entirely and doing the following:

1) Mounting my computer monitors on the wall at standing height (I?ll use a drafting chair when I need a break from standing)

2) Mounting my keyboard and mouse on a shelf that folds down flush with the wall

3) Mounting my studio monitors on brackets attached to pieces of 1?x8? lumber that are hinged onto the wall. During practice the monitors will be flush on the wall, doubling as vocal monitors for the band. When mixing/recording I will swing them out from the wall so that I can get a proper angle for stereo mixing.

4) I?ve got all my gear in a rack on wheels that can be pushed into a corner during practice and wheeled out during mixing recording.

That?s my plan at any rate.

I?ve got a bunch of treatment that needs to get built and hung first, then the above will happen. I?ll try to post photos as I get things done.

jed

[joninc]

thanks for all the input guys.

i have another thread going about "searching for low end" and i think i am starting to see that all these issues are interconnected. there is some sort of room thing happening that clouds the bass and hides a bit of upper mids.

(btw in case anybody cares or wonders what i am listening on my monitors are proac studio 100s, powered by bryston 4b)

so moving the gear around is maybe not too practical but what about maybe some deep/thick panels that can function as additional bass trapping that i set up around the room at mix time (they would eat up too much space to leave set up all the time)? i can store them in the hall and pull out when it's time to mix?

my space is 300 sq feet without any gear in it and it's full of gear (organ/leslie/keys/guitars/console etc...) so space is an important consideration for sure.

[joninc]

i have to have my monitors and console up against the wall to maximize the space but i know this is not ideal for monitors to be right against a wall.

Actually, the best place for loudspeakers is inset flush into the wall, so putting them as close to the wall as possible can be second best in some situations.

how far off the wall is enough to make an appreciable difference?

The best way to find where your speakers give the flattest response is to measure as you experiment:

Room Measuring Primer

Two other points: The ideal solution is to buy or build some bass traps. The more you have, the closer you'll get to a flat response. It's that simple. Also, frequency response and ringing in a room is independent of playback volume. Acoustics is linear, so whatever happens at loud volumes happens exactly the same at soft volumes.

--Ethan

thanks for that info Ethan. I do have some treatments around my room for high/mids but not a lot going on for deeper bass. I have looked at your plans for bass traps and wondering if having a few as a cloud above my mix position might help? i have one corner close to mix position that i need to deal with as well.

would love any thoughts on the positioning of bass traps relative to mix position....

[JWL]

Can you post more detail about how your room is set up? Like an overhead diagram with approximate dimensions that shows placement of the speakers, the listening position, and whatever treatments you have installed? That would allow us to give you the most help.

In the meantime, there is this: http://realtraps.com/art_basics.htm
Really, the more bass traps you put into corners, the flatter the response will get.

If you mean these plans on Ethan's website:
http://www.ethanwiner.com/basstrap.html
The info there is good if a bit outdated. In general you will get better results from newer, broadband bass traps.

[joninc]

i'll try to post a drawing of my space asap/

here's my main deal - i really don't want to deaden my room (mids/highs) any more - i like the sound of the space for tracking.

i just have a noticeable bulge at 125 - i have been compensating by cutting at that freq so it sounds better in my room and then naturally, outside my room, i feel that my mixes lack thickness and low end.

so i really want to address the bass problem without using broadband absorbers that will also kill top end.

i have no cloud above my mix position so that is what i thought i should try first. i also have 1 corner close to my monitors that needs to be treated right away too.