Sycraft
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Sigh. Ever spend a bunch of money only to have it end up bad?
I just did :(
I decided to finally move my computer into a dedicated room. It had lived in my bedroom up until now. Ya it was a little ridiculous having a massive computer, desk, monitor, and HUUUUGE speakers in there, but whatever :D. So I turned a spare room in to my studio room. Put in a new floor, bass traps, some wall and ceiling treatment.... and it doesn't sound good :P. It measures even worse (though to be fair I dunno if I'm using REW right).
Kinda depressing really, dropping all that money and then discovering that I was better off with my makeshift setup in the bedroom. Not all of it was a waste, some of what I did I wanted for the room anyhow, but the acoustic treatment really didn't seem to do much.
I'm seriously thinking about just ditching the speaker setup in favour of some good headphones.
Sigh. Oh well, lesson learned. I shouldn't try and do this myself, I'll screw it up :P
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AT
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Re: Sigh. Ever spend a bunch of money only to have it end up bad?
2014/06/10 11:02:09
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Ah, you've got me worried. I'm happy w/ my set up and sound in my bedroom, but have been hoping to take advantage of a soon to be spare room. It is squarer, so I'm wondering ...
But to offer advice - have you moved the speakers around the empty room, and found a less convenient but better sounding place for them? That is where I'd start, then move your other equipment around that and hope it doesn't cause too many bad reflections. Sometimes, the theoretical right way ain't.
Or it may take different speakers, esp. if the room is small. Or you may just be stuck w/ a bad room, despite your investment.
Sorry to hear about this.
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http://www.bnoir-film.com/ there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. 24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
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Starise
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Re: Sigh. Ever spend a bunch of money only to have it end up bad?
2014/06/10 11:16:15
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How far are you away from your speakers? What are your listening levels? The only reason I ask is because these are big factors...there's always ARC.....
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timidi
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Re: Sigh. Ever spend a bunch of money only to have it end up bad?
2014/06/10 11:29:10
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your bed probably played a big part of it "sounding better".
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The Maillard Reaction
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Re: Sigh. Ever spend a bunch of money only to have it end up bad?
2014/06/10 11:35:34
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timidi
your bed probably played a big part of it "sounding better".
I was going to mention that it probably wouldn't hurt to stick a mattress in there. I gotta ask; With regards to "bass traps, some wall and ceiling treatment" are we speaking about brand name foam products or something else?
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AT
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Re: Sigh. Ever spend a bunch of money only to have it end up bad?
2014/06/10 14:01:16
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Yea, I wonder if my bed isn't a secret weapon. My 8-inch speakers are at the long end of the room, either side of the bed and at its head. I work at the end of the bed, facing a sidewall but can easily position myself in the middle of the speakers, a bit farther from them then they are from one another, but within the sweet spot. The bed seems to suck up low end buildup, leaving nice, defined bass. The room itself is about 10 X 15 ft, so the bed takes up a good percentage of the room. That's a lot of damping to put on the walls.
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https://soundcloud.com/a-pleasure-dome
http://www.bnoir-film.com/ there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. 24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
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Sycraft
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Re: Sigh. Ever spend a bunch of money only to have it end up bad?
2014/06/10 14:07:45
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Starise
How far are you away from your speakers? What are your listening levels? The only reason I ask is because these are big factors...there's always ARC.....
I am about 4 feet away. I can't move much closer because they are big speakers, and have to sit behind my desk (tower speakers). Listening levels are 75dBSPL normally. I actually do use room correction, not ARC in particular but rather MultEQ XT which is the same technology. I feed my stuff through a home theater receiver since it is a surround setup. Rather odd for pro audio, but it has always worked well for me :). Besides, I'm not really a pro, just a guy who likes messing with sound. mike_mccue
timidi
your bed probably played a big part of it "sounding better".
I was going to mention that it probably wouldn't hurt to stick a mattress in there.
I gotta ask; With regards to "bass traps, some wall and ceiling treatment" are we speaking about brand name foam products or something else?
Wish there was room for a mattress. Very small room, very full of gear. In terms of what's there, little of both. The bass traps are GIK tri traps in the two front corners, stacked floor to ceiling. The wall treatment is all no-name. I have a couple of panels I built with 703 fiberglass, and a bunch of foam from The Foam Factory (just basic 2" open cell wedge foam). The floor is rubber flooring, like you see in a gym. My next step is going to be to move things around. I'm going to block the speaker ports (they are rear ported) and move them flush against the wall, push my desk up closer to them and the wall. I'm also going to try and shift the sub to the back of the room. Bass is the biggest problem by far, way too muddy and overbearing, even with the room EQ taming it.
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The Maillard Reaction
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Re: Sigh. Ever spend a bunch of money only to have it end up bad?
2014/06/10 14:30:31
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I can see how this would be disappointing.
I hope you find a set up you like.
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Sycraft
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Re: Sigh. Ever spend a bunch of money only to have it end up bad?
2014/06/13 01:15:58
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Ya... Think I'm going to need new speakers or something. All my changes did was make it worse in a different way :P
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AT
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Re: Sigh. Ever spend a bunch of money only to have it end up bad?
2014/06/13 11:00:00
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Sorry to hear that. You don't list your speakers, but you are talking about a sub. Probably too much bass in a small room stuffed w/ metal and plastic hardware. drop the sub out of the chain and see if that helps clear up the bass. Smaller speakers also might be an answer - a proper small monitor can tell you most of what you need to know except the bottom octave or two. The Yamaha mps series is very good for near field monitoring, and you are pretty near at 4 ft. If you could swing something like that, then you could use your big system in the next room to "check the bass." Finally, move back into your old room to mix and use your now empty room for tracking. That is basically how I'm set up. System in my bedroom, and a sunroom right off it that is heavily curtained and pretty dead. Fortunately, my wife sings, so she puts up with all the equipment in our bedroom. I do have to record her other bands, acoustic stuff mostly, but that is a small price to pay for getting good sound and family harmony.
@
https://soundcloud.com/a-pleasure-dome
http://www.bnoir-film.com/ there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. 24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
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rumleymusic
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Re: Sigh. Ever spend a bunch of money only to have it end up bad?
2014/06/13 12:51:07
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A square is the worst sounding shape possible for a room. Maybe you should switch your bedroom and studio.
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Sycraft
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Re: Sigh. Ever spend a bunch of money only to have it end up bad?
2014/06/13 13:42:10
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rumleymusic
A square is the worst sounding shape possible for a room. Maybe you should switch your bedroom and studio.
It's not square, just small. 11'3"x10'10"x7'9" roughly. I've thought about switching rooms around but I rather like my master bedroom as, well, a bedroom :). As this is a hobby, and not a career, there is a limit to the sacrifices I'm willing to make.
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Sycraft
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Re: Sigh. Ever spend a bunch of money only to have it end up bad?
2014/06/13 14:05:03
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With regards to speakers, I use home theater speakers presently: SVS MTS-01 (towers) in the from, MBS-02 (bookshelf) for the surround. I do have a sub, a massive one, an SVS PC+ 20-39.
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Cactus Music
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Re: Sigh. Ever spend a bunch of money only to have it end up bad?
2014/06/13 16:09:08
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No wonder. What you need is a set of small nearfields. Home theater is not exactly what I would want for mixing, might be good for working on surround mixes, but certainly not an accurate system. Does it sound better with the sub off? Sub's as a rule, need to be used for checking every once in a while, not something you leave turned on while working.
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Sycraft
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Re: Sigh. Ever spend a bunch of money only to have it end up bad?
2014/06/13 17:08:13
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Cactus Music
No wonder. What you need is a set of small nearfields. Home theater is not exactly what I would want for mixing, might be good for working on surround mixes, but certainly not an accurate system. Does it sound better with the sub off? Sub's as a rule, need to be used for checking every once in a while, not something you leave turned on while working.
It sounds better with the sub turned down a bit from what Audyssey sets it at. The sub is part of the problem, but not the whole problem, unfortunately. Part of it is needing more room treatment, but I think you are right that I need different speakers. Not because of accuracy (as I said, this is 100% hobby and the speakers are mostly used for other things) but because these big speakers seem to not be very good when you are close to them.
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