Control room RT60

Plans and things, layout, style, where do I put my near-fields etc.

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AtomShadow
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Joined: Tue Feb 14, 2012 9:53 pm
Location: Italy

Control room RT60

Post by AtomShadow »

Hi Everyone!

I am working to solve an rt60 problem in my control room.
The room is very small, without acoustics treatments it measures: 5.1, 2.25 and 2.7 meters. I've created one front wall of fluffy fiberglass 50 cm deep and a rear wall of rigid rockwool 50 cm deep. Over the mixing position there is a 25 cm deep cloud panel of fluffy fiberglass with 20 cm air gap.
Although the decay in the lower area has improved a lot, I still have a non homogeneous RT60 over the whole spectrum. What can I do in order to achieve a better result?

Thanks for your answers :)
Soundman2020
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Re: Control room RT60

Post by Soundman2020 »

The room is very small, without acoustics treatments it measures: 5.1, 2.25 and 2.7 meters.
I would need the dimensions of the room itself. Acoustic treatment is not taken into account when calculating room modes, so it's irrelevant here. What matters is the actual hard, solid, rigid, massive surfaces that define the room. That's the dimensions we need.
I've created one front wall of fluffy fiberglass 50 cm deep and a rear wall of rigid rockwool 50 cm deep. Over the mixing position there is a 25 cm deep cloud panel of fluffy fiberglass with 20 cm air gap.
You have sucked the room dry, but they looks of your waterfall plot! There's no life at all in there. It will be uncomfortable and fatiguing to mix in there for long periods of time, and you will very likely exaggerate reverb, delays, and other effects in your mixes, since the room is so dark.
Although the decay in the lower area has improved a lot, I still have a non homogeneous RT60 over the whole spectrum. What can I do in order to achieve a better result?
I would need to see the actual MDAT file. But once again, what's obvious here is that you have over-treated the room, killing everything. You need to get some life back into the room! The decay times are too fast across the entire spectrum, so you'll need to increase them, not decrease them! And you'll have to do that carefully, for each frequency band.

You also have seem to have large problems with SBIR, or something similar, perhaps due to the locations of the speakers and mix position in the room. Please provide details of where you have the speakers, where you have the mix position, what other treatment you have in there, and photos of the room.

- Stuart -
AtomShadow
Posts: 35
Joined: Tue Feb 14, 2012 9:53 pm
Location: Italy

Re: Control room RT60

Post by AtomShadow »

Thank for your reply Soundman2020!
I will share soon the informations you asked me.
I created the two absorbent walls because the decay in the lows was of about 800 ms.
P.S. The room dimensions that I have given are those of the room without any treatment.
AtomShadow
Posts: 35
Joined: Tue Feb 14, 2012 9:53 pm
Location: Italy

Re: Control room RT60

Post by AtomShadow »

Here is the .mdat file link.
thanks!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/o17hqyzdi4q6d ... .mdat?dl=0
Soundman2020
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Re: Control room RT60

Post by Soundman2020 »

In general, your room is too dead. For a room that size, the decay time should be around 180-210ms, but it's just a little over 110m right now. In other words, there is too much exposed absorption in your room.

The dip at 86 Hz is probably floor bounce: You can test that by placing a large, thick piece of insulation on the floor, about half way between the speakers and the listening position. If the dip decreases substantially, then that's what the problem is.

- Stuart -
AtomShadow
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Location: Italy

Re: Control room RT60

Post by AtomShadow »

Thank you for your answer Soundman2020.
Between me and the speakers there is the control surface and I can't put the insulation on the floor. Can I put it in the ceiling and have the same result?
Soundman2020
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Re: Control room RT60

Post by Soundman2020 »

Between me and the speakers there is the control surface and I can't put the insulation on the floor. Can I put it in the ceiling and have the same result?
Nope! :) If the bounce is coming off the floor, then doing something to the ceiling won't have any effect. That's sort of like living in saying "I live in Rome and I'd like to go to Milan on vacation, so I'm driving towards Naples."... :)



- Stuart -
AtomShadow
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Joined: Tue Feb 14, 2012 9:53 pm
Location: Italy

Re: Control room RT60

Post by AtomShadow »

If this works, then the solution would be to leave the insulation on the floor under the control surface?
Soundman2020
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Re: Control room RT60

Post by Soundman2020 »

If this works, then the solution would be to leave the insulation on the floor under the control surface?
.... or a thick, shaggy pile rug, with a thick, soft, open-cell underlay pad underneath it... :)

- Stuart -
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