testing the room?
Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2004 6:32 pm
So once you are done building the room...how do you test it for foul frequencies? Do you just go by ear...or is there a more technical, yet cost effective way of doing it?
Start by clapping everywhere in the rooms to make sure there are no OBVIOUS flutter echo problems - put up some well-recorded/mastered CD's on the monitors and find out what your CR is doing to you - very few acoustic problems can be fixed with electronics, so EQ is almost NEVER the way to fix them.
What price is reasonable? These guys have probably the most reasonable measurement package going, the software is $150 or so and a TOTAL package with calibrated mic and preamp runs around $550, including test CD's - Free download of demo, but it's kind of crippled (like most demos are) Still, even the site is an education -
http://www.etfacoustic.com/
This guy is one of the top mastering engineers in the states, did mastering for Steely Dan (very picky from all reports) and many others -
http://www.digido.com/User/Images/cp.gif
click on CD Honor Roll, he lists a bunch of top quality CD's that can be used for system reference sounds - the whole site is another education, but you may not be ready for part of it yet... (me too, for that matter)
Then, once you have your CR sounding good (or at least predictable) you can do several test recordings in the live room in different areas with different instruments to see if there are any glaring problems - ETF can help with this part too - read through their site several times, each time you'll pick up more.
There are literally millions of positions and angles an instrument can be recorded at, so there will be times when just moving the sound source or mic a small amount can make the difference between OK and great (or crap) - even non-parallel walled rooms have modes, they're just less predictable. Moving either a mic or sound source an inch or two will sometimes fix or cause a problem; this includes the height of source or mic relative to floor/ceiling.
Once you finish the rooms, your education is just beginning... Steve
