ReasonTalk.com

LABONERECORDINGS wrote:

ThisIsNotTheMusic wrote:I have part of a large elongated rectangular 70's sunroom with too many windows and awful acoustics to play with. I guess there are always ways to improve it.

Heavy curtains with blackout can work some wondered, but in a room with lots of windows... imagine that might get pretty warm . Maybe hessian draped (think 'arabian tent', with the fabric curving to soften some of those hard glass reflections).

Thing is you don't have to go crazy, plus depends on the size of the room. You could perhaps make some room divider style sound boards to 'block' the window reflections, plus that way they're not permanent. You could space them off the wall by say perhaps 4 to 6 inches, any sound that does go through the boards have to reflect and come back through the board again, so creating a buffer plus airspace makes it harder for the sound to come back as a reflection. Or instead of divider boards stood on the floor, why not make some hanging ones? that way you could create a frame with hardwood of a couple inches deep, get some Rockwool board and make then say 3ft / 4ft long x 18in to 2ft wide, and cover them in a fabric of your choice (the stuff you can breathe through would be ideal so the sound passes through and into the Rockwool), and by hanging them you could create a nice environment as well as a sort of feature to add colour / tones to your working area. Hanging with 2x chains and hooks into the ceiling struts may work to control some of those reflections, cost is relatively cheap (depending on the number of boards, Rockwool and fabric of course). We used combat fabric for ours over a grey fabric (we had red / white / black / grey colour scheme in Lab One, Lab two is now blues blacks whites), and we done a RoomEqWizard test yesterday and we're really happy with the results since we've got a nearly flat room response (sine sweep check, looked pretty good and not many if any problematic spikes or nulls), based on the ideal seating spot.

We're kinda lucky we've only got the 1 main window (which the 48in screen now practically hides so it really is a man cave).

Also volume level is king - you don't have to be blaring loud, in fact if you right at a quieter level, you'll find you can make much more dynamic music, without room compromising.

ThisIsNotTheMusic wrote: I need to think about these options as I just finished a mix and drums are way too prominent, something isn't right. Thanks though, I'll see what I can do. By way of example (pretty sure I did a lot more wrong in the mix, but it sounded well balanced from the studio monitors):

selig wrote: Yes it's true that more volume means louder reflections, but it's also true that more volume means more direct signal as well (or are you suggesting otherwise?).

Yet you seem to be suggesting that the relationship between the two changes, which I would think is impossible.

Can you provide more info (or links) that discuss this further?

ThisIsNotTheMusic wrote:I need to think about these options as I just finished a mix and drums are way too prominent, something isn't right. Thanks though, I'll see what I can do. By way of example (pretty sure I did a lot more wrong in the mix, but it sounded well balanced from the studio monitors)

LABONERECORDINGS wrote: The more volume you want the more treatment you may need to counteract the unwanted reflections. That's pretty much what we're getting at, balance of compromise of what you can achieve.

LABONERECORDINGS wrote:

ThisIsNotTheMusic wrote:I need to think about these options as I just finished a mix and drums are way too prominent, something isn't right. Thanks though, I'll see what I can do. By way of example (pretty sure I did a lot more wrong in the mix, but it sounded well balanced from the studio monitors)

Have you compared similar music in the genre you're making on your setup? might be more revealing, or you might be biasing opinion a little on the drums - if they're too prominent, drop back say -3dB on the drum buss (perhaps on the insert trim best to prevent messing up any automation), bounce as that and then import both 'loud' and 'test' versions into Reason as a new project onto two audio tracks (same tempo) slice up every 4 bars so you can hear the 'swap' on the drums level between each version. If still cooking but better being that bit quieter you know you're going in the right direction. If they sound weaker or are getting lost you know you've gone too far. Remember 3dB on the drum buss is 3dB off all the sounds going through it, so can be quite a bit and may be making all the difference. Also listening level might be biasing too, try turning the master down when you compare by say 3dB again just as a guide so you can 'feel' around the track at different levels. Also might be the tone of the drum kit you've used, might need some gentle tone controlling (eq shelfing) to help tame the prominence. Pan positioning too may be key - are the drums all mono / central? Not saying you've done this, just ruling out a few possibilities why you feel the drums are too 'up front'. The other instruments / vocals / fx etc might be all in the same sound space across the panorama, so the drums might be 'sitting' on top since they can be the most dynamic in a short space (which might be why you feel they are louder, could it be the transients are smacking?)

Which monitors are you using, out of interest? Oh and apologies for the slight derailment, we can discuss mix options on another thread

Keep at it though, we're all here to help, guide and learn off each other to better ourselves

turbopage wrote:I'm thinking about this

https://www.studiodesk.net/product/musi ... esk-black/

Biolumin3sc3nt wrote:Honestly, It's always nice to have a friend of a friend who know's his woodworking skills (Pauls dad) I'm beginning to think its a lost trade almost... Next desk i have, will be built by a farmer!

turbopage wrote:I'm thinking about this

https://www.studiodesk.net/product/musi ... esk-black/

LABONERECORDINGS wrote: Also as a side note.. https://proaudioclube.com/2016/04/21/au ... ifference/

Marco Raaphorst wrote:

LABONERECORDINGS wrote: Also as a side note.. https://proaudioclube.com/2016/04/21/au ... ifference/

I am mostly concerned about frequency resonances. Easiest trick is find them is to playback a sinewave sweep or stepped sequence of notes moving higher in pitch. Often in the low range there are a few frequencies causing resonance peaks which need treatment.

The playback frequency doesn't matter. Peak resonance will be the same at any volume level because a room produces lineair sound.

selig wrote:Should we start a thread on room acoustics so we don't take this one totally off topic?