acoustic treament how would you explain it to someone who says

I hear just fine in my bedroom with my monitors without acoustic treatment...and i can also compare it to other songs, so i just aim to be competitive to that

 

If they say that, I wouldn't bother explaining acoustic treatment to them.

 

I have used ny DriveRack and an RTA mic and let it do it's thing in when I had my studio in an apartment. The difference was amazing. It adjusted the EQ in ways I would have never done with my own ears. KRK 10/3's and JBL sub.

 

I use sonar works refrence 4 for room correction it helps a lot . I’ve also treated the room in acoustic panels made from rock wool I learned the hard way first treating the room with foam tiles , definitely not the way to go ends up just sucking in all the low end and some of the mid range absolutely crap sounding. I then built 14 panels , 4x bass traps for the corners and two ceiling clouds , still need a few more built as I’m in a attic room but My room is a lot more flat responding now compared to before where it was bass heavy . And can say sonar works helps a lot.
I’m using Adams a7x monitors with Adams sub 8 and a second set of behringer truth monitors as a second refrence. It all helps

 

Last edited: Dec 17, 2020

You can watch a camrip of a film too but an HD copy helps you see a world of nuance.

 

Be ready if that’s the route you want to go down there’s plenty of videos to watch on you tube to get advice . Try gik acoustics that do a room treatment guide and measurement tool to advise how many panels you’ll need as a starting point . My walls panels are 3in thick with 2inch rock wool wrapped in cara fabric which lets the sound pass through the 1in gap is so the panels aren’t touching the walls . The bass traps I did 5in thick with 4in rock wool sheets . The ceiling clouds are 2inch thick but hung from ceiling on hooks , the walls panels are hung on french cleats . I started with the bass traps in each corner , then my listening space the front wall , moved into ceiling clouds and side walls then moved into back wall. It’s a big process and that’s just the start then it’s adjusting them in room with the mirror technique fitting in right places then scanning the room with the room correction software and mic . The improvements are well worth the time and money as it’s not a cheap process but in long run you’ll be glad you’ve done it . Hope that helps in some way

 

Don't waste your time, make music!

If your friend also makes music, he will improve and he will eventually realize one day that his music does not sound as good as that of others.
So he will ask himself the right questions.

 

my hearing is weird. it's almost like i have a built-in compressor. i can hear and understand conversation in a closed room 15 feet away from me, but if i'm in the living room watching tv, and my wife is in the kitchen cooking dinner, i can't understand the conversation coming from the tv unless i turn the volume up three times as loud. every little noise she makes sounds just as loud as the tv.

 

Clap your hands. Unless you happen to be in an anechoic chamber or attending a funeral.

They may try to argue about that being the point of near field monitors, but then you just move slightly closer, clap again and look at them like you look at cheap sausage you are about to eat.

The clap always wins.

 

For final decisions, I always use EQ analyzing software, like Sonible SmartEQ2. Whenever I ignored its results I was wrong. I audition my files in three different studios, with three different systems, but your hearing can fool you any time and anywhere.

 

Let them listen to their mixes OUTSIDE OF their bedroom.
And after that, they are going to listen to you.

Trust me

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Back in the eighties,when we were working on a recording, we would record the test mix onto casette, then take it out to the car in the parking lot, smoke a litte weed, and listen on the car's player. If it sounded good like that, you knew you were close. The trick was not to let the cannabis "cloud" your judgement. lol-everything sounded good on the big studio monitors.

 

I've experienced this.
I wonder if it's an opposite, balancing response, because we use and hone these sense organs to the point that an athlete does with other muscle groups?
Sometimes we experience the same detail in all sound as per when working, when we would rather tune it out.
And sometimes we can, to great affect.
But why 'turn off the light', is what I say. I can't turn it off anymore.

 

Yeah but an EQ affects the phase of your songs,that is not an ideal solution.Linear phase EQs have their problems too.A great sounding room is preferable by a mile.

 

actually having untreated room is not a problem, it's just an inferior listening experience and unnecessarily difficult way for working with sound,
having a set of decent headphones to swap with monitors is always welcome,

I have now untreated room (roughly 3x8 meters), few months back did some serious rearrangement of monitors, desk, wardrobes, beds, shelves, did lots of measurements etc.. and although the room feels rather live, I got used to it within few weeks and now I don't really mind (and it even helps me not over-reverb mixes) - will I still do some treatment? yea I'll attempt to, but it's not a priority right now and I hear things just fine

my mindset is, most people listen music on potato setups far worse than mine, and they still enjoy the music, so why couldn't me?

best acoustically-treated mixing environment is an open meadow/field since there are no reflections for waves to bounce around, but nobody mixes that way, they would have to admit room treatment cannot be perfect no matter how much money is spent,

one more note on treatment - it's funny to see people having huge-ass desks and consoles, multiple monitors or huge screens, as if they wouldn't understand basic principles of sound where every object and surface messes with reflections

 

I agree with all above that over time, having had prior experience and gained knowledge, we can adjust to any situation.
But I don't believe this is a relevant point for someone at the start of their journey.

I hear you, but there's a problem with that one.
The source files of a Lucasarts film for instance, are at such hig res that even after down-res for consumers, it will still look great on a potato.
IF all production and post of that film was both a/v monitored on a potato before it got to us?
I rest my case.

TL;DR: Creations from a potato environment will sound like shit on high end equipment, and unintelligible on a general consumer potato in a potato environment.
This is found in practice. And I believe this is also logic.

 

TV, radio, podcasts, YouTube videos, Netflix tacky series, Spotify lossy quality etc... is all going potato quality because listeners don't care apparently,
I'm not saying exceptions are, I'm grateful for those folks, but overall quality is not rising

 

20 years ago when I listened music on cassette,my experience with music was far less pleasant than with streaming services.

 

Right. And your "potato and happy" set-up is going to do what for music quality?
Perhaps you didn't read this:

 

It is NATURAL : EVERYONE ears work like that
I called it : "ear drum compression", after years of questions about this subject (i almost lost my hearing during a gig ...)

When you are tired AND OR exposed to loud music, your ear drum will HARDEN to protect your hearing system.
Because it LOWERS mechanical stress.
That's why you can feel a "tension" under the ears, behind jaw.

When your ear drum is "hardened" by this tension ... it acts as a COMPRESSOR.

That's why mixing too loud AND OR too long is a BAD habit
Everything will be "evened out" by "ear drum compression", like a compressor was put on master track.

About your specific problem, it may be more related to "frequency hole" or similar.
Some ppl get a "hole" in the mids frequencies. So they need to "push" volume to compensate.
Same with ppl loosing high freqs. But it seems you hear high freqs from your wife's noises.
If you didn't done it, may be you could make an audition test about this subject.

"ear drum compression" is a natural behaviour most ppl don't realize

It can be even more obvious combined with tinnitus or hyperacusis (my mother had it).
Because SELECTIVE frequencies will be compressed more than others.

As you can see, i have a personal background on the subject