Acoustic Treatment Guide
The ultimate guide to making your Home Studio the perfect production and mixing environment. The first thing you need to know if the difference between Acoustic Treatment and Soundproofing.
Soundproofing
Used to reduce the sound bleed from one room to another, this is how you avoid angry neighbors.
Acoustic Treatment
Is used to reduce reverbs, echoes, bass buildups, standing waves and room nodes. The goal is to make the sound you hear from your listening position as flat as possible, making your mixes translate correctly to any speaker.
The ideal position for your desk should be against the narrow wall of your room, this will let sound travel a longer time from your monitors to your first reflection point.
Your listening position must be 33% away from the front wall, for example, if your room is 10 feet long, then your chair should be 3.3 feet from the wall.
Tip: Never have your listening position in the exact center of the room, even if it is the 33% mark, in this case it is better to be closer to the front wall.
Monitor Placement
Your monitors should make an equilateral triangle with your listening position. This means that the distance between the two tweeters and your listening position should be the same in order to create the most accurate stereo imaging.
Monitor Height: Your ears should be at the same level as the tweeter. Monitors have the Tweeter in different parts of the speaker, either have your ears at the same height as the tweeter, or you have the tweeters pointing towards your ear.
Monitor Separation: It’s key to separate your monitors from your desk, this will decrease shaking and create a better stereo image. You can use monitor stands to do this or use one of our favorite secrets, the IsoAcoustic Isolation Stands, these are an incredible upgrade in sound.
Tip: Never have any obstruction blocking the sound from your monitors to your listening position
Foam vs Panels
The quick answer is panels will give you better efficiency per square foot, if you can afford panels that is what you should get, you can get pre-made ones, build them from scratch, or from a DIY Kit.
Panels: They are more efficient, look better, but are more expensive. Our top choice for Panels and DIY kits is GIK Acoustics.
Best way to hang Panels: These Picture hangers.
Acoustic Foam: They are cheaper but less efficient. Our top choice for Foam is Auralex.
Best way to hang Acoustic Foam: These T-Pins.
Where Do the Panels/Foam Go?
First Reflection: These are the areas the sound from your monitors hits first before they get to your listening position. In order of importance, the area behind your monitors, the area to the side, and above your listening position. For all of these areas, you can get simple foam or panels.
Back Wall: You should try to have a diffuser. A diffuser works by scattering reflections nothing gets strapped and you can preserve the natural tone of the room. You can either buy one or build one, in my case, I have a bookcase that’s very disorganized and in my opinion, works just as well.
Corners: You need based traps in your front corners, and in your back corners if possible. This will help control the low-end frequencies that are the ones that cause the most trouble. If you have a lot of bass build-up, your room will shake and you won’t be able to understand what’s going on with your mix.
Tip: Get a free consultation, companies like GIK acoustics willgive you a free consultation with an expert, letting you know your problem areas and what you need to fix them. These consultations have no strings attached, you can use that guide and buy some cheap acoustic foam on Amazon
The Secret Sauce
Now that your room is acoustically treated, you need that last piece that will turn your listening position completely flat, making your mixes translate from your bedroom to every club around the world. You guessed it, we’re talking about Sound ID Reference, probably one of the elements that can really change your mixing tenfold.
What Sound ID does is create a corrective EQ made from you recording the sound that comes from your speakers in and around your listening position.
So if you have any sort of notes or any sort of dissonances, you put this plug on your master and it corrects them. Now, if you are rich, you can get the Genelx with AMS technology, which basically means that they have a Sound ID built inside them.