In part 3 I was using sound reducing ceiling tiles to great effect. I got very busy with projects and they generally did well by me. I went along happily this way for about a year, but found myself getting tired of all these big tiles laying all over the place. I’d put them away when I’d get done with a project but it seemed like they were out almost all year!
I talked to somebody I know in a similar situation one day, and he told me he had just moved to Auralex acoustical tiles. Also he had switched his room around so he was facing the rising ceiling from his mix position. He didn’t give me much detail other than to say the change was amazing. At the time I was planning to join Taxi and start down my songwriting road, which compelled me to look at doing this. So I bought a kit that was way too small to completely do my room right, but enough to get started and see if it made any difference over the other achievements. First I switched the room around to see what impact that had…not too much though it did appear better. Then I went to work on the Auralex tile.
The kit I got (a small kit that’s specific to Musicians Friend and Music 1-2-3) had 24-1 sqft tiles and 8-1 ft. bass traps. I put 10 behind the monitors, 4 on each left and right “early reflection point” and the remaining 8 on the rear wall directly behind. There’s also a futon on the rear wall which I bet absorbs a few things.
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- Auralex tiles behind the monitors
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- Bass Traps and Side Tiles
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- The Rear wall
Instead of mounting them permanently, I used pins like you’d use when working on clothes. I got a pack of 400 for about $2. At some point the 3rd floor attic will become the studio and I didn’t want to be scraping this stuff off the wall! I did leave some of the ceiling tile in place where I had it hanging, to tack into.
AND MAN, WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!!!!
The clarity of the stereo field improved quite a bit. I heard things people shouldn’t on commercial CD’s. It bordered on freaky. Not a “Hello Kitty” to “Bose” difference, no, it doesn’t have a WOW factor to it. It’s like things are there that were not before. I could tell things were going to be easier and better, but that wasn’t even the best part. The best part was the bass! All the problem I had with the subwoofer, though not gone was hugely improved. I had run a frequency sweep before and after and it was amazing.
The frequency sweep goes from 20hz to 20khz at the same volume all the way through. But you won’t hear it this way. It sounds like the volume is turning up and down, at a faster rate as it moves up in frequency. This my friends, is what your room is doing to your ability to hear your tracking and your mix.
Here, play this just focusing on the low frequencies :
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Notice that some frequencies sound louder than others? That’s your room talking. That’s why my G sounded so much louder than my F#. Waves combine, other waves cancel. And bass ones do it big time, you can see a 20 or 30db difference from one note to the next. And guess what…bass traps work on that problem.
This was so much better and a bigger improvement step than any of the previous. My mixes were really good and really close to what I wanted right out of the box. Usually I’d debate a small tweak here and there when listening elsewhere but it almost became unnecessary. I knew right then I wanted more. Not only could I hear better I could hear where I knew there’d be improvement. The next time there was a sale I pounced on another of the same kit.
(to be continued)
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I'm J.J......and I'm a Gator!