MALIK ARSHAQ
ACOUSTIC TREATMENT
FOR HOME STUDIOS
When the topic of acoustic treatment comes into the picture
there is always a strong debate which has people holding
extreme opinions about its relevance, on either side of the
spectrum. While the whole concept of acoustics is vast, in this
article, we will be dealing with the basic understanding of
acoustic treating, why it's done and what its relevance is with
respect to someone who's looking to find out how much of a
difference treating your home studio is going to make.
The first thing you're going to have to look at is your home
studio or the room that you're mixing in, recognise how your
room sounds and how you've placed your monitor speakers
with respect to where you're listening from and the shape of
the room. Straight off the bat, we are going to clear off the
confusion, acoustic treatment is not sound proofing. It does not
prevent sound from getting in or out of your room. Acoustic
treatment is simply done to reduce the reflection of sound and
to cut off frequency build-ups. This is done to change or to tune
the sound of your room to make it sound a lot more tighter.
If you walk into an room and clap, based on how reflective the
room is, you might hear a high-pitched ring that follows. This
is the sound of the room and this basically colour and affect
that you hear from your speakers. The point of using acoustic
treatment is to have a more dead sound in your room since
it lets you hear exactly is being played from your speakers.
Another common misconception is that the more absorbers
and diffusers you have placed around your room, the dryer
your room will sound. This is not true as it not the number of
absorbers, but where you've placed them, that truly makes a difference.
The use of absorption panels will help you achieve an overall
dryer sound to give you a more ideal environment for mixing
or producing. The question is probably going to be, how many
panels are we going to require? This depends entirely upon
how much you can afford to spend. In terms of priority, you'd
want to start with covering the portions of the walls that are
directly to the left and right of the point that you mix from,
at ear level. This should be the first step when you're treating
your studio because the sound from your studio monitors are
going to bounce right off those walls to your sides and directly
hit your ear. This will account for most of the reflections
and colour that your room might to be adding to what you're
hearing. The next step would be to cover the areas of the walls
that are directly to the back of your monitors and the areas
that are directly facing them. Placing bass traps in the corners
of the room will help you reduce the low frequency build-up
that tend to happen usually in the corners. Surfaces that are
generally reflective should be removed as they contribute to
the reflections happening in your room.
One thing that will need to be understood is that acoustic
treatment is not going to make your mix sound magically
better. It's merely a step towards helping you make decisions
with improved precision and better speed without having to
think twice about whether your mix sounds the way it does
because of the effect that your room has on it. It should also be
noted that treating your room will only be able to do so much.
You will, ultimately, have to figure out the sound of your room
and learn it.
The
Score Magazine
highonscore.com
33