Hi Friends,
I hope you´re doing marvellously well! Today, I have a very special video for you:
Barry Rudolph will teach you how to treat your home-studio, so you can create a listening environment you can trust and get your mixes to sound great across all playback systems.
As mixers, we´re constantly on a quest to make the best sounding music possible.
To achieve that, we´re trying many different approaches:
Some of us are steadily on the hunt for the latest and best plugins that replicate the sound of the classic analogue hardware we all love. That´s great! Most of today´s plugins are very well designed and can actually make a huge different in your mixes.
But what matters more than anything else is having a good listening environment.
You can´t mix what you can´t hear!
If you don´t have a listening environment you can rely on, you won´t be able to make the right mixing decisions.
– Not even with 500 k worth of analogue hardware.
The importance of a good listening environment gets underestimated by a lot of young engineers and it´s one of the main problems a most home-studio owners are struggling with.
How does it show?
You´ll know you´re having this issue if you´ve finished up on a mix and are happy with the results. You print it out and take your mix to the car or any other playback system. – Only to find that it sounds completely different from what you´ve heard in your studio.
This can be very frustrating and confusing. Especially if you´ve worked hard on a mix for many hours, just to find that the final result is less than presentable.
At this point, you might feel like:
“I´m never going to get good at mixing! How can I ever create a great sounding mix if I cant even trust what I´m hearing?!”
Luckily it´s not about you or your mixing skills.
What you´ll need to solve this problem is a good listening environment: A well treated room and a good pair of speakers with an even frequency response.
Now there´s bit of knowledge of acoustics and physics involved, if you want to treat your home-studio properly. So setting this up can present quite a challenge.
Fortunately we have an expert in this subject with us today:
Barry Rudolph has been teaching home-studio design and acoustic treatment for several years. In the interview, I´m asking him all the questions you´ll need to know to be able to create a great listening environment for yourself, so you can make good mixing decisions and get your mixes to translate well across all playback systems. His explanations are easy to understand and actionable.
In this interview we´ll discuss:
- Guidelines on where to set up your speakers in any kind of room size
- Why small rooms have issues displaying low frequencies accurately and what you can do about it.
- What´s the ideal distance between your speakers ?
- What woofer sizes should you use with different room sizes?
- How much distance is needed between your speakers and the wall behind your speakers?
- and more.
I hope you enjoy the interview and it helps you to create amazing sounding music:
To watch the complete interview and learn a whole lot more about treating your home-studio, please head over to Produce Like A Pro and Sign Up For The PLAP Academy 14 Day Free Trial.
In the Academy, you´ll not only get to watch the full version of this interview, but you´ll also have access to:
- Multitracks to practice your mixing skills
- 50 + hours of in-depth recording and mixing tutorials
- Weekly mix critiques
- Access to a highly active and supportive community
- Special deals on microphones and plugins and more.
Does that sound like something you might be interested in?
– Great! Sign up and try it out for free:
What happens after the trial?
We´ll send you a reminder email when your trial is coming to an end, so you don´t have to worry about being forced into any kind of contract. But if you love the Academy and it´s helping your to improve your skills, of course you´re very welcome to stay for just $169 a year.
If you have any questions about the academy or the free trial, please reach out to: [email protected]. We´ll be happy to help!
Have a marvellous time recording and mixing,
Warren
Wonderful. I guess every room is a work in progress for a while but it’s sure nice to get off to an effective start.
every room is unique,,, but worth the vested time and expense,,,
Yes indeed @TheRockers:disqus! Have a marvellous time recording and mixing, many thanks Warren
Agreed @l_scott_knight:disqus! I’ve been in some strange apparently ‘treated’ rooms and my mixes did not translate at all! A couple of well known rooms in LA had this problem, I spoke to Jim Scott about one room in particular and we both agreed it was impossible to mix in, that room had so much work and design done to it! The point is there is many ways to skin a cat! Haha Barry is humble and here to help! So is John Brandt! Both amazing guys, very talented and extremely helpful! Have a marvellous time recording and mixing, many thanks Warren
I thought I would note,, that You can learn to mix and use the tools, Even though the room will affect the way you use an EQ, Compressor, get bad translation out of the room, it can allow one to learn the tools and what they hear ,,, 😀
But if you want a decent room to mix in, treatment is pretty much a number one priority,,,
Hi @TheRockers:disqus Agreed 100%! Once you know you’re room you make cuts and boosts that reflect the music not the room. Have a marvellous time recording and mixing, many thanks Warren
Hi Wozza,
I have a room that is square. It’s my only room I can use in my house. I did draw out the dimensions and sent them to Vicoustic a room treatment company over here in Europe. Then sent back a plan with how and what to use which should work best in my ‘square’ room. But as Barry says a rectangle shaped room is better. But we have to make do with what we have. So, between my room and headphones I get by. ☺ Thanks for sharing. ♫♪♫
Hi @plap-disqus-f2217062e9a397a1dca429e7d70bc6ca:disqus, did the company that gave you suggestions break up the room so it wasn’t square? Have a marvellous time recording and mixing, many thanks Warren
..no. I gave them the exact measurements of the room. It’s not totally square but almost. There’s 0.6 metre difference.; 2.0 x 2.6 metres. That’s all I have to work with and a decent pair of headphones. I did the research on line and bought a book about 4 years ago now. Plus tips from Ian Shepard’s website , so, I’m good to go! ☺♫♪♫