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Hi i have a song which i had been mixing for quite a while now. the level adjust of each an instrument is okay u can actually more or less hear each and everything. However the finshed product always is duller and less loud than from the "reference songs" i have chosen or any song for that matter which i heard in the same room.
using the PAZ analyzer it shows that my highest peaks in the mix were at 70 hz and 680 Hz. I mixed the song again to cut the low mids i managed to put them down a bit but still the difference is there.
I am using Genelec 8030A's with an aardvark direct pro q 10 soundcard.
And the room is not acousticised at all . I have not tilted the bass as i had mixed the same song earlier with the bass tilt set to -6dB but the same problem occured. So i set the tilt back up to its original postion .
My question is what is causing the problem is it my ears

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anonymous Mon, 05/01/2006 - 04:23

thanks for the reply i would like to know that what is the purpose of spectrum analyzer since u said "start with the room first". What difference would it make?
i did an experiment recently in which i placed a mic in different parts of the room and put a simple metronome on play back and tried capturing the metronomes sound from 4 different parts of the room the mic i used was an EV dynamic mic dont remember the name. the result that the Paz analyzer gave me was that there was very little low end starting from 100hz however what i felt was in comparison to the actual sound of the metronome was that for some strange reason the room sound had more bass than actual sound which is asctually contrary to what the analyzer indicates.
Thirdly can tell of a site that can give information about acoustics.

Thanks
H Kureshi

JWL Mon, 05/01/2006 - 09:51

[[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.ethanwin…"]Ethan Winer's Acoustics FAQ[/]="http://www.ethanwin…"]Ethan Winer's Acoustics FAQ[/] is where I recommend people begin learning about acoustics for small studios.

In a small room, sound reflections come off the walls at all frequencies, and reinforce one another in some places and cancel out in others. The result is "comb filtering" which is extremely erratic frequency response, especially in the low end. You can literally have as much as 25-30dB peaks and valleys within the space of 1/10 of an octave.

With room response like this, and with ringing and flutter echo and all the other acoustic hazards of small rooms, it is nearly impossible to hear accurately, and impossible to make good mix decisions.

The solution is to get the reflections in the room under control and add plenty of bass trapping. When you've done this, you'll be able to hear better and consequently your mixes will sound better.

Read the above FAQ. All will become clear (pun intended).

JWL Mon, 05/01/2006 - 10:06

Also, a spectrum analyzer can be a useful tool, but it is somewhat limited because moving the mic a few inches will completely change the response curve you see.

You can spectrum analyze all day long, and at the end of the day your analysis will conclude that room reflections need to be absorbed and you need to install bass traps in small listening rooms. So from my perspective it's somewhat of a waste of time.

anonymous Tue, 05/02/2006 - 17:22

Just went through the article although i didnt undertand the technical things such as washers and the stuff u use to hang things u know but i think i got the basic prinicple to what the guy i trying to say its a great article. Hope it helps me out cuz i am planning to make a studio with not sdo small rooms this time.l