raregroove,
Here is a link to a topic thread we ran here last month...
(Dead Link Removed)
Reading your post, I would say that the major problem I see is the rack at ear height behind you. Racks at ear height anywhere in a CR ids a problem, reflections smearing the sound....
........ Fats

Hi Cedar! How are you? Lot of time we do not meet on here!

Talking about racks and so Mr. Ethan was telling that we must always look for symmetry. Maybe the author of this post have a similar situation of mine...

I have 2 tall racks, in top of each other with ADATs, DATS, and other stuff that are on my right of the sweet spot so that the right monitor does not have a distance of1 meter from every wall/corner. This shall shift stereo image a little.

I hope next year I can improve some acoustics at the control room.

So.. where do we put the gear rack?
LOL

ACB,
Enjoying the summer in Brazil? To answer your question if you look at pics in mags..places like the Hit Factory, Ocean Way, Conway, all keep the gear in short racks below ear level. If their are tall racks, they are usually built in or recessed into the wall. It is just common sense, anything hard and reflective near your head is going to reflect sound. The whole idea is to be listening to the direct sound from your monitors and not reflections off a wall or other reflective surface. Just use common sense. .............. Fats

I tend to like a deadish type room myself and here are some things I did with almost the same kind of setup you have in a second bedroom of mine about 6 years ago before I had a dedicated studio.

I carpeted the wood floors, this sucked up a lot of hard splash.
The next thing I did was give some weight to the walls. I added this super heavy dense vinyl material to all the walls. This tightened up the room while also minimizing sound from coming in and out of the room.
Next, I covered the walls with an acoustic fabric which deadened the mid and hi freq's a little.
Then I purchased the RPG studio package which included diffusers, bass trapps, and deflectors which takes reflected sounds and bounces them away from your ears. Most of these packages show you where and how to place these in the room for desired results. these are guidelines to use but not law.

Next, I put all of my gear in low racks and kept them away from ears. I had a few tall racks still but moved those to the front of the room and in the corners, far away from my head.
I then played with monitor placement, I like as much air between my monitors and head as I can get in a small room. You have to listen carefully how the monitors change as you move them closer or further away from the wall. The further you can get the monitors from you head, the more balanced they will sound. I start with the equal triangle rule to begin with, but then play with it a little to tune the particular monitors to my liking. IMO some monitors sound better further apart, some sound better closer, nearer further, closer to the wall, further from the wall, higher, lower. Some have tuned ports in the front, some in the back, some sealed. each will react differently to your boundries.

Next was placing my computer monitors and other stuff that sits in the middle of the sound field. Everything that sits between the monitors is going to affect your imaging.

The result was a very tight controlled sound with a nice soundstage. Well balanced and controlled across the spectrum.

Depending how how live or dead you like your room to sound, you can play with the amount of absorbtion. But you have to keep a balance across the spectrum, not over absorbing any particular freq.

I think I spent around 10 thousand on all of this stuff and about a month playing around with it until I liked it, but it was the best 10 grand I ever spent.
I've worked in virually every room in NYC over the years and came up with a combination of what I liked and could impliment in my own room. Let us know how you are progressing and what the results of what you did are.

One other thing people often neglect are good speaker stands.

When I was first researching acoustic issues, I came across a few articles that dealt with the issue of proper speaker stands, and it's clearly an important consideration, along with all the other contributing factors.

There are of course a number of very expensive options, but I finally settled on Studio Monitor Stands from Ultimate - $100/pair...

http://www.ultimatesupport.com/monitorstands.html

I also filled the shafts with lead shot to make them even more solid and less susceptible to vibration (very important), which results in a tighter bass, among other things. They have a 3 prong base with spikes to go through the carpet right to the wood floor.

I also use the equilateral triangle positioning and I keep the space between the monitors and the listening position as open as possible. I have 2 flat screen monitors and keep them off to the sides when listening.

Thanks for all the great input, esp michael those details on your own experience. I guess I'm in reevaluation mode, I post on what happens when the dust settles.

regards,

raregroove

Queens, NYC

Thabnks Michael! In fact my control room is too HF damped. I will get rid of all that stupid foams spread to the walls and make the thing more lively, live my other nice room. I am just in doubt if I rotate my sweet spot, so as to be facing different walls. Bill, my brother, whera are you? no aswers yet!

Hi Cedar! I have just sent you an email thanking you and other nice guys like Ronny Morris, John Stephan and Bill Roberts who helped me achieve a nice tone at a big production being released friday!
Nice week!
:)
:c: