Tune Up your Audio Post Suite on the Cheap

By Studio Daily / May 1, 2005

STEP 1: Keep cables short

Keep cable runs short if they are unbalanced. Long unbalanced cables invite noise.

STEP 2: Position speakers

Measure speaker placement so that your listening position is the third point of a triangle. The high-frequency drivers, or tweeters, should be approximately the same listening height as your ears.

STEP 3: Isolate your speakers

Move speakers away from the wall. Air, and the isolation around a speaker it creates, is your friend. Speakers should never be closer than 6 inches; 12 inches is even better. If you can’t do this, try steps 4 and 5.

STEP 4: Soften it with foam

Put your speakers on a set of Auralex MoPads or extremely dense, medical-rated foam (Auralex is less expensive).

STEP 5: Reduce reflections from the wall

Put acoustic foam squares behind speakers, mounted to the wall. This will reduce reflections from the wall, giving you more accurate sound.

STEP 6: Soften your listening space

Put a pattern of foam squares behind your listening space to kill reflections from behind your head. Never, ever use egg crate foam intended for bedding. It’s highly flammable and illegal in all 50 states. After a few weeks, it starts to break down when exposed to sunlight and can leave debris in your computer and other equipment.

STEP 7: Drape your walls

Consider putting heavy drapes on the back wall. Or, build soffits or cornices made from insulation and acoustically transparent fabric.

STEP 8: Keep the awards in the lobby

Avoid putting glassed picture frames in the listening area. Your award certificates need to go somewhere else.

STEP 9: Add acoustic ceiling tiles

Suspend flags, moving blankets or other non-reflective material from the ceiling. Auralex and Sonex make great acoustic tile replacements that are very inexpensive.

STEP 10: Fill up the corners

In corners of the room, put plants or other absorptive/diffusive materials, such as an Auralex LENRD-a low-end noise reduction device-to reduce bass reflection and trap low frequencies.

YOUR GUIDE

Douglas Spotted Eagle, Managing Producer, Sundance Media Group

Douglas Spotted Eagle, producer and founder of the VASST (www.vasst.com) training series, is the author or co-author of several digital media books, including HDV: What You NEED to Know ( VASST, also available on Amazon.com). His music and media production have earned him Grammy, DuPont, Peabody, Telly and Nammy awards.

Spot says keep in mind…

Audio reflects differently at various frequencies. Imagine a pool ball bouncing off the sides of a pool table. This is similar to what’s happening in your room, though it’s not quite the same with sound waves: Imagine the ball being split into different pieces at various velocities, depending on their mass.

There’s more to consider: Sound coming from the audio speaker is positive energy, while sound reflecting off of a wall is negative energy. At some point, they will collide with each other. These out-of-phase waves, called "nodes," are no big deal and are part of any room/speaker combination. It’s where the nodes occur that can be a problem.

There is virtually no such thing as a "flat" room or a room that’s balanced across the entire frequency spectrum, excluding test facilities and special designs. Know that your room will have spaces that are louder and softer at various frequencies.

Sundance Media Group
www.sundancemediagroup.com
Box 3
Stockton, Utah 84071
ph. 435.882.8494
info@sundancemediagroup.com

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