what does a 1994 Jeep Cherokee a MacBook Pro and Audio files have in common?

a really nice mixing environment! over the years i've read in countless articles how it's good practice to listen to your mix in the car because of the acoustics and that there aren't much bass buildup. so i decided to mix a song in my trusty old Jeep; Julie aka Jules... and the result was awesome!! i can't believe how everything just sounded different and that there wasn't a lot of room EQ problems.

i've got an above average sound system in but nothing too fancy. what i've done was using the aux input of the stereo and the headphone out of the mac. the mac sound card is 48khz and that's also what i record at so no problems there. the result WOW! i'm going to try it in my friends fancy new car with a fancy big sound system and see if i get a better result. if i do i'll have to buy a new car with an awesome sound system :)
i might even buy a van. nice thought - getting the bucks to buy it is something else...

room EQ

i'm thingking about room EQ... just not sure if i should just slap some EQ on the "logic bus" or if i should get a hardware rack EQ.

now i know a lot of people are against it but i haven't got money for some fancy room EQ plugin. the bass traps work great but there's still a spike at 125hz. (i've tested it with this bass tone sweeping from 40Hz to 300Hz).

other ways to do it:

http://drc-fir.sourceforge.net

http://pcazeles.perso.cegetel.net/acxo.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkj_VMB9m4E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKjskxpNL5c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqMMTyXTLDA

http://www.realtraps.com/art_audyssey.htm

bass traps in the making - step 1

ok, so i finally finished my two corner bass traps and i thought i might as well take a few pictures along the way. first i created a wooden frame, 70 cm x 250 cm (width x height) - you're wasting your time if you go narrower than 60 cm. i'm no wood work buff so i just used a glue gun, staple gun and some brackets to create the frame.

bass traps - wire mesh

next step is to cover the one side with some wire mesh before i filled it up with insulation batts

bass traps - add the greenstuff

now i add the insulation batts - i used greenstuff's insulation. easy to work with and you won't cough blood when you're done.

bass trap - add some vinyl

wedge some vinyl before you fold it over for some extra density

bass trap - close both sides

now you can close the open side with some wire mesh too...

bass trap - final cover

and then lastly i put some "felt blanket type cloth" - if that makes any sense - over it

bass traps - tie-dyed

i bought some cheap bed sheets that i tie-dyed to create some cool looking retro covers. there's a method behind this madness... the colours that i used stimulate creativity.

bass trap - final product

and here's the final product in my magic-room-project-mixing-recording-studio

and they work really good too!

bass traps

acoustic treatment - not to be mistaken with sound proofing - is possibly the most important component in the recording studio/mixing room. over the years i looked at quite a few commercial options - RealTraps, GIK - but the biggest turn off for me was not the product price... it was the shipping price to me from where ever in the world to New Zealand.

after spending some time on the web researching bass traps and acoustic treatment, i decided to go the DIY route. the one ingredient that was constantly mentioned in the forums was 705 and 703 rigid fiberglass. just one problem... i can't find it here in New Zealand! so i'm going to go with the GreenStuff option from Autex or Pink Batts - Silencer.

the name bass trap is actually very misleading, as it is easy to think that it will be trapping the bass and that it would only be useful in a room with too much bass. not true!! what a bass trap does is to reduce problems caused by room modes (standing waves) etc, and distribute them more evenly in your room. you will find that by evening out the peaks and troughs of the low frequency standing wave, you're likely to hear more high quality bass at your listening position. you'll also hear more midrange clarity. every room can benefit from bass traps, whether you have too much bass or not enough bass.

i'll put some pictures of my DIY bass traps project up soon... maybe i'll even do a step by step "phototorial" :)