TheTrueZoltan!
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Not that big, 135x75 cm. I just ordered a pair of stands to move the monitors a little further apart and further away from the listening position. This is what it looks like right now.
GUIDE FOR SETTING UP YOUR ROOM
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MirrorProfiles
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Room looks nice!
Good stands will help a lot. Concrete blocks are a really good affordable option that will outperform most speaker stands, even expensive ones.
Speakers on the desk has always sounded very weird to me, I think you’ll notice an immediate improvement with stands, especially in the low mids and lows.
Try and avoid flimsy stands that have potential to move or wobble. Good stands cost a depressing amount (it’s like good drum hardware or mic stands). Ultimate monitor stands can sometimes be bought used quite cheap. They’re sturdy/non adjustable and can be filled with weights. The K&M stands that Neumann recommends are pretty good too, albeit expensive. Concrete is hard to beat…
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TheTrueZoltan!
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I ordered a pair of Gravity table clamp stands. Still connected to the desk, but by attaching the clamps to the outer ends of the desk top, there should be about 20cm more space between the monitors as well as my listening position.
MirrorProfiles
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Not really a fan, I wouldn’t expect them to do much aside from lifting the speakers up a bit (which might itself be helpful). I’ve used isoacoustics stands just to adjust speaker height a bit but I don’t really think they do much else, unfortunately. Easy enough to measure and listen for yourself to decide though.
i’m going to shit on these too a bit unfortunately. Probably fine when space and the convenience is paramount but these are just going to resonate with the desk. You’ll have the same sort of sympathetic resonances from one speaker to the other that you’d have by having them on the same desk - having them on separate stands would mean one speaker is barely going to affect the other one. Probably make the desk resonate less too if it isn’t directly touching it.
TheTrueZoltan!
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Yes, I know it's not ideal. But my brain just doesn't like loose stands that require careful repositioning after every vacuuming.
MirrorProfiles
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I hear you loud and clear.Yes, I know it's not ideal. But my brain just doesn't like loose stands that require careful repositioning after every vacuuming.
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Yeah, buddy! My kind of thread, I've mentioned how deep and obsessive I had gotten into room acoustics in some of your other threads - so far as to trick myself into not creating a lick of music in my room until I got the acoustics in order.
I'd advise anyone who learns about this stuff to not fall into the trap of second-guessing yourself into not making music "until it's perfect" like I did. I like to joke that in this period of obsessive tinkering I switched instruments from Guitar to tape measure.
My biggest takeaway from learning acoustics is understanding physics of sound and being able to "hear" and "hear past" deficiencies in a given room.
I'd advise anyone who learns about this stuff to not fall into the trap of second-guessing yourself into not making music "until it's perfect" like I did. I like to joke that in this period of obsessive tinkering I switched instruments from Guitar to tape measure.
My biggest takeaway from learning acoustics is understanding physics of sound and being able to "hear" and "hear past" deficiencies in a given room.
MirrorProfiles
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Well said. Very much worth listening to music and just understanding what you’re hearing. You can go crazy chasing curves and a flat looking curve doesn’t really mean the room sounds good. It might help you find what’s wrong but the important thing is listening and having an end goal.
It’s quite incredible what details our ears can pick up on, and when we know something is wrong or right. We can generally “fill in the gaps”, not least with listening on a few systems and getting a fresh pair of ears to check.
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Totally! Point of diminishing returns can begin from the get go with this stuff.
Besides, do we really want completely dead/flat/ sterile rooms----especially for
some of us where the room is where we create, record, and mix??
That last sentence is gold.
MirrorProfiles
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This is so crucial and something so many get wrong (including what I’ve done in the past). Too many panels in the room that aren’t actually helping to deal with low frequencies and are only making higher frequencies that are under control just more dead in all parts of the room isn’t useful.Besides, do we really want completely dead/flat/ sterile rooms----especially for
some of us where the room is where we create, record, and mix??
It’s the best thing about keeping the front wall reflective, our ears tend to hear things that are directly in front of us and having a reflective wall there goes a long way in keeping the room feeling somewhat normal. The back edges of the room are also a good area to keep things a bit more lively.
Bass trapping is really helpful but it’s so important to put them in the right places so you are using them effectively. It’s like when you see those rooms covered in foam - all it does is make the room weird to be in.
And yeah, not everyone’s goal needs to be an accurate room. If it’s for writing and jamming other priorities may be more important. For production and mix work, you can work way faster when you can trust and don’t have doubts over what you’re hearing. Working fast and with confidence is priceless
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Treating a control room is a lot different from treating a live room. When I treated what used to be my control room, my BIL who was visiting decided to come in and play saxophone, and didn't think the room sounded particularly special. 
MirrorProfiles
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Treating a control room is a lot different from treating a live room. When I treated what used to be my control room, my BIL who was visiting decided to come in and play saxophone, and didn't think the room sounded particularly special.
Ha if you've ever seen a string player (particularly violin) try and play in a really dead sounding room its very bizarre, they can't make sense of anything. The room is essentially part of the instrument - they are exciting the room and creating the sound. I remember doing some classical recordings in Manchester University's practice rooms and they had really long reverb times that made everything sound incredible. I think its somewhat similar with drums, and even acoustic guitars (although the ideal length of the room varies a lot). Violins in a dead sounding room sound really nasty, they NEED a nice room to smooth out.
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I've never been, but I have heard that anechoic chamber can be really disconcerting.
I have been in super dead rooms that seem to soak up the sound of your own voice
before it gets out of your mouth. That's weird. Shows mow much echo and flutter
are an indelible aspect of our everyday lives.
I have been in super dead rooms that seem to soak up the sound of your own voice
before it gets out of your mouth. That's weird. Shows mow much echo and flutter
are an indelible aspect of our everyday lives.
JiveTurkey
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Every time I see this thread title I think of Dewey in Scary Movie 
SillyOctpuss
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Every time I see this thread title I think of Dewey in Scary Movie
JiveTurkey
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Dude is a legend
They're making a new one and I hope it's good!
TheTrueZoltan!
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The table clamp stands did not seem very reliable, so I sent them back. Ordered some proper K&M monitor stands now, will cease vacuuming.
