Setting up your own Studio

[ForeverBound]

So I decided that it was time for me to setup my own home studio. At this moment I'm still mixing on my shitty 2.1 speaker set but I wanna get some real studio monitors. I've been looking on the internet so far and I've heard somewhere that studio monitors are almost usless if you don't make your room acoustic. I'm wondering if this is true?

Also my speakers will be facing a window at the otherside with blinds covering them, would this effect the sound much compared to just a wall with acoustics?

I'm really new to this so any help would be apreciated.

[BrokenDeck]

At 4/22/15 04:36 PM, ForeverBound wrote: So I decided that it was time for me to setup my own home studio. At this moment I'm still mixing on my shitty 2.1 speaker set but I wanna get some real studio monitors. I've been looking on the internet so far and I've heard somewhere that studio monitors are almost usless if you don't make your room acoustic. I'm wondering if this is true?

Also my speakers will be facing a window at the otherside with blinds covering them, would this effect the sound much compared to just a wall with acoustics?

I'm really new to this so any help would be apreciated.

The flat tones that studio monitors produce is already heads and tails better than any consumer level speaker, so IMHO, it makes a difference there already. If you can't afford room treatment yet, a good cheat would be fast-food cup holders. Ask your family and friends to save their cup holders whenever they get one and in a few months you will have enough to treat a couple of walls.

Personally I use the Yamaha HS8s.

[bwmusic]

At 4/22/15 04:36 PM, ForeverBound wrote: So I decided that it was time for me to setup my own home studio. At this moment I'm still mixing on my shitty 2.1 speaker set but I wanna get some real studio monitors. I've been looking on the internet so far and I've heard somewhere that studio monitors are almost usless if you don't make your room acoustic. I'm wondering if this is true?

Also my speakers will be facing a window at the otherside with blinds covering them, would this effect the sound much compared to just a wall with acoustics?

I'm really new to this so any help would be apreciated.

As broken said, monitors will put you streets ahead of having nothing. Ideally we want treated rooms, but that's pricey. Personally I have a pair of Dynaudio BM5as w a 9s sub. Its a pricey combo, but they're virtually flat. Flat is important in monitors cause it doesn't hide mixing errors or cause bias. Eg w bass weak monitors, people over compensate, creating bass heavy mixes. Knowing your monitors is important.

But you can treat it with foam. If you've got a square room, set up angled dividers. This helps alleviate standing waves

[ForeverBound]

the reason why I can't treat my room is cause my parent's wont allow me to.

also I have a quadrangle room with my pc and speakers a little bit on the left side of the middle. and there is a really big window behind me with lamination on it.

[morgvemusic]

I wouldn't say you need a proper "studio room" in order to obtain pretty good results. You should get started with decent 200-300 € speakers and a good audio interface, that should do the trick.

One thing I would recommend though, if you care about the acoustics of your room, is a pair of isolating pads for your speakers. It looks like this.

Depending on the speakers you get, you'll be able to "tune" them according to their position in your room: if they are against a wall, for example.

Also, I would definitely recommend this book which will teach you about room acoustics.

Good luck :).

[ForeverBound]

At 4/24/15 08:04 AM, Lich wrote:

At 4/24/15 07:26 AM, ForeverBound wrote: the reason why I can't treat my room is cause my parent's wont allow me to.

Have you considered as an alternative for treatment building up some floor standing wooden frames to hold acoustic panels on or buy ready-make screen panels from GIKacoustic?

That would actually be a good idea, so far I heard that you shouldn't really do acoustic treatment unless you hear or notice that it has to be done. Appereantly a lot of people let theire room treated while it didn't had to be so much.

[NevoMusic]

Picked up the Alesis Elevate 6 a few weeks ago. 250$ a speaker, and it's been really nice so far. I've also heard Rokits are good as well. And if you don't already have some headphones, they are a must, don't be too cheap when buying them.

[ForeverBound]

Well you basicly need to go to a store with a cd or mp3 player and listen for a couple of hours to all the monitors there are :P

[DavidOrr]

I spent several years mixing in an untreated room (with Yamaha HS50M monitors, which are a good budget option). I've have a properly treated studio room (with good hardwood flooring) for about a year. During all of this time, I regularly switch between monitors and headphones to get a second perspective.

Given that experience, my advice would be this: If you can't afford to treat a room, pick up a quality set of studio headphones and spend the majority of your time mixing on those. I've really come around on the whole headphone vs monitor debate. Monitors are most definitely preferable IF you have the right environment to use them. Otherwise, you're introducing less variables (and have to do less compensating) mixing with a good set of cans. Regardless of your setup, ALWAYS reference, and check your mix on multiple systems.

I'm guessing some people will disagree with me, and that's fine. The thing that ISN'T debatable is the effect of proper acoustic treatment -- it makes a gigantic difference. If you're dead-set on getting a set of monitors, I'd suggest taking some of the budget to invest in treatment. If you are willing to DIY (properly), you can get pretty far with a few hundred bucks.

[ForeverBound]

Aparently I can get free advice and price calculations from a company that does room treatment daily. So I'm gonna try that. I've also looked at headsets already and Openback should be used when you are mixing. Anybody got any tips on those ?

as for dem0lecule, I'm glad this topic doesn't only help me but also other people that might want to do the same thing :)

[ghostmanonthird]

Yes, yes and YES to @DavidOrr 's advice

A nice set of cans will take you a long way in the right direction.
Check out Sennheiser HD280Pro (Closed; ~$90-100) or Beyerdynamic DT880 (Semi-open; ~$250)

Personally, when mixing I swap between my KRK RP5s (monitors) and HD280. Changing perspectives and environments and how your mix translates inside of those environments is really important; you want the mix to sound great wherever it's played. Also consider the end user and how they'll be hearing the mix. Pretty confident saying they won't be listening on a set of $50,000 monitors so don't buy into those saying you need to buy this and that to get a good mix. Work with what you have/can and truly understand the gear you have inside and out to get the most out of it