MALIK ARSHAQ
WHY DO I NEED
bass traps?
Have you ever mixed in your studio on your monitors and felt
that the mix was perfect, only to find out that it was severely
lacking bass when you played it on your car’s speakers?
This is probably because you misconceived, probably over
estimated, the intensity of your low-end due to bass buildup
in your room.
Bass absorption is the key to a tight and balanced sound for
a home studio. Most domestic small and mid-sized rooms
with orthogonal edges (which is most rooms) have extremely
uneven low frequency response. Without controlling the bass
sounds, everything that you hear which falls in the range
below 300Hz, is violently distorted by acoustical chaos caused
by the geometry of the room, ruining the accuracy of the
sound that you perceive.
Bass sounds gather and build up the strongest in the corners
of your room, and especially compounds in the three surface
(trihedral) junctions. First place the bass traps in these
junctions, then consider the two surface corners (wall-ceiling,
wall-wall, and so on). The more the bass absorbers you are
able to place, the flatter and tighter the low end response
will be.
Broadly, there are two types of absorbers. Porous (or
frictional) absorbers, act on the velocity component of the
sound, these slow down the air particles that carry the
sound, thus they don't work on low frequencies unless they
are enormously thick, or placed adequately far away from
the wall. They are effective for absorbing even mid-high end
frequencies, giving your mix a dryer sound. They are cheap,
easily available and with a little trial and
error, they are easy to install on your own.
Resonant absorbers act on the pressure
component of the sound, maximizing
sound absorption where the pressure is
maximum - a flat wall or ceiling. They are
specifically built for bass frequencies. Used
predominantly in high-end studios, they
are to be set up by a professional, tuned to a
specific room.
If you can't fit every corner of the room with
bass traps, prioritize by determining which
corners have the most bass buildup, you can
find many simple ways of doing this, even
a few free softwares. Be wary, though,
of sucking all the liveliness out of
your sound, if you apply too many
bass traps, as they can add to the
absorption of mid-high end
frequencies.
In conclusion, proper bass
control will enhance your
listening experience
and bring to light the
finer details of your
mix previously
hidden by your
boomy low
end sound.
44
The
Score Magazine
highonscore.com