Taming your studio !
Every sound you hear when recording and mixing is influenced by the quality of your studio monitors . Without good monitors that are correctly positioned and calibrated for your room , it ’ s very hard to get your finished mixes to sound right when played back on other systems .
Back in the April issue we talked about the importance of choosing and positioning your monitors , and now we ’ ll cover the process of calibrating your monitors to the room .
Problems with the bass ?
When you ’ re recording and mixing , what you ’ re hearing is always a combination of your monitors and your room ’ s acoustics – and it ’ s not uncommon for rooms to create a frequency response that is far from the neutral and flat response that you need to deliver reliable mixes .
These problems can be particularly troublesome in the low frequencies – where peaks and dips in your room ’ s frequency response can cause you to misjudge the levels of bass in your mix .
Therefore , just unboxing and connecting your new monitors and diving straight into recording and mixing – without taking the time to analyse what your room ’ s doing to the sound – could cause endless disappointment with your finished mixes .
Fixing the issues position . In combination with correct monitor choice and placement , this gives you a good basis on which to start to calibrate and fine tune the room .
Calibration starts with analysing the response of each monitor at your listening position . An accurate way of doing this is via a reference microphone and simple measurement software like Room EQ Wizard , so that the response of each loudspeaker can be measured at the listening position and displayed for you . This allows you to ‘ see ’ what your room is doing to your monitoring system ’ s response and where the issues might lie .
Calibration software
Room calibration software is now widely available , but our own approach at Genelec has been to develop a wide range of Smart Active Monitors that work closely with our own GLM calibration software .
GLM ’ s reference microphone kit allows your room acoustics to be accurately analysed , after which GLM adjusts the frequency response , level , and distance delay via the DSP hardware within each Smart Active Monitor . GLM does all this automatically , intelligently and quickly , and ensures that you always hear consistently smooth , neutral , balanced sound .
This tight integration of hardware and software also ensures the best possible system performance and dynamic range , and allows you to switch between monitor setups without having to use extra DAW outputs – or invest in costly external hardware . Also , since management and optimisation of the system takes place at the end of the signal chain ¬– in the monitors themselves – GLM users can benefit from fixed and low latency performance without having to bypass any monitoring software sitting on the master audio buss .
The benefits
Calibration tools like GLM mean that whether you want to fine tune an already good sounding room , or you ’ re working in more challenging acoustic environments ( a situation which has become more common in the pandemic , where people are working in more ad-hoc spaces ), then you ’ ll be able to completely trust what you ’ re hearing from your monitors - and always make accurate , reliable mix decisions .
For more information , please visit www . genelec . com / glm
We ’ d always recommend starting with at least some basic acoustic treatment if possible – which in a typical rectangular room would include cutting the front corners at a 30 degree angle and using a combination of absorption and diffusion panels on the side and rear walls , and above the listening
The Score Magazine highonscore . com
39