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i have a decent pair of monitors (yorkville ysm1p, which havent failed me in other genres of music). i normally construct the tunes right in front of my computer, which places my monitors about 4 feet apart, and me only about 1 foot back from them. i notice that when i move about 6-8 feet back, the bass jumps significantly in volume. is this caused by my room? how do i know what is really there, and how it will work on other systems? I can take my mixes to quite a few different monitoring systems at school, but before i take them there, i'd like to know what i should trust at home.
thanks for any input

its cos of the wavelength mate. bass waves are long buggers [hence the term low freqency] so to hear sub you need to be at least 10ft or something back. best answer is to get used to how released tracks sound from where you monitor and just make sure yrs sound the same. that and turn the screen off and go smoke something at the back of the room every once in a while just to give yrself a reason to be that far away without being tempted to keep fiddling with shit.

nothing to do with yr monitors particularly tho having a sub would mean you'd hear more bass from close up, you'd still need to be far back to check it properly.

NoSpin wrote:.. i notice that when i move about 6-8 feet back, the bass jumps significantly in volume. is this caused by my room?

Yep. That right there is what's known as a standing wave, and unwelcome guest in any control room.

how do i know what is really there, and how it will work on other systems?

By clever guess work, or in reality - you don't. You can learn how your room sounds, but the real solution is to treat your room.

It's a giant topic on it's own, but here's a good start:
http://www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html
http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/

Simply adding a couple of 4" traps in the corners of your room should show good improvements. If you're handy, you can make them yourself from high-density fiberglass panels (such as Owens Corning 503 or 507), or buy them ready-made. In the states, GIK Acoustics have decent prices and good quality stuff.

Cheers,

PS. Stay away from cheap foam. Even for proper acoustic foam, high-density fiberglass traps will always give you better results and be (alot) cheaper.

Thanks for the links.

narcossist wrote:its cos of the wavelength mate. bass waves are long buggers

not about the wavelength... I can hear 40-50 Hz in my headphones (4cm from my ear), but the wavelength for these is 8.5m. Its about standing waves caused by the room the sound is projected into.

NoSpin wrote:how do i know what is really there, and how it will work on other systems?

Listen to tracks (that you think have a good mix ie a Distance track) in YOUR enviroment. Use your ears, they are your most usefull source of telling how your mix should sound. All you need to do is a/b in your enviroment with your track and one that you know sounds good on a system. Then adjust the elements of the mix which need adjusting.

NoSpin wrote:I can take my mixes to quite a few different monitoring systems at school, but before i take them there, i'd like to know what i should trust at home.

Its always a good idea to test tracks on other speakers/stereos etc. Again a/b between your track and a track you know has a solid mix. Your ears will pick up on differences and then you can change them.

Hope this helps....