8/13/2019 Homework 9 the Studio Environment Responses -
Lucas
1/2
Homework 9 Responses
The Studio Environment Research Task - Lucas
1. Complete thefollowing
descriptions: (a)The studio controlroom is... and (b)the studio
live /
performance roomis...
2. In your ownwords, please
state what a roomwith a flatfrequency
response is.
3. Why is itdesirable for
control roomsto have a flat
frequencyresponse?
4. What areroom
"reflections"?
5. Why is itoften (but not
always)desirable forlive rooms tohave reducedreflections?
6. Describe 2ways in
which roomreflections
are reduced.7. What is a bass
trap?
8. What is"near-field"monitoring?
9. Describe thedifferencebetweenpowered
monitors, andthose thatrequire a
poweramplifier.
10. What is abalanced line
input?
11. Whyare activeDI boxesgenerally
betterthan
passiveones?
12. What areheadphonedistributionamplifiers?
13. Describethree other
considerationswhich should beimplemented in
a studioenvironment toavoid unwanted
audiointerference.
14. What areclosed backedheadphones
and why, in theevent of
needing tomonitor a
recording onheadphones
rather than onnear-field
monitors, doesa studio
engineer needto use this typeof headphone?
The studio controlroom is where themain computer isbased,
externaleffects, speakers,mixing desk and thepatch bay. Andwhere
must mostof
the mixing happens
The studiolive/performanceroom is where allthe recording of
theinstruments wellwill
happen and wherethe amps will beplaced. Usually itwill be a
squareroom with pads onthe walls to absorbso sound so itdoesnt
reflect off
the wall
A room with a flatfrequency responsethere is very littlesound
wavereflection off thewalls and unwantedbass booms. Yes,true a room
withstanding waves /bass boom / other
undesirablereflections over-emphasises certainfrequencies,
whereas room with a flatfreq. response doesnot
overemphasisefreq.that is thekey here.
So that you canhear the exactand naturalfrequencycontent of
youraudio, knowingthat it is not beingover or underexaggerated
bythe frequencycontent of yourcontrol room.
Exaggeratedroom freq.responses tendto result in theengineer
/producer over orunder using EQto compensate.
sound waveswhich bounceoff the soundingwalls and arepicked up
bythe microphone.
so that themicrophonesdont pick upany unwantedsounds. You areon
the right linesbut your answerlacks the detailand
technicalknowledge
required. Seemy exampleanswer below:-
A recordingconducted in aroom withreducedreflections (i.e. adead
or dryroom in terms ofambience)allows forgreater flexibilityover
the use ofartificialambiences (e.g.reverbs anddelays) in theediting
andmixing stage.
This is notalwaysdesirablebecausesometimes youwant the
naturalambience of aroom or space
by having theamps or theinstrument(e.g. drum kit)at an anglefrom
the walls
so there isntinstant soundreflectionand by puttingfoam pads
onthe wallswhich absorbsome of thesounds.
A bass trap is apiece of acoustictreatment (oftenfoam) that sits
inbetween the joinbetween twowalls (often butnot always a
rightangle 90 degreejoin). This isdesigned to helpwith the build
up
of standing wavesand thereforeexaggerated bassfrequencies
thatare often presentin the corners ofrooms wherewalls, floors,
andceilings join.
Speakers(called
monitors)which aredesigned tofaithfullyrecreateoptimum
audioplayback at aclose range tothe listener.
Poweredmonitors(sometimescalled activemonitors) havetheir
poweramplifier builtinto them (likethe ones in ourstudio) whereas
unpoweredmonitors(sometimes
called passivemonitors)require aseparate powersource in theform
of a poweramplifier to helpthem generatesound.
A balanced lineinput is an inputwhich uses aTRS jack or athree
pin XLRconnectorwhere 2 wirescarry the signaland the 3rd is
used as ashield. Thisshield usesphasecancellation tocancel out
anyunwantedaudibleinterference.
Becauseactive DIboxes arequieterand cancopebetter withlong
cableruns
Headphonedistributionamplifiers allowthe musician
tokeepcommunicationwith the controlroom engineer aswell
asmonitoring anymusic.They also allowfor different
monitor mixes tobe fed to
differentmusicianssimultaneously,depending on theamount ofchannels
theheadphone amphas.
fluorescentlighting or otherequipment whichis likely toproduce
powerfulmagnetic fields.
acousticabsorbentscreens to helpwith separationfrom any
unwantedexternal noise
audio and powerwires should bekept apart andcable runs shouldbe
as short aspossible
it is a headphonewhich does notgive off too muchsound outsidethe
headphonethereforeeradicating spillfrom theheadphones
intomicrophones.
Also importantlyclosed-backedheadphonesreduce soundleaking into
theheadphonesfrom othersourcesmeaning that the
engineer canhear the truesound of therecording freefrom
colourationof roomacoustics andback groundnoise
