Skol303

VOTING THREAD IS UP

PS: something has gone awry with the SoundCloud player on Bastav's track... but the link is working ok in the list above, so please use that instead. No idea what thew problem is, but it appears to be an issue on SoundCloud and not Basschat. Of course

Voting has now started on February's Composition Challenge. Please listen to each track vote for your top THREE favourites: Powertripper 'Bleat's Bicycle' xgsjx 'One Man' Mornats 'Trumpet Buttons' Doctor J 'That's Not Going To Fit In The Spare Bedroom' Dad3353 'A Concerted Effort ...' Bastav 'Onesemble theme' lurksalot 'Grandad's Shed' Powertripper 'Bleat's Bicycle' xgsjx 'One Man' Mornats 'Trumpet Buttons' Doctor J 'That's Not Going To Fit In The Spare Bedroom' Dad3353 'A Concerted Effort ...' Bastav 'Onesemble theme' lurksalot 'Grandad's Shed' Voting ends at midnight on Wednesday February 28th.

I've just moved a bunch of performance threads to the Share Your Music sub-forum. So if you're looking for something you posted here earlier and can't find it, that's where it'll be That is all. As you were.

+1 People buy Fender because of the brand's heritage, amongst other reasons of course. In terms of innovation, they've been largely stagnant for decades - and I say this as someone who happily owns a P-bass; it's not a criticism ("it works / don't try to fix it", etc). Same applies to audio gear brands like API and Neve, who've been churning out the same product range pretty much unchanged since the 1960s. That sense of familiarity and reassurance has a real value to buyers. I would have honestly placed Gibson in the same bracket - the Les Paul for instance is an instantly recognisable classic - but it's well known that guitar sales are falling gradually across the board. I think - or at least hope - that this will level out in time and that there'll always be a consistent market for guitars, albeit perhaps not as big a market as manufacturers have enjoyed in the past.

Nope. Leather upholstery and new alligator pits for the dungeon. Just as soon as I sort out the acoustics down there...

Was it worth it? Well I can now hear the frequencies between 60-70Hz, rather than them being almost non-existent, so yes I'd say it was worth the toil of making all those bass traps... but that's me. I make a lot of bass-heavy music and so anything that improves the low end is going to translate (hopefully!) into better mixes. The proof of that pudding will be in the eating In the meantime, I just need to find a way of stopping my two young boys from using the bass traps as karate practice pads whenever they come in the room. Hmmm. PS: it's taken a heck-of-alot of reading/researching for me to get my head around home acoustic treatment, but it's been 'fun' (I get that my idea of fun is perhaps unconventional). If anyone else here is scratching their head over this stuff, then ask questions here and I'll try to answer as best I can and save you some time.

So what difference did this make to the sound? Well, quite a lot... as I'd hoped! The big dip in the low end around 60-70Hz was considerably reduced (by 12db) so that it's now around -5db of the 'ideal' at this frequency - and I can live quite happily with that On the flipside, moving my listening position forwards has created a bunch of new phase cancellations between 700-1000Hz, which I'll gave to fix by other means (but thankfully nowhere near as difficult as treating the low end). So the frequency response in my room is still far from flat - and it never will be - but it's now flat enough for me to trust that what I hear at the listening spot is a fair representation of what's happening inside my DAW software; and that the sound isn't being too adversely coloured by the room itself. Here's how the measurements now look... Frequency response from 20-20K Hz. Still some peaks and dips as you'd expect, but the 'Grand Canyon' around 60-70Hz is mostly gone and the overall trajectory is reasonably flat (NB: by comparison, the very best pro mix rooms have a frequency response within +/-5db across the spectrum). More detailed plot, showing the 'before' measurement (in red) and the 'after' measurement (in blue). Notice how moving the mix position forwards and adding bass traps has greatly reduced the big dip around 60-Hz... but created new problems between 700-1000Hz! Such is room acoustics, that making a change in one area always affects others. Lastly, a shot of the low end in detail (again red shows before and blue after).

Quick update... There's been various talk of room treatment in the 'Rec forum recently (perhaps because we're all stuck indoors due to the crappy weather), so I thought I'd update this thread with my own recent experiences. We're lucky to have a dedicated music room at home (a converted garage), which already has a good amount of acoustic treatment - but was still suffering from a sizeable null (dip) in the low end around 60-70Hz, caused by a combination of a room mode at this frequency and other surface reflections typical of rooms this size. Unless you live in a mansion, your own room will suffer from this exact same problem (albeit at a different frequency), I guarantee it! So how to go about solving this...? Firstly, I moved my listening/mixing position towards the front wall of the room and pushed my speakers as close to the wall as possible. This helped to reduce the depth of low frequency dip by reducing the speaker-boundary interference - explanation of that here. This is a great 'free' acoustics trick that applies to any room. Secondly, I've been busy making bass traps. Lots of bass traps! Sufficient that the room is now quite literally a padded cell (my wife remarked: "My god, you've actually created a womb, haven't you!?"). The intention here was to slam the low frequency energy around 60-70Hz and in doing so, hopefully reduce the magnitude of the frequency dip (by reducing the energy of the phase cancellation). Here are some Sketchup images showing what the room now looks like (Sketchup is great for planning acoustic treatment). In a small room like this - and when dealing with low frequencies below 100Hz - it's a case of bass trapping the bejesus out of the back wall! But in my case the back wall had no space left for acoustic treatment - so my solution was to create two portable bass traps on stands, which could be placed behind my listening position when mixing (effectively adding about a foot of mineral wool of the back wall). Plan view of the room: panels in red are portable on stands. Side view: wall panels removed to show listening position. Front wall view of listening position. The darker coloured panels at the bottom of the window space are diffusors. Back wall: bass traps on just about every available space!

That’s great! Well done chap Bangin’ song and the game looks fun too.

^ This. By way of explanation: a photo of a crowd going nuts to your band is great marketing. A cartoon illustration of a crowd going nuts to your band smacks of dancing in front of a mirror strumming a tennis racket. It's a clichéd fantasy and suggests the band have delusions of grandeur. Sort of. Or maybe I read too much into this stuff from working with designers all day... PS: if you were a death metal band and the figures were flayed corpses, or Blair Witch-style creepy stick men, or something, then you'd be on to a winner. As it is, it just looks like a cut'n'paste job from an online stock image library. But if it works for you guys then I'm sure you can take all that on the chin with a healthy pinch of salt, etc.

Unsure. It's not something we've ever included in any of our orders for these, but I reckon a lightweight lighting rig could quite easily be attached to the frame.

Definitely remove the crowd silhouette.

+1... I'm also involved in design/print and wouldn't at all recommend standard roller-banners for a gigging band. They're way too naff. These, on the other hand, might be suitable: FABRIC HOP-UP DISPLAY We've used them multiple times and can vouch for their robustness. Very sturdy frame that's easy to set up (literally 1 minute); fabric can be removed and machine washed; and once set up the frame stretches the fabric tight and creates nice square edges. Not well suited to dingy pub corners, but a good option if you have a small stage to set up on. PS: I am in no way affiliated with the manufacturer of these products!

^ You’re very welcome! Hope it proves useful. It’s all secondhand advice I’ve gleaned from other forums and by reading up on the subject. Thought it might save others time if I dump what I’ve learned here

Indeed! Despite obsessing over acoustic treatment etc, I do the bulk of my mixing on crappy earbuds and a pair of Auratone copies: fairly terrible-sounding speakers that accentuate the mid range, but once you get something sounding good on them you're 95% of the way home

Absolutely. "Sounding better" is in fact a lie ...what you want is for your sound to be as accurate as possible. But in the absence of acoustic measurements, the best you can do is try to find the sweet spot by ear.

You don't need a compressor because your technique is "not the best". A compressor will do nothing to compensate for poor technique. Every professional bass player uses a compressor - if not directly on stage, then compression will be applied by their sound technician at the desk. This is not fake news And it continually amazes me why so many amateur bass players haven't got their heads around why they should be using compression - and using it to their advantage. But heh, it's a funny old world innit.

^ You're welcome Lurks! Where you sit and where your monitors are positioned makes a BIG difference. Just a few feet (or sometimes even inches) can make an audible difference in sound.

And finally, some notes on where to put acoustic panels: Generally speaking, you want to put thick bass traps in the front and rear corners of your room and thinner broadband absorbers to the left/right and above your mixing position. Go crazy on the rear wall of your room - this is where you’re likely to need the most/thickest panels to help prevent rear-wall reflections (often the chief cause of nasty ‘nulls’/ dips in low frequencies). If you run out of space on the rear wall, consider building a freestanding panel (or several!) to be placed behind your listening position. Nothing is overkill when treating a small room...! Here’s a diagram I borrowed from elsewhere, showing the typical locations for acoustic panels - image courtesy of GIK Acoustics.

PS: this is just one method of making acoustic panels. More complex approaches, such as Helmholtz or resonator traps, can lead to even better results - including membrane panels that are 'tuned' to focus on specific frequencies. These are more tricky to DIY at home, but here's a link for anyone interested: Helmholtz bass traps

STEP 5: Finishing by adding fittings. You can install your panels however you like; my own preference is to use a length of jack chain on the back of the panel, held in place with screw eyes, and then mount the panel on the wall using a heavy duty picture hook. Very quick and easy. A pair of rubber studs/ aka bumpers can also be screwed on to the bottom rear edge of the panel, to help it hang vertical. If it's a free-standing panel then two strips of wood, screwed to the bottom, make for a simple pair of feet. You might also want to fix a couple of handles to the sides to make it easy to move around. Et voila! Job done. Put the kettle on and break out that Kit Kat Any questions, just ask in the thread below and I'll happily answer if I can.

STEP 4: Wrap the panel in a final layer of fabric. I like to use cheap craft felt for the rear of the panel and a better quality fabric for the front a sides (but you can just as easily wrap the whole panel in one fabric). Be sure to pull the fabric taut and hold it in place with a generous amount of staples; this will help to prevent the panel from sagging over the long-term.

STEP 3: Fill the frame with mineral wool. Cut the mineral wool slabs to size using a large pair of scissors (wear gloves and a mask whilst doing this as the fibres can cause irritation). I like to cut the slabs to the exact same size as the frames so they're a sung fit. Be careful not to squash the mineral wool when installing it, as that will impede how well it functions as a sound absorber. Be sure to choose the right density of fibre depending on the depth/thickness of the panel you are building. As a general rule: Use low density fibre for panels that are 8"/200mm or deeper - e.g. Knauf Earthwool Dritherm 37 Standard (which has a density of around 15-17kg/m3). Use higher density fibre for panels that are 4"/100mm deeper - e.g. Knauf Earthwool Building Slab RS60 (which has a density of around 48kg/m3).

STEP 2 (optional): Cover the panels in dust sheet fabric using a staple gun. You don't have to do this, but I find it helpful for two reasons 1) It keeps the mineral wool in place; and 2) It provides an extra barrier to prevent mineral wool fibres from leaking into your room. Leave a flap on the front of the panel for inserting the mineral wool.