RECORDING November 2022 - 60
Room Emulation
Recent advancements have come to what is called environ2
2
2
State
of
ACOUSTICS
What has changed, what hasn't,
and what may come
By Aaron J. Trumm
A
coustics is the science of sound. In our sphere,
acoustics are balanced by how sound is subjectively
dealt with by musicians and engineers. Over the past
few decades plenty has changed-sometimes drastically-
while much about acoustics remains set in stone.
Acoustics Matter
One thing that has not changed is acoustics matter.
In the changed column, there's a lot of new technology designed
to make up for deficiencies in room acoustics. This includes
room correction, room emulation and even artificially
intelligent (AI) mixing-but none of these renders acoustic room
treatment obsolete. None of them!
It's still essential to acoustically treat live spaces and control
rooms as best you can, even in a home studio. What's different
is now you have digital tools that can work in tandem
with physical treatment options. Now you can take a bedroom
studio with less-than-ideal measurements and a fixed
budget, and with smart treatment choices and the strategic
use of room correction software, you can create a room you
can trust for any mix.
Again, not as much has changed when it comes to recording
spaces. Recording a great performance in a great room is the
best option. That said, there are many mix correction options
to clean up tracks after the fact, and some are smarter than
ever. Still, they are no substitute for capturing a great-sounding
source that requires no processing.
60 RECORDING November 2022
ment modeling. Consider the Steven Slate Audio VSX modeling
headphones. These cans come with emulation software that
allows you to sound like other popular pairs of headphones.
Still, beyond that, they are designed to let you virtually mix in
the acoustic environment of famous control rooms and other
spaces (like cars). Waves, Reveal+, Embody and L-ISA Studio
offer similar virtual mixing environments, famous and otherwise,
from stereo to complete spatial audio setups.
This means (in theory) you can mix and monitor in a professionally
treated studio in your headphones regardless of the
space you are in, be it an office cubicle, at your dining room
table, a plane, train or automobile. Does this rend acoustic
treatment in your room unnecessary? Some people swear by
these products, while the jury is still out for others.
Morphing Spaces
Room emulation isn't relegated just to headphone systems. In academic
settings, concert halls and many studios, impulse responses
(IRs) and reverb algorithms are being used in loudspeakers to
transform the acoustic experience of one room into another. Some
systems from Russ Berger Design Group (RBDG) and Meyer Sound
even employ additional speakers and microphones in the task.
Room Correction
One of the most mature acoustic technologies is room correction
software. Room correction offerings from Sonarworks,
Trinnov, IK Multimedia ARC System 3, Waves TRACT System,
and speaker-specific options like GLM 4 from Genelec are no
longer novel or new. Most of these are accepted norms used
in conjunction with traditional room treatment options that can
make great-sounding spaces even better. These technological
improvements allow more people, even those with modest budgets,
to create high-quality mixes in less-than-ideal spaces.
While the science of acoustics has not changed, the culture around
acoustics and our options has. Now, when we advise people about
acoustics, it's no longer just structural. We consider the myriad
situations recordists may be in-from multimillion-dollar facilities
to bedroom edit suites tucked into apartment buildings. Room
correction, headphone calibration and room emulation software
are some of the main drivers of this new equity.
Spatial and Binaural Audio
Talking to a few academics about cutting-edge audio research,
one thing stands out: how we think about sound. The
physics of sound don't change, and we've long understood a
great deal about it, but in music we've mostly thought about
sound in a simplified way.
Specifically, we think of sound linearly, especially when we talk
about treating spaces. For example, we can predict early reflections
in the sweet spot of a mix room by using mirrors. Knowing that
sound waves (especially high frequencies) bounce off flat surfaces
at the same angle they approach, we can draw early reflections
using straight lines. It's a straightforward way to plan the treatment
needed to create a reflection-free zone at the mix position.
RECORDING November 2022
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of RECORDING November 2022
Fade In
Fast Forward
Focal Sub6, Focal Sub One and Focal Sub12
Neumann NDH 30
A Family of Amphion Monitors Compared
Plugin Outlet: BABY Audio IHNY-2
KRK S10.4 Studio Subwoofer
A Space for Creative Inclinations: An Interview with David Crowder
Plugin Outlet: KIT Plugins Blackbird Mo-Q
Inside the Studio with Mark Hornsby: Paragon Studios 2.0
IK Multimedia iLoud Precision MTM, Precision 5 & Precision 6
Inside the Box with Joe Albano: Virtual Studio Modeling
ddrum NIO Percussion Pad
Yorkville Sound YSM5 Series II
Session Log with Marc Urselli: A Brief History of EastSide Sound
GIK Acoustics Sound Blocks
State of Acoustics 2022
Thermionic Culture The Fat Bustard II
Readers' Tracks
Fade Out: Studio Thoughts from Allen Sides
RECORDING November 2022 - Intro
RECORDING November 2022 - Cover1
RECORDING November 2022 - Cover2
RECORDING November 2022 - 1
RECORDING November 2022 - 2
RECORDING November 2022 - 3
RECORDING November 2022 - Fade In
RECORDING November 2022 - 5
RECORDING November 2022 - 6
RECORDING November 2022 - 7
RECORDING November 2022 - Fast Forward
RECORDING November 2022 - 9
RECORDING November 2022 - Focal Sub6, Focal Sub One and Focal Sub12
RECORDING November 2022 - 11
RECORDING November 2022 - 12
RECORDING November 2022 - 13
RECORDING November 2022 - Neumann NDH 30
RECORDING November 2022 - 15
RECORDING November 2022 - A Family of Amphion Monitors Compared
RECORDING November 2022 - 17
RECORDING November 2022 - 18
RECORDING November 2022 - 19
RECORDING November 2022 - 20
RECORDING November 2022 - 21
RECORDING November 2022 - 22
RECORDING November 2022 - 23
RECORDING November 2022 - Plugin Outlet: BABY Audio IHNY-2
RECORDING November 2022 - 25
RECORDING November 2022 - KRK S10.4 Studio Subwoofer
RECORDING November 2022 - 27
RECORDING November 2022 - A Space for Creative Inclinations: An Interview with David Crowder
RECORDING November 2022 - 29
RECORDING November 2022 - 30
RECORDING November 2022 - 31
RECORDING November 2022 - 32
RECORDING November 2022 - 33
RECORDING November 2022 - 34
RECORDING November 2022 - 35
RECORDING November 2022 - Plugin Outlet: KIT Plugins Blackbird Mo-Q
RECORDING November 2022 - 37
RECORDING November 2022 - Inside the Studio with Mark Hornsby: Paragon Studios 2.0
RECORDING November 2022 - 39
RECORDING November 2022 - 40
RECORDING November 2022 - 41
RECORDING November 2022 - IK Multimedia iLoud Precision MTM, Precision 5 & Precision 6
RECORDING November 2022 - 43
RECORDING November 2022 - 44
RECORDING November 2022 - 45
RECORDING November 2022 - Inside the Box with Joe Albano: Virtual Studio Modeling
RECORDING November 2022 - 47
RECORDING November 2022 - 48
RECORDING November 2022 - 49
RECORDING November 2022 - ddrum NIO Percussion Pad
RECORDING November 2022 - 51
RECORDING November 2022 - Yorkville Sound YSM5 Series II
RECORDING November 2022 - 53
RECORDING November 2022 - Session Log with Marc Urselli: A Brief History of EastSide Sound
RECORDING November 2022 - 55
RECORDING November 2022 - 56
RECORDING November 2022 - 57
RECORDING November 2022 - GIK Acoustics Sound Blocks
RECORDING November 2022 - 59
RECORDING November 2022 - State of Acoustics 2022
RECORDING November 2022 - 61
RECORDING November 2022 - Thermionic Culture The Fat Bustard II
RECORDING November 2022 - 63
RECORDING November 2022 - Readers' Tracks
RECORDING November 2022 - 65
RECORDING November 2022 - 66
RECORDING November 2022 - 67
RECORDING November 2022 - 68
RECORDING November 2022 - 69
RECORDING November 2022 - 70
RECORDING November 2022 - 71
RECORDING November 2022 - Fade Out: Studio Thoughts from Allen Sides
RECORDING November 2022 - Cover3
RECORDING November 2022 - Cover4
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