Recording - March 2018 - 31

the very least, locating the monitor
speakers and the primary listening
position (sweet spot) at locations that
avoid the worst of the standing waves
(like positioning speakers and listener
away from walls or other problems areas
like the center of the room) can help
minimize the problem.

Comb filtering

At mid and high frequencies, reflection issues are a little different. There
are still phase cancellations and reinforcements, but since the wavelengths
are shorter (inches rather than feet),
they're not localized to specific spots
in the room-instead they're spread out
throughout the room a little more evenly.
They still cause tonal colorations-in
this case the effect is referred to as comb
filtering, because the altered frequency
response resembles the teeth of a comb
in a frequency-response graph.
A little of this is normal-it's part of
the natural, desirable ambience of the
room. But too much of it, or specific
overly-strong reflections (i.e. "slap" or

"flutter" echoes) that are too strong at
the primary listening position, can cloud
the sound. Again, this can lead to poor
decisions in using EQ and reverb/delay.
The worst of these problem reflections
will mostly come from reflective surfaces
close to the speakers/listening position.
The standard solution is to apply
absorbers (like the familiar studio foam
wedge sheets) at those locations, usually
at the front and sides of the room. See
Figure 4 for one example.
Some approaches completely deaden
the front of the room, leaving the back
of the room more live, to preserve
some natural ambience (a completely
deadened room would be an unnatural
listening environment, unsuitable for
musical/mixing decision-making). More
commonly nowadays, absorptive panels
are placed in spots where the strongest
reflections come from, alternating with
more reflective areas.
A traditional low-tech technique for
locating the best spots to place absorbers is
the "mirror trick"-one person sits in the
sweet spot, and another moves a mirror

around the room until the monitor speakers
can be seen in the mirror by the guy in the
chair. Since light reflects just like sound,
this identifies the locations of the strongest
sound wave reflections, and absorptive
foam panels mounted there will have the
most effect, again, without overly deadening
the room. Additionally, reflective diffuser
panels are often employed to scatter the
rear room reflections, to insure even,
well-balanced ambience.

Wrap-up

I'm out of room, so I'll quickly finish with
one last reminder-a little time and effort
spent optimizing the monitoring system
may be the single most important thing
you can do when setting up any studio
or recording space. If you can trust what
you're hearing, then there's nothing stopping
you from creating the best recordings and
mixes you're capable of.
Joe Albano (albano@recordingmag.com)
is a recording engineer, musician,
educator, and studio consultant, working
in New York City.


http://www.amphion.fi

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - March 2018

Contents
Recording - March 2018 - Intro
Recording - March 2018 - Cover1
Recording - March 2018 - Cover2
Recording - March 2018 - 1
Recording - March 2018 - 2
Recording - March 2018 - 3
Recording - March 2018 - 4
Recording - March 2018 - 5
Recording - March 2018 - Contents
Recording - March 2018 - 7
Recording - March 2018 - 8
Recording - March 2018 - 9
Recording - March 2018 - 10
Recording - March 2018 - 11
Recording - March 2018 - 12
Recording - March 2018 - 13
Recording - March 2018 - 14
Recording - March 2018 - 15
Recording - March 2018 - 16
Recording - March 2018 - 17
Recording - March 2018 - 18
Recording - March 2018 - 19
Recording - March 2018 - 20
Recording - March 2018 - 21
Recording - March 2018 - 22
Recording - March 2018 - 23
Recording - March 2018 - 24
Recording - March 2018 - 25
Recording - March 2018 - 26
Recording - March 2018 - 27
Recording - March 2018 - 28
Recording - March 2018 - 29
Recording - March 2018 - 30
Recording - March 2018 - 31
Recording - March 2018 - 32
Recording - March 2018 - 33
Recording - March 2018 - 34
Recording - March 2018 - 35
Recording - March 2018 - 36
Recording - March 2018 - 37
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Recording - March 2018 - 40
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Recording - March 2018 - Cover3
Recording - March 2018 - Cover4
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