How to Set Up and Treat a Listening Room
This 14-minute video explains the basics of room layout and acoustic treatment, and presents practical solutions to many common problems. The focus is on home theaters, but all of the information applies equally to professional recording studios and mastering rooms. If you have technical questions about this video that require a reply, please do not post them here as comments. YouTube is not a good venue for a technical exchange. Please post your questions in whatever audio forum you know me from, or post in my acoustics forum at www.musicplayer.com.
Tags: bass traps, acoustic treatment, home theater, room acoustics, ethan winer, realtrapsRelated posts:
Even very heavy moving blankets have no affect at bass frequencies. For that you need a more suitable material, and it must be at least 3 inches thick or even thicker. How thick depends on how low you want to absorb to.
Would i still need to decouple my speakers if its on concrete floors? thanx for the vid, its great advice.
Maybe. This is a terrible place for a technical discussion. Ask me at Gearslutz and I’ll reply more fully.
Thanks so much for these vids, Mr. Winer!!!
this guy is on the ball. thanks
hi, in my sound productiob course, we have to design a control room….i have co-efficient of absorbtion charts, to say how much% of a sabine materials take out, but how do i find out how much of the frequency i need to take out of the room using these materials, for it to stop being a problem frequencey?
@deanmacgregor: This is too complex to explain in YouTube comments. If you ask in one of the public audio forums such as Gearslutz (dot com) or MusicPlayer (dot com) I’ll be glad to elaborate. Click my name above to find my web site, and email me a link to your post.
I wouldn’t mind panels,but they make the room more clutter. great info on the video. :)
Thanks for the pragmatic, sound advice, Ethan. I’ll pass this YouTube on to my fellow emplyees at Triad Speakers. All the best to you and yours this holiday season…Paul Scarpelli
Good informative video, but the mannequins of you and your wife are creeping me out.
@gotham61 That’s on purpose. :->)
why do you choose amplified speakers instead of having unamplified speakers and separate amplifier(s)? My brother just bought a 6000 loudspeaker system and a pair (I think it’s the price for a pair) of your front speakers is about 550 dollars. Did my brother pay 6000$ for nothing?
@maxohpne Speaker quality and pricing varies enormously.
hi i was wondering how could i make my room optimized for great audio with diy material? ex wood egg cartons and padding. I’m making a room downstairs where i can listen to music.
thks. great job on the room.
@dcp10200 YouTube comments is not a good venue for a technical discussion. Start a thread in whatever audio forum you may know me from, or post in my forum at MusicPlayer (dot com).
this reminds me of something . I was in a group and one time me and the bass player switched roles. well he has some drumming background and I have some guitar background. I must say b/c he has a left handed bass guitar it was generally awkward. ANYHOW, reguarding the things you said about bass notes. I thought it was me but now I’m really convinced it was the room. I couldn’t tell, standing right next to the bass amp, what notes I was playing exactly, I mean +/- a half step off. Thx4postingVid!
I’m going to attempt my 1st 4″ bass traps tonight. I have three OC703 2×4 sheets. I wonder how much of a difference this will make. I also have 18 sheets of 1″ 703 that I’m going to use for early reflections but i’m going to do the bass traps 1st. Hope my GF can hear the difference
Thanks so much Ethan!
You have been a massive help. First saw an article of yours in my favourite mag Sound on Sound and then came across your video and acoustic treatment company!
Cheers!
Great Video, You’ve helped me a lot, I learned all this stuff at school but i forgot all of that….
thanks to your video – i know now how to fix my acoustic problems in my studio! Cheers
I like your black cat. Is it a Bombay cat or Burmese? I have black cat but nowhere near as large as your cat.
How many bass traps can a 15 foot length room by 10 feet by 7feet hold?
Cheers
@EmpireLS56KW That’s bear, who sadly died last year. He was not a purebred as far as I know. More photos are on the Family page of my website ethanwiner (dot com) if you care. As for bass traps, the more you have, the flatter the response will be. It’s really that simple. Remember that rectangle rooms have 12 corners, not just four!
Oh, that was brilliant and sweet. Mine is odd ball cat that likes climbing into the wardrobe for catnap. Most times my cat will catnap right beside me on the bed. I guess hes listening out for me?
When the Video was about to kick in I thought I was Rick rolled at first because of the drum roll hehe … cool set up
Thank you so much for the Video, it is very informative. Please make more video about acoustic treatment for at home Mastering. And how RMC from JBL Verses acoustically treated room like yours? Would you have both?
@thagek2 Electronic room “correction” is not nearly as capable as bass traps, and it can’t do anything for mid and high frequencies. It can be somewhat useful if you already have enough bass traps. Go to the RealTraps web site, Articles page, then look for my Audyssey Report.