I need help with my room please!

[crimeethics]

I'm having trouble hearing frequencies around 80hz in my new room.
I just moved into a house that has a pretty nice square room that I thought would be perfect acoustically. The place I was at before this, I had no problem hearing the frequencies around 80 hz, and I had my setup in my living room there. It was just a tiny apartment with the living room half closed and the rest was open into the kitchen. For some reason at this new place I am having trouble hearing basslines (around 80 hz). Around 60 hz, the frequencies are coming thru just fine, I get the thump from the kicks perfectly.... but not 80 hz.

here are some pics of the new room....

As you can see my monitor setup is the M-Audio BX8a's with the matching SBX10 subwoofer. In the last pic you can see where I have my crossover set on the sub.... this is where I had it set at the place before and everything sounded fine. I have tried pulling that white desk farther from the built in desk its sitting in front of, played around with where the monitors are located a little bit, all while trying to keep the equilateral triangle intact. I've tried pulling the sub closer to me under the table, i've tried pushing back into the little chair cutout in the desk thats built in. Nothing seems to be helping. Should i change the crossover on the subwoofer? Like I said, the crossover worked just fine where its at, at my old location. Any help is appreciated, thanks.

 

[bandcoach]

more important than your pics are the room dimensions - h x w x l will let us work out a few things like resonant frequencies and overlaps between dimensions/axes

from this we can begin to devise some advice for your situation

 

[crimeethics]

its 8 ft x 9 ft x like 10.5 ft but like the picture shows it has the built in desk plus the ceiling indentions.

 

[bandcoach]

base profile suggest that your resonant frequencies for this room are

H 70.63Hz
W 62.78Hz
L 53.81Hz

WL 82.68Hz
HL 88.79Hz
HW 94.49Hz

HWL 108.74Hz

Of interest though is the alcove at the front of the room which is to all intents and purposes a bass trap/resonator; what are the dimensions of just this component of the room?

You may need to apply some bass trapping at the resonant frequencies of the alcove and the room itself to smooth out your bottom end response....

 

[crimeethics]

what do those frequencies mean? I don't understand.

theres a 1 ft x 9 ft x 43 in block in the front off the room attatched to the ceiling above my computer monitor and sound monitors, and a 1 ft x 9 ft x 10 in block in the back of the room attatched to the ceiling.

 

[ismokefatnugs]

just treat ur room trust and put them bass traps , trust or ur bound to learn the hard way

 

[crimeethics]

^^ what do you mean by "treat" your room? do you just mean put up bass traps in the corners? or more?

 

[bandcoach]

what do those frequencies mean? I don't understand.

theres a 1 ft x 9 ft x 43 in block in the front off the room attatched to the ceiling above my computer monitor and sound monitors

this is hard to accept as the depth of that block looks much more than a foot (unlike the rear alcove) and is certainly wider than 43" or 4'3" (your numbers are not clear).....

The frequencies are the points at which your room boosts it response - all whole number multiples of those frequencies are also boost points

treatment means putting in bass traps and diffusers/absorbers to control the frequency response of the room, particularly at first reflection points.....

 

[sheggs]

In basic terms what band coach is highlighting is that you are correct in saying there are problems at 80hz as these are caused by the room modes, in other words the dimensions of your room are causing problems at that frequency.
Easiest way to deal with this is bass trapping. Get some super-chunks in the corners and treat as many boundaries as possible

 

[crimeethics]

more important than your pics are the room dimensions - h x w x l will let us work out a few things like resonant frequencies and overlaps between dimensions/axes

from this we can begin to devise some advice for your situation

this is hard to accept as the depth of that block looks much more than a foot (unlike the rear alcove) and is certainly wider than 43" or 4'3" (your numbers are not clear).....

The frequencies are the points at which your room boosts it response - all whole number multiples of those frequencies are also boost points

treatment means putting in bass traps and diffusers/absorbers to control the frequency response of the room, particularly at first reflection points.....

just like you said.... h x w x l. and yes, in is short INCHES.

here are pictures of the ceiling blocks

In basic terms what band coach is highlighting is that you are correct in saying there are problems at 80hz as these are caused by the room modes, in other words the dimensions of your room are causing problems at that frequency.
Easiest way to deal with this is bass trapping. Get some super-chunks in the corners and treat as many boundaries as possible

thanks. i've been playing around with putting stuff in the corners but I should probly use foam. You see i've got foam on the walls that i can. The stuff I put in the corners has helped only a small amount. Should i play with the frequency of the crossover on the sub? is that what its used for?

 

[bandcoach]

About your sub crossover
Adjusting your subs crossover point won't address this problem, it is there simply to compensate for the best response from your main speakers and your sub. In an untreated room, using your sub may be worse than not having it, as it can swamp the low end very easily and amplify the room issues at low frequencies.....

About bass traps
Generally speaking, a bass trap is a whole room height unit designed specifically to address corner borne resonances - it should cover a broad range of frequencies. It is usually angled across the corners at the front and back of the room to tame the low end response of the room.

About Room Resonances
the numbers I offered you above are in three classes of resonance

Axial - the actual dimensions of the room as perceived along the mid-line
H W L
Tangential - across any two dimensions joining two mid-lines
WL HL HW
Oblique - the corner where all three dimensions meet
HWL

As a result, your corner treatment is not addressing the frequencies it needs to - mass and length are required to do this (you are trying to match wavelengths to tame the resonances and provide mass to impede the reflection/redistribution of those wavelengths)

Your Room Dimensions
Your room bumps actually do not affect much in the way of room response

However, if we analyse each portion of the room, we get the following profiles:

Central portion		Rear portion		Front portion
Height	Width	Length		Height	Width	Length		Height	Width	Length
8'​	9'​	5'7"​		7'​	9'​	0'10"​		7'​	9'​	3'7"​
H	W	L		H	W	L		H	W	L
70.63Hz​	62.78Hz​	101.19Hz​		80.71Hz​	62.78Hz​	678.00Hz​		80.71Hz​	62.78Hz​	157.67Hz​
HW	HL	WL		HW	HL	WL		HW	HL	WL
94.49Hz​	123.40Hz​	119.09Hz​		102.25Hz​	682.79Hz​	680.90Hz​		102.25Hz​	177.13Hz​	169.71Hz​
HWL			HWL			HWL
138.45Hz​			685.67Hz​			187.93Hz​

Which goes a long way to explaining your problem around 80Hz, as it is very close to the floor to ceiling resonance in the two foreshortened areas.....

Building bass traps - aka absorbers
Steven P. Helm: DIY Bass Traps

The Recording Manual

 

[Salem Beats]

Ah... the New Era fitted-cap generation... Always keeping the stickers on everything.

Any chance of picking up some oversized furniture to put into that room behind you?

-Ki
Salem Beats

 

[jonkr]

I highly recommend building some rigid corner traps (not foam) and losing the sub. Or at least turning it off when mixing. A sub is very difficult to place and tune properly even in a well treated room. Many pro mixers elect not to use one for good reason.

Also a square room is something I try to stay away from acoustically.

 

[mollysoundzzz]

looks great!!!