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Auralex Roominators Project 2 Review [With Audio Examples]

Joe Gilder — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 16:00:27 +0000

I’ve talked about acoustic treatment a lot here on Home Studio Corner. Why? Because it’s one of the most important components of your home studio (if not the most important).

Everything you do in a studio is centered around audio waves, right? We’re in the business of capturing, manipulating, and reproducing audio waves.

While we audio cowboys are in the process of wrangling in these unruly audio waves, they’re bouncing all around our room. The more reflective surfaces your studio has, the more unwieldy the audio becomes.

Acoustic treatment is like Ritalin™ for your studio. Audio waves have ADD. They bounce around the room like crazy until they finally run out of energy…then they do it again.

Okay. Enough analogies.

An Undercover EQ

Regardless of your involvement in audio, whether your a casual hobbyist or a full-time professional, your music has a slim chance of sounding decent if you don’t have acoustic treatment.

As these waves bounce around the room, certain frequencies are boosted. Others are cut. If your studio is untreated, the room itself acts like a graphic EQ gone crazy. 100 Hz might be cut by 19 dB while 250 Hz might be boosted by 6 dB.

Every room is different. No room is perfect. You can never have a perfectly flat frequency response, but you can “flatten” it out with acoustic treatment and tremendously improve the sound of your room.

Reflections Galore

Another big reason to treat your room is to improve the sound of your recordings.

Let’s say you’re recording lead vocals. You could have a $1,000 microphone running into a $1,500 preamp, but if the microphone is in a room with a bunch of bare walls, your recording is going to sound like it was made in a room with bare walls. (Shocking, right?)

The microphone will pick up the direct sound of the vocal, but it will also pick up all of the early reflections as the sound waves bounce off the walls and ceiling and race back to the microphone. By treating your room, you can cut down on these reflections and capture a nice, up-front vocal without building a vocal booth.

Auralex Roominators Project 2 Kit

I’ve been a big fan of Auralex for quite some time. I was planning to purchase a set of their LENRD bass traps and extra foam sometime this year, so when they approached me about reviewing some of their products on HSC, I jumped at the opportunity.

They sent me a few things to review, but today we’ll focus on the Roominators Project 2 Kit.

[Disclaimer: Yes, Auralex gave me the Roominators Kit in return for a review. However, I only review products I believe in. I've turned down similar offers from other manufacturers.]

What’s included?

The Roominators kit comes in two gigantic boxes. It includes the following:

(8) LENRD Bass Traps
(24) Studiofoam 2′x2′x2″ Wedge Panels
(5) tubes of Tubetak Pro Liquid Adhesive

LENRD Bass Traps

I think I was most excited about these. I already owned some Auralex Studiofoam panels, so I had a fair amount of absorption in my room, but I didn’t really have adequate bass trapping. Bass frequencies are the hardest to tame in a studio, because they’re such large waves. Bass traps like the LENRDs go in the corners (where bass likes to build up) and helps absorb them.

Studiofoam Wedge Panels

Like I said above, I had some acoustic foam in my room, but not nearly enough. With these 2-foot by 2-foot panels (each 2 inches thick), I was able to liberally treat my entire studio, rather than cutting corners like I had done before.

I applied them in the following areas (in order of importance):

Directly to the left and right of my monitors – This is probably one of the most important applications. Without treatment here, the sound from your monitors bounces off the side walls and reaches your ears at a slightly later time than the direct signal from the monitors. This slight delay causes the monitors to sound undefined. Placing studiofoam here immediately tightened up the sound of my monitors. They sound tighter, and the stereo image is much wider. (It sounded almost mono before.)
Directly behind my monitors – To prevent sound from reflecting off of the rear wall and interfering with the direct sound of the monitors.
Directly above my monitors – Sound waves bounce off ceilings, too!!
Dispersed evenly throughout the room – After thoroughly treating all the areas above, I still had a bunch of panels left, so I applied them evenly throughout the room.

Tubetak Pro Liquid Adhesive

I didn’t use any of the Tubetak adhesive. I simply used a hammer and small nails to place all the pieces where I want them. Once I’m convinced that’s where I want them, I may glue them to the wall with the Tubetak. Until then, the nails are holding up okay…somewhat.

One thing to note about Tubetak. If you decide to glue your foam to your walls, you shouldn’t use standard adhesive, as these oftentimes eat through the foam. (That’s bad.)

See it in action. You can see exactly how I applied the treatment around my studio by checking out my latest Home Studio Tour video.

The Verdict?

There is an IMMEDIATELY noticeable difference in the sound of the room. It feels much more…”tame.” When I talk or clap my hands, I don’t hear the sound bouncing all around the room anymore. It does a little bouncing, but it quickly dies out.

One thing to keep in mind when applying acoustic treatment – don’t try to cover every square inch of your room. If you do, the room will be TOO absorptive and it’ll feel dead. It’s okay to have some reflections, just not an overwhelming amount.

Mixing

From a mixing standpoint, my speakers sound much more clear. I can hear details in my studio monitors that I could only hear with headphones prior to the acoustic treatment. Also, thanks to the bass traps, my studio has a much better low end. It’s not perfect, there’s still some resonance around 200 Hz or so, but the bass is much more pronounced.

Check this out: adding bass traps to my room actually INCREASED the bass response of my room. (See Low End Woes for more on that.)

Recording

From a recording standpoint, I’ve noticed that my recordings sound much cleaner and “tighter.” I don’t hear quite as much room in my lead vocal tracks. The room just seems quieter, which is always nice.

Play some audio already!!

Want to know what a lead vocal sounds like recorded in a completely untreated room versus a treated room? Of course you do.

The bedroom right across the hall from my studio is almost the exact same size as my studio. There’s a bed in there, but nothing on the walls.

I set up a mic in the guest bedroom and recorded a vocal. Then I set up the same mic (with the exact same settings) in my studio and recorded the vocal again. The audio files are 320 kbps mp3′s, and there’s no EQ or compression on either file.

Each was recorded through a M-Audio Luna microphone into a Presonus Eureka preamp into Pro Tools. I was standing 12 inches from the microphone each time.

The Untreated Bedroom:

[See post to listen to audio]

The Treated Studio:

[See post to listen to audio]

What do you think? Pretty big difference, right? And it totally makes a difference in the mix as well. Once you add compression to that first vocal, the sound of the room gets even louder, and you’ll hear it in the mix. The second vocal? Sits in the mix just fine.

The Auralex Roominator Project 2 Kit currently sells for $599 over at Sweetwater. That’s how much you’d pay for a nice preamp or microphone, which are both great, but neither one will help you make better recordings and better mixes. A properly treated room will make your current gear sound much better.

So…what are your thoughts? Let me know by leaving a comment.

If you want to get rid of the frustration of constantly guessing as to how to acoustically treat your studio, join “Understanding Your Room.”
You’ll get the exact training you need to confidently tackle the acoustical issues in your room. Grab your copy here.

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The One Drum EQ Trick That [Almost] Always Works

Joe Gilder — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:47:08 +0000

One of the things I love most about recording music is that there are no rules. One guy decides to use a cardboard box as his kick drum sound…and it sounds awesome. Another guy decides to sample in the sound of a screaming cat and blend it with the cymbals. (Okay, I’ve never seen that, but I bet it’s awesome.)

You’re free to do whatever you want. Maybe that’s why so many people record music as a hobby. They spend 40 hours a week being told what they can and can’t do, but in the studio they can do whatever they want. The only real rule is that it needs to sound good. Ah, recording…

But there is one “rule” I almost always follow when mixing drums…and it almost always works. So, of course, I want to share it with you.

It’s really simple. Suspiciously simple. Cut 400 Hz.

I’ve heard it over and over again from mix engineers. Drums sounding boxy? Missing that definition you need? Cut 400 Hz.

It’s hard to explain. You just need to go try it, but it’s especially effective on kick drum and toms. Grab an EQ, do a cut at 400 Hz and nothing else. Then compare the different sounds. What I hear is that the low end becomes more pronounced and has more punch. I can also hear the high-end detail much more clearly?

This is all without boosting the lows or the highs. That’s why I always suggest that you cut before you boost. Emphasize one frequency range by DE-emphasizing another one. It’s kinda like budgeting:

You’ve got a set budget for the month.

You’ve got a set number of frequencies to work with.

You decide you want to spend an extra $200 on a piece of gear.

You decide you need more low end in your kick drum.

You take $200 out of ANOTHER part of the budget to pay for the gear.

You cut 400 Hz to bring out the low end down at 80 Hz.

This doesn’t ALWAYS works, but you’d be surprised how much a simple cut can work better than a boost.

Hear it for Yourself

Here’s a kick drum track, dry without any EQ:

[See post to listen to audio]

And here’s that same track with a 400 Hz cut:

[See post to listen to audio]

I did a fairly exaggerated cut to make it easier to hear. Even so, it’s not a super obvious change in sound. What I hear is that suddenly the low end beefyness of the kick is much more prominent than before. It sounds like I boosted the lows, but I actually just did a single cut to the low-mids. Funny how that works.

Side-note: Obviously 400 Hz might not be the EXACT frequency you need to cut, but it’s a great starting point.

What do you think? Leave a comment below.

And if you want to learn my process for effectively EQ-ing anything, plus a killer ear-training technique, check out Understanding EQ:

www.UnderstandingEQ.com

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Why are My Mixes so Quiet in My Car?

Joe Gilder — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 15:00:00 +0000

If you’re just starting out with recording, this is a question that you ask a lot. You’re working on a song and it’s sounding awesome in your studio. After burning a CD, you take it to your car, and you can hardly hear it. So you drive around the neighborhood, banging your head against your steering wheel because you can’t figure out why it’s so quiet.

You go back to your studio and turn everything up as loud as it will go, but now all the tracks are clipping. So you decide to give up and go watch TV.

This is a really common question I get from readers here on HSC. The problem is that the music you listen to on CD’s and on the radio has been mastered. Mastering entails all sorts of things, but, in very general terms, it’s simply taking a finished mix and making it as loud as possible without harming the sound of the mix.

If you listen to your un-mastered mix next to a mastered mix, the mastered mix will most likely be louder. So how can you get your mixes louder without a mastering engineer? Here’s how I make sure my mixes are loud enough to at least hear them in the car.

Use a limiter

Now I have to be careful when I give advice like this. A limiter is simply a compressor to the extreme. It has a threshold, and nothing can go above that threshold. How this can help you is by lowering the threshold of the limiter on your master fader until it increases the volume up to the loudest point. In other words, it increases the volume just shy of clipping your master fader, and then the limiter kicks in.

This can be dangerous because, if you apply too much limiting and there is too much gain reduction happening, it can sound really bad. Here’s what I do. When I want to listen to a mix in the car or send it to a client, and I want it to sound good and be loud enough, I’ll put a limiter on the master fader. I’ll bring the threshold down until the mix is nice and loud, but there’s no gain reduction happening.

That means the limiter isn’t really turning anything down or really limiting anything, it’s simply turning the mix up as loud as it will go without clipping.

Make key decisions in your studio, not in your car

A limiter can be a great way to just get the mix loud enough, but the decisions that you make on your mixes should be done in your studio. Yes, you should check your mixes in your car and anywhere else, but ultimately the major mix decisions need to happen in your studio, without the limiter.

The main reason for this is, if you are using a limiter to make your mix loud enough to put in your car, chances are it’s doing something to the audio that’s not helping your mix. Listening to your mix in your studio without the limiter present is the best way to make sure you’re hearing things accurately and making the best decisions.

Are your mixes too quiet in the car?

[Photo Credit]

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What Video Can Teach You About Audio

Joe Gilder — Tue, 24 May 2011 15:44:23 +0000

You’ve heard me talk about “getting it right at the source” before. And you’ll hear me talk about it again and again, because it’s SO important.

The sooner you can get rid of the “fix it in the mix” mentality, the better your recordings will be. This is certainly not a new concept, but it’s something I personally need to be reminded of regularly.

That’s where Ronan Chris Murphy comes in. He posted a video last week on his always-incredible Ronan’s Recording Show where he discussed some interesting things he has learned from his adventures in video recording that apply REALLY WELL to the world of audio.

It’s one of those “light bulb” moments that helps you understand the phrase “get it right at the source” in a whole new way.

Head over to Ronan’s site and watch the video. You’ll be glad you did. Here’s the link: Learning my own audio lessons while shooting video.

(Also, be sure to follow @RonanCMurphy on Twitter.)

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Percussion: Why You Should Use It [and a Free Gift!]

Joe Gilder — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 16:00:48 +0000

Do you use percussion in your recordings?

You may think I’m talking about something like congas, which certainly qualify as percussion, but I almost never use congas in my recordings. However, I DO use a lot of percussion.

Mainly I use:

Shaker
Tambourine
Hand claps
Finger snapping (yes, I did this on one song on my album)
Cymbal swells

I’ll use one (or even ALL) of these on just about every song I record. Why? Because they add an extra layer to the song that you just can’t achieve by throwing on another guitar track. Oftentimes these simple little elements can be the missing piece that takes that song to the next level.

Is percussion obvious in my mixes? Nope. If you use percussion right, it will sit in the mix, and you won’t even notice it unless you’re specifically listening for it…but you’ll miss it if it’s not there.

As much as software companies try to create realistic-sounding percussion samples, I’ve found it’s easier/better to just record them yourself. Go out and buy a tambourine and a shaker…and USE them.

Cymbal swells, however, aren’t quite as easy to record. For one thing, you’ve got to buy the cymbals, stands, sticks, etc. Unless you’re a drummer, you’re probably never gonna buy them JUST for cymbal swells.

FREE GIFT!

That’s where my free gift comes in. A few years ago I had the pleasure of recording a professional percussionist in a pro studio. I had him record a bunch of cymbal swells for a track I was working on. They sound awesome, and they make a HUGE difference in every song I use them on.

They make transitions from one section to the next SO much smoother.

Here, take a listen:

[See post to listen to audio]

This is a clip from “Treading Water” off of my album Out of Indiana. In this clip you can hear THREE different types of percussion being used: shaker, tambourine, and cymbal swells.

I’ve taken those same cymbal swells I recorded YEARS ago and used them on countless other songs…and you can, too!!

I’m giving these away for free. Download them here:

Cymbal Swells [35MB]

It’s a zip file with two separate (stereo) takes from that percussion session. Consider it my early Christmas present to you. Just drag and drop them into one of your sessions, chop ‘em up, and put the cymbal swells in key places throughout the song…and enjoy!

Comment Question:

In the comments below, answer one of these questions:

Do you use percussion? (If so, how do you use it?)

How are you going to use these samples in your next recording?

[Photo by vxla]

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Epic Webinar Replay

Joe Gilder — Mon, 03 May 2010 16:00:38 +0000

Remember last Monday when I had the “epic” webinar with all those panelists pictured above? Well, I WAS able to record almost the entire thing, and I’ve got a replay here for those of you who either couldn’t make it or want to listen again to all the pearls of wisdom these gentlemen shared with us.

The first couple minutes got chopped off, but the rest is there. Enjoy!

[See post to listen to audio]

You can also download the mp3 here. [1:19, 47.5 MB]

As you’re listening, here’s the list of panelists again and their corresponding websites. Be sure to subscribe to all of them. It will be well worth it.

The Boys from the Home Recording Show

Jon Tidey – @theaudiogeek – In addition to hosting the HRS, Jon also runs AudioGeekZine.com, a great blog. You can also find him at EpicSounds.ca.
Ryan Canestro – @rcanestro – Ryan works out of the LA area. Check out his website: DitchRoadRecords.com.
Jesse Zoller – Hailing from San Francisco, Jesse’s website is TheIceShop.net.

Allen “Big Al” Wagner – @allenwagner – Big Al is the host of the Project Studio Network, blogger at Home Studio Guru and owner of Big Toe Studio in Vancouver, Washington.

Slau Halatyn – @SlauBeSharp – Slau is a New York–based engineer/producer and owner of BeSharp Studio. He’s worked with Grammy Award–winning musicians in the jazz, rock and classical world. In January 2009 he created the “Sessions With Slau” podcast in which he chronicles recording sessions, gear reviews and equipment shootouts on a weekly basis—OK, not weekly but monthly—sort of, barely—actually, whenever he manages to find the time.

Sean Yee - @keyofgrey – Sean runs the ever-informative blog KeyofGrey.com. Sean is one of the first bloggers I met in this crazy world of audio bloggers.

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Audio Examples: Production Club Before & After

Joe Gilder — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 16:00:44 +0000

We spend a lot of time on mixing in the HSC Production Club. Almost five weeks, actually. All on one song, diving headlong into every little detail that goes into getting a good mix.

One of the very first Production Club members, Matt from FingerWorkout.com, sent me some before-and-after mixes. These are songs he had recorded and mixed before joining the Production Club, then after going through all the material, he went back and re-mixed them.

He was thrilled at how much better all of his mixes were sounding, and I was tickled to death just listening to the improvements.

So, since I’m launching a brand new Production Club this week, I thought it would be fun to share those mixes with you. (Thanks for sharing these, Matt!)

Audio Samples

Sample #1

Before:

[See post to listen to audio]

After:

[See post to listen to audio]

Sample #2

Before:

[See post to listen to audio]

After:

[See post to listen to audio]

Sample #3

Before:

[See post to listen to audio]

After:

[See post to listen to audio]

Pretty cool, huh?

Some of the differences are subtle, and most of the after mixes are a bit louder than the originals, but it’s still a fun little experiment.

The Production Club isn’t magic, and I’m certainly not saying I know all the “secrets” to getting good home recordings. I simply love recording, and I love helping other people learn how to record.

If you wanna hang out with me over the next 12 weeks, sign up now at:

http://www.HSCProductionClub.com

Live Q&A Session!!!

Tomorrow afternoon (Friday, April 30th), I’ll be hanging out in my studio working on a few things. I’ve decided to broadcast live from my studio on UStream to answer any and all questions you may have about the Production Club. I’ll go on at 4pm Central, and I’ll probably hang around until 7:00 or so. Be sure to stop by and say hi! The URL is:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/joegilder

[Photo by bfishadow]

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What Production Club Members Are Saying

Joe Gilder — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 19:00:48 +0000

Well, it’s that time again. Registration is open for the HSC Production Club.

I’ll give you the link in just a second to go check out all the details on how YOU can sign up, but first, I want you to hear from a few people who have already gone through the Production Club.

You can hear what they’re saying here:

Audio Testimonial

[See post to listen to audio]

Click here to listen in a new window.

So there you have it. These are just a few of the Production Club “alumni.” We’ve had a blast.

Registration is open through the end of this week, then it will be closed for 12 weeks. You can check it out over at the Production Club website:

http://www.HSCProductionClub.com

There’s a short video there explaining what the Production Club is all about.

[Photo by takomabibelot]

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Audio Editing: Hear It For Yourself

Joe Gilder — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 20:00:50 +0000

Yesterday I talked about about audio editing and why I do it. If you haven’t read that article yet, be sure to check it out and leave a comment. I’m intrigued to hear your thoughts.

As promised, today I want to share with you an audio example of editing at work.

Audio editing is obviously not some huge mystery. For the most part, it’s just about fixing timing issues. As I said yesterday, it’s not about creating a good performance, but simply enhancing a good one.

The example you’re about to hear is from my upcoming album. In fact, it’s the song featured in the HSC Production Club (which will be re-opening next week).

I played all the guitars in this song, except for the lead guitar, and my brother-in-law played bass. We’re both (if I may say so myself) good musicians and recorded good performances. However, I felt the song still needed some tightening up. Enter editing.

Here’s a clip of the original performances.

[See post to listen to audio]

You’ll notice that as all the guitars/bass come in, especially on those first three hits of the chorus, everything sounds fine, but there’s just a bit of looseness there. Everything is hitting at a slightly different time. I could have left it, and it would have been fine.

However, after spending a little time editing, I was able to come up with this. (Note: I only edited the guitars and bass. The drums are exactly the same.)

[See post to listen to audio]

Notice how everything sounds SO much tighter. I just made small little edits here and there on each track, but the sum total of all those edits is a noticeable increase in tightness. It’s not a super over-the-top change, but it also doesn’t harm the performance at all. You get the idea we were going for, but it’s just a little tighter now.

Thoughts? Let’s hear ‘em. Leave a comment below.

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Mixing Course Explained (plus sample music) [Podcast]

Joe Gilder — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 13:00:45 +0000

Image by DTGraphix

In this week’s podcast I answer the question, “What is this mixing course all about?”

Also, you get a sneak peak..er…listen to one of the tracks from my upcoming album.

Links from the show:

Subscribe to the HSC Podcast in iTunes.

Podcast RSS Feed.