{"id":7624,"date":"2021-08-20T16:04:55","date_gmt":"2021-08-20T15:04:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sonarworks.com\/soundid-reference\/blog\/?p=7624"},"modified":"2021-09-28T15:38:34","modified_gmt":"2021-09-28T14:38:34","slug":"its-all-about-that-bass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sonarworks.com\/blog\/learn\/its-all-about-that-bass","title":{"rendered":"It’s All About That Bass"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Interpreting and making practical use of the graphical results from measuring programs like Sonarworks\u2019 SoundID Reference<\/a> or AV Nirvana\u2019s Room EQ Wizard (REW) requires a basic understanding of acoustic physics and the way sound behaves in a room like yours. Identifying the problems that stand in the way of attaining an accurate music monitoring system is a continuous learning process that is worthwhile to pursue. There are many excellent resources (besides our site) to help you learn about acoustics that will be linked at the end of this article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The purpose of this article is to teach you to read a room\u2019s frequency response curve and determine the likely causes of the frequency problems revealed by the analysis. You can then improve the room\u2019s acoustics to smooth out its frequency response before refining the sound with software like SoundID Reference. Read on to learn to decode this information that is provided by room correction software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Room Acoustics Reviewed<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Rooms used for personal studios are typically converted spare bedrooms, offices, or garages. These rooms usually measure in the range of between 2.5 m to 3.5 m (8 to 12 feet) wide by 2m to 3m (6 to 10 feet) high by 3 to 5 m (10 to 16 feet) long. Finished ceiling height in the US is typically 8 feet (2.5 m) and 2.2 m in the U.K.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The behavior of sound in a small room can be divided into low frequencies and high frequencies, based on the Schroeder Frequency. For most small rooms, the Schroeder Frequency is somewhere between 200 and 500 Hz. Below the Schroeder frequency, the entire room acts as a resonant cavity with low-frequency sound waves bouncing around creating nodes and anti-nodes. This low-frequency sound energy propagates in \u201cwaves\u201d and is modal. Above Schroeder, higher frequency sound behaves like \u201crays\u201d as if lasers are reflecting around the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Acousticians define a small room as a space whose acoustics are dominated by the detrimental effects of room modes that are also referred to as \u201cstanding waves\u201d because they seem to stand still in certain locations in the room. Small rooms also have loud (higher frequency) reflections off of nearby surfaces that confuse the direct sound of the speakers. Rooms are considered large if they have dimensions over 10 meters per length, width, and height. In these spaces (like concert halls or indoor arenas) the reflectivity of the space\u2014the reverberant field dominates the acoustics so we don\u2019t worry about first reflections and room modes. Obviously, we all work in rooms that are considered acoustically small!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sound waves bouncing back and forth between parallel floors, ceilings, and walls create room modes. As sound waves bounce back and forth between parallel surfaces, the waves add and cancel at various locations in the room. At some locations, a particular frequency may almost completely cancel itself out and at some locations, that same frequency may be exaggerated by several dB. Locations where cancellations occur are called nodes and locations of boosts are called anti-nodes. The exact frequencies and locations in the room where nodes and anti-nodes exist depend on the room\u2019s physical dimensions\u2014its length, height, and width. For bass frequencies, the walls we see may not be the same boundary that sound waves reflect off. For instance, a grid ceiling in an office is basically invisible to low frequencies, which will actually reflect off the structural ceiling above the drop ceiling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Types of Room Modes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Reflections exist not only between parallel walls but between many different combinations of wall, floor, and ceiling bounces. Different types of reflections result in three types of room modes. In every room, there are about 80 different room modes present at any given moment\u2014but many of these modes are of very little concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n