• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Are there any kind of baffle designs that help with desk reflections?

HarmonicTHD

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 18, 2022
Messages
3,326
Likes
4,829
Professional Studio Monitors use EQ (to compensate for the mixing pult (desk) reflections). Why make it harder than it has to be?
 
OP
D

Diplo

Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2022
Messages
44
Likes
3
Professional Studio Monitors use EQ (to compensate for the mixing pult (desk) reflections). Why make it harder than it has to be?
Yeah I’m aware of DSP EQing, but wasn’t sure if someone had created a structural way to avoid the issue.

I’m a strong believer if more natural, fix it at the source kind of thinking; I find DSP EQ a bit of “a fix it in post” kind of solution.
That being said, DSP can be great in regards to something like Genelec GLM, but again, a great room would be a more ideal solution.
 

HarmonicTHD

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 18, 2022
Messages
3,326
Likes
4,829
Yeah I’m aware of DSP EQing, but wasn’t sure if someone had created a structural way to avoid the issue.

I’m a strong believer if more natural, fix it at the source kind of thinking; I find DSP EQ a bit of “a fix it in post” kind of solution.
That being said, DSP can be great in regards to something like Genelec GLM, but again, a great room would be a more ideal solution.
Sure as long as you are aware that even at the site where the music is produced to which you are listening they simply use EQ and it’s “good enough” for them.

Besides. Maybe there is a way to test your beliefs with some blind ABX to find out if you could hear a difference between EQ and a specifically designed speaker?
 

riker1384

Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2019
Messages
66
Likes
94
Professional Studio Monitors use EQ (to compensate for the mixing pult (desk) reflections). Why make it harder than it has to be?
Wouldn't that only work if your head is always in one position? If you move, the reflection distances and the cancellation frequencies will change. Unless you're going to have your head in a vice, that could end up making things worse.
 

Sancus

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Nov 30, 2018
Messages
2,923
Likes
7,616
Location
Canada
The structural ways to mitigate the issue are angled mastering consoles and just getting rid of the desk. Some people have tried absorption on their desk, dunno how well that works.

Maybe some design with hyper-narrow vertical directivity could help. I don't know of anything that is small enough to sit on a desk and still produce good sound. Something like a CBT.
 

ROOSKIE

Major Contributor
Joined
Feb 27, 2020
Messages
1,915
Likes
3,394
Location
Minneapolis
Yeah I’m aware of DSP EQing, but wasn’t sure if someone had created a structural way to avoid the issue.

I’m a strong believer if more natural, fix it at the source kind of thinking; I find DSP EQ a bit of “a fix it in post” kind of solution.
That being said, DSP can be great in regards to something like Genelec GLM, but again, a great room would be a more ideal solution.
Dsp is as natural as any other man made component of your audio system.
Is it more natural in 2022 to drive a Model T car?
Or a Tesla?
What about horseback or covered wagon vs a Corvette?
Really I am serious and not being crass, DSP is mearly the 2000's+ contribution to the sound reproduction lineage.

SBIR issues actually can't really be dealt with very well by the way even with DSP. They are difficult and every set up has them near or far.
For cancellations, typically the better solution is to drive them down to the subwoofer frequency range and use multiple subs in multiple locations.
When that is not practical or possible then one tries to drive them above 200hrz when a couple inches of proper absorption material can have affect.
"Drive" on this context is based on the woofer's distance from the various boundaries and the using math to determine what frequencies are affected and adjust distance as possible.
For reflections you might best to experiment with various placements.

Desk reflections and cancelations can really only be truly overcome by removing the desk.

What does your in room measurement look like with the desk vs one with the monitors on stands but otherwise in the same location with the desk temporarily removed?
That only tells so much but it should show where the worse effects are happening.
 

thewas

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 15, 2020
Messages
6,747
Likes
16,180
The bass/mid boost from the desk surface is one thing and can be corrected with EQ (Genelec monitors have a PEQ around 160 Hz for it) but the blurring of the imaging due to the early reflections from it is another and should be reduced by clever placement of the loudspeakers:

nf_monitor_and_console_interaction_faq.jpg

Source: https://support.genelec.com/hc/en-u...ole-meter-bridge-Which-orientation-is-better-
 

somebodyelse

Major Contributor
Joined
Dec 5, 2018
Messages
3,682
Likes
2,961

Vincent Kars

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Technical Expert
Joined
Mar 1, 2016
Messages
781
Likes
1,555
Decouple and a tilt
 

HarmonicTHD

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 18, 2022
Messages
3,326
Likes
4,829
Wouldn't that only work if your head is always in one position? If you move, the reflection distances and the cancellation frequencies will change. Unless you're going to have your head in a vice, that could end up making things worse.
As it is quite common in the industry to apply EQ for mixing / mastering (yes next to tilt and desk dampening) and none of the sound engineers has ever been seen with his head in a vice it seems to be just fine. ;)

I get the impression sometimes, that hobby consumer audiophiles apply higher standards in music reproduction, than professionals during music production. (Welcome to the circle of confusion - see F. Toole).
 

ROOSKIE

Major Contributor
Joined
Feb 27, 2020
Messages
1,915
Likes
3,394
Location
Minneapolis
Decouple and a tilt
Neither is going to do much for any SBIR issue.

Both should be implemented in some fashion for other reasons of course.

Decoupling is for thwarting vibration transmission.
Angling is to ensure you are in the sweet spot especially as it is usually small in size in near field. With SBIR much of the most affected frequency range involves sounds waves much much to large to be helped by small angling adjustment. Though small adjust will slightly change the affected parameters so if you do DSP/apply treatment that is very specific and then move the speakers a few inches that will shift the SBIR and so you likely ought to redo the "corrections".


Wouldn't that only work if your head is always in one position? If you move, the reflection distances and the cancellation frequencies will change. Unless you're going to have your head in a vice, that could end up making things worse.
Yes, this is why SBIR is hard to fix and especially hard in the near field. In far field there is more freedom to move.

For creation, the final mix ought to be checked on a different set up.

For consumption one just does the best they can and deff can make improvements with smart use of DSP for the sweet spot but move away and it may sound less than stellar.
If you generally sit at the same spot at the desk this could be fine and better than doing nothing, if you always move around the desk than maybe only one or two really hot spots can be dealt with successfully.
 
Last edited:

bbizzle

Member
Joined
May 6, 2021
Messages
34
Likes
25
I did a video on this. I made little panels that sat on my desk at the primary reflection point. In my case it actually made a pretty big difference to the sonic image and some of the frequency response.

 
Top Bottom