Measures of my room

[Taker]

Hey audio gurus ,

The mission is to see if I can get my studio sound better than it already is.

My room is already theathed with bass trapping, absorption, and diffusing.
Did some measurements with REW again, and my speaker setup is 2 Neumann 310 + 750 sub, all alignment with Ma1.

Sounds pretty good, already mixed and mastered some records here, but I'm always looking for the best audio possible.

So, for the audio Gurus experts, what do u think Can i do better based on this waterfall grafic ?
Thanks in advance.

 

[DWPress]

You'll have more replies if you share your .mdat file with us. Make sure you calibrate your SPL during measurements.

 

[Taker]

Thank you mr DWPress

 

[Taker]

You'll have more replies if you share your .mdat file with us. Make sure you calibrate your SPL during measurements.

REW measure file

 

[Purité Audio]

You might set the ‘Y’ axis to 50-60dB that is a sort of accepted‘ standard’ presentation.
Keith

 

[Taker]

You might set the ‘Y’ axis to 50-60dB that is a sort of accepted‘ standard’ presentation.
Keith

Where can I make that change?

 

[Purité Audio]

In REW’s ‘limits’ (top right) settings.
Keith

 

[Taker]

In REW’s ‘limits’ (top right) settings.
Keith

Done, thanks https://www.swisstransfer.com/d/6bcb857f-c6a5-4b0e-a996-e8ba1c7ed26b

 

[Taker]

 

[Taker]

 

[Purité Audio]

-10 to 160dB, the 10dB scale smoothes everything a little to much, beloved by some speaker manufacturers though.
Keith

 

[Taker]

-10 to 160dB, the 10dB scale smoothes everything a little to much, beloved by some speaker manufacturers though.
Keith

Can you elaborate please ? What does that mean ?

 

[HiMu]

Can you elaborate please ? What does that mean ?

There is something sketchy about the SPL level of your measurements, at those levels you'd be running the speakers very close to their limits. As DWPress mentioned, you should calibrate your measurement microphone/REW SPL level with another SPL meter to get more realistic results. Check the REW help for instructions.

If you compare these 2 graphs, the first one has the recommended "ASR industry standard" 50dB scale usually 100-50dB (Your measurements require 120dB-70dB), the other has scale of 300dB (160dB- -140dB) like in your last waterfall graph. As you can see, the latter doesn't make any sense when trying to see what is going on, it's like looking at a mountain range from space.

 

[DWPress]

@Keith_W has created a good guide to using REW which you can check out at this post.

 

[Keith_W]

Frequency response not flat. No bass below 100Hz. It looks like you need subwoofers.

Re: the comment that he is measuring too loud. He isn't, look at the distortion numbers - less than 0.5% THD throughout. The only thing that is off is the mic SPL. He does not need an SPL meter unless absolute volume is important - for this application, it isn't. I try to avoid recommending equipment purchases unless it is strictly necessary, and in this case it is not. Just live with a wonky SPL scale, it does not matter, unless he is doing loudspeaker compression testing or measuring distortion. For room measurements, what matters is relative SPL, not absolute SPL.

The step response suggests that the polarity of this speaker is inverted. You only measured one speaker, please check both speakers to make sure they are the same.

That RT60 is VERY LOW, about 100ms. The RT60 target depends on room volume, application, and personal preference. You indicated that this is a studio. I suspect it's a bit too low even for a studio. Still, if you like the way it sounds, that's up to you. I personally wouldn't enjoy being in a room like that, but your system is for you and not for me.

I tend to use the waterfall graph like this, to show the signal-noise ratio. I extend the time scale to 1000ms and the vertical scale to show the noise floor. You can clearly see the noise floor of this measurement. Take note of the shape - it rises in the bass, just as the frequency response of the speaker is dropping. This is one reason why the RT60 is unreliable at long wavelengths.

 

[Taker]

Thanks guys for your kind responses

 

[HiMu]

The only thing that is off is the mic SPL. He does not need an SPL meter unless absolute volume is important - for this application, it isn't. I try to avoid recommending equipment purchases unless it is strictly necessary, and in this case it is not.

In a non-critical situation like this, the spl can be calibrated close enough with a free smartphone app. Although I'd still recommend anyone who is working with sound to set the levels reliably with a cheap or borrowed SPL meter to prevent damaging your ears.

 

[Taker]

View attachment 494310

Frequency response not flat. No bass below 100Hz. It looks like you need subwoofers.

Re: the comment that he is measuring too loud. He isn't, look at the distortion numbers - less than 0.5% THD throughout. The only thing that is off is the mic SPL. He does not need an SPL meter unless absolute volume is important - for this application, it isn't. I try to avoid recommending equipment purchases unless it is strictly necessary, and in this case it is not. Just live with a wonky SPL scale, it does not matter, unless he is doing loudspeaker compression testing or measuring distortion. For room measurements, what matters is relative SPL, not absolute SPL.

View attachment 494311

The step response suggests that the polarity of this speaker is inverted. You only measured one speaker, please check both speakers to make sure they are the same.

View attachment 494312

That RT60 is VERY LOW, about 100ms. The RT60 target depends on room volume, application, and personal preference. You indicated that this is a studio. I suspect it's a bit too low even for a studio. Still, if you like the way it sounds, that's up to you. I personally wouldn't enjoy being in a room like that, but your system is for you and not for me.

View attachment 494313

I tend to use the waterfall graph like this, to show the signal-noise ratio. I extend the time scale to 1000ms and the vertical scale to show the noise floor. You can clearly see the noise floor of this measurement. Take note of the shape - it rises in the bass, just as the frequency response of the speaker is dropping. This is one reason why the RT60 is unreliable at long wavelengths.

When I did these measurements, I followed a YouTube tutorial.
Just got a UMIK USB mic, so I did it.
This system is calibrated, so I don't have any bass standing waves, and maybe because of that, it looks like I don't have bass. I don't know

It sounds really good, it's like having a big speaker system full range.
I did this measurement to show people who know much more than I do, to see if I can do better and fix it next year by looking at this graphs.
Usually people say `Ìf it's not broken, don't fix it ', but I like to improve things over time.

I could also turn Off Bass management in 750KH sub and do some measures.
That would bring a lot of problems and standings waves for sure and I don't see the point as calibrated is the way I use it and sounds pretty damn good.

 

[Keith_W]

Can't really comment on your bass. You only measured one speaker. Measure both playing together and it might be better. Or maybe worse. I don't know

If you think it sounds good, great. No need to do anything.

 

[DWPress]

I've loved those Neumann 310s ever since Amir measured them. He pushed them to 96dB in room response in his review and they did really well in distortion above 400hz but yours are averaging 105dB so I thought there might have been some error in measurement. I use a phone SPL meter to get close, the main thing is to have a better idea where your noise floor really is. Let's see the room response with the stereo pair + sub.