Sub Woofers |
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Nov 2 2011, 11:41 AM
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People here have beeb asking if adding a sub can help with a lack of bass in their monitoring. Each time I've suggested that they be careful as they can introduce more problems then they solve. Just to add to that here's a quote from a forum post by Hugh Robjohns, the technical editor of Sound on Sound:
''subwoofers can cause more problems than they solve very easily and I would suggest some very careful thought before commiting. Subs in a movie system perform a very simple role. They just have to make loud bangs. Tunefullness isn't important. Standing waves in the room aren't relevant. Subwoofer distortion doesn't matter. So it's easy to make an impressive difference in that situation. In a music system, though, the performance of the sub is dominated by the room modes -- standing waves. It doesn't matter how good the sub is, if your room has untreated mode issues -- and all rooms do -- then the LF response will be hugely lumpy with some musical notes booming out and others almost non-existent. So unless you have sufficient well designed bass trapping in the room the sub is unlikely to perform very well and is more likely to be misleading than helpful. Next, budget subs tend to produce a lot of harmonic distortion because getting low-distortion bass costs a lot of money in terms of driver and cabinet design. Harmonic distortion arising from a 40Hz low bass will produce energy at 80, 120, 160 200hz and so on... smearing right through the lovely clean midrange of your main monitors. So adding a poor sub will often reduce the clarity of your monitoring system rather than improve it. And then even with a really good sub you have to get the set up absolutely right in terms of crossover point, level, phase and positioning. None of these are trivial.'' So as I've said elsewhere if you need to use a sub make sure that you have it properly matched to your system and installed correctly. If you don't you will introduce more problems than you solve. -------------------- Get your music professionally mastered by anl AES registered Mastering Engineer. Contact me for Audio Mastering Services and Advice and visit our website www.miromastering.com
Be friends on facebook with us here. We use professional, mastering grade hardware in our mastering studo. Our hardware includes: Cranesong Avocet II Monitor Controller, Dangerous Music Liasion Insert Hardware Router, ATC SCM Pro Monitors, Lavry Black DA11, Prism Orpheus ADC/DAC, Gyratec Gyraf XIV Parallel Passive Mastering EQ, Great River MAQ 2NV Mastering EQ, Kush Clariphonic Parallel EQ Shelf, Maselec MLA-2 Mastering Compressor, API 2500 Mastering Compressor, Eventide Eclipse Reverb/Echo. |
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Nov 2 2011, 06:08 PM
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Really depends on what you mean by budget subs Sinisa as I tend to think anything below about 2000 dollars is budget
 .Joking aside I think it not only depends on the particular sub but also the monitors that you are trying to integrate it with. So 2 questions - what's your budget and what are your monitors? -------------------- Get your music professionally mastered by anl AES registered Mastering Engineer. Contact me for Audio Mastering Services and Advice and visit our website www.miromastering.com
Be friends on facebook with us here. We use professional, mastering grade hardware in our mastering studo. Our hardware includes: Cranesong Avocet II Monitor Controller, Dangerous Music Liasion Insert Hardware Router, ATC SCM Pro Monitors, Lavry Black DA11, Prism Orpheus ADC/DAC, Gyratec Gyraf XIV Parallel Passive Mastering EQ, Great River MAQ 2NV Mastering EQ, Kush Clariphonic Parallel EQ Shelf, Maselec MLA-2 Mastering Compressor, API 2500 Mastering Compressor, Eventide Eclipse Reverb/Echo. |
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Nov 3 2011, 10:29 AM
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If there is a question of getting a subwoofer for getting better low end response, isn't it better to get bigger monitors all together? 3-way speaker system from a good manufacturer?
-------------------- - Ivan's Video Chat Lesson Notes HERE
- Check out my GMC Profile and Lessons - (Please subscribe to my) YouTube Official Channel - Let's be connected through ! Facebook! :) |
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Nov 3 2011, 11:17 AM
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QUOTE (Ivan Milenkovic @ Nov 3 2011, 09:29 AM)  If there is a question of getting a subwoofer for getting better low end response, isn't it better to get bigger monitors all together? 3-way speaker system from a good manufacturer? Provided that the 3 way is designed and made properly then yes. This way the x-over, power amps and so on are better optimised. -------------------- Get your music professionally mastered by anl AES registered Mastering Engineer. Contact me for Audio Mastering Services and Advice and visit our website www.miromastering.com
Be friends on facebook with us here. We use professional, mastering grade hardware in our mastering studo. Our hardware includes: Cranesong Avocet II Monitor Controller, Dangerous Music Liasion Insert Hardware Router, ATC SCM Pro Monitors, Lavry Black DA11, Prism Orpheus ADC/DAC, Gyratec Gyraf XIV Parallel Passive Mastering EQ, Great River MAQ 2NV Mastering EQ, Kush Clariphonic Parallel EQ Shelf, Maselec MLA-2 Mastering Compressor, API 2500 Mastering Compressor, Eventide Eclipse Reverb/Echo. |
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Nov 29 2011, 02:28 AM
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Great article Tony! This really clarifies the use of sub woofers. thanks man!
-------------------- My lessons
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Nov 29 2011, 02:35 AM
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Wow, this is something i never thought of!
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Nov 29 2011, 04:42 AM
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I'd like to address the "untreated" portion of this -
Everyone is assuming that an untreated room is just what we have to live with, but treating a room to remove modes is something worth tackling for every home recording studio. You might find that you don't need a sub if you treat the modes, or you might find that a sub is a useful adjunct to your existing monitoring, but until you figure out your recording space it is a little hit and miss. When I built my studio I did some work around this that may be helpful (it was a GMC blog at the time): http://www.cockburn.co.uk/a-studio-is-born.html worth a look at least - room treatment is not scary, nor should it be swept under the carpet if you are serious about recording. -------------------- Check out my Instructor profile
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Nov 29 2011, 10:02 AM
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QUOTE (Andrew Cockburn @ Nov 29 2011, 03:42 AM) I'd like to address the "untreated" portion of this - Everyone is assuming that an untreated room is just what we have to live with, but treating a room to remove modes is something worth tackling for every home recording studio. You might find that you don't need a sub if you treat the modes, or you might find that a sub is a useful adjunct to your existing monitoring, but until you figure out your recording space it is a little hit and miss. When I built my studio I did some work around this that may be helpful (it was a GMC blog at the time): http://www.cockburn.co.uk/a-studio-is-born.html worth a look at least - room treatment is not scary, nor should it be swept under the carpet if you are serious about recording. Yes you need to treat your room appropriately so that it is as good as it can be for purpose. It's sad that people often spend money on monitors etc but spend nothing on treatment. It's also worth stating again that how you treat the room depends both on intended use and the construction and the shape of the room. -------------------- Get your music professionally mastered by anl AES registered Mastering Engineer. Contact me for Audio Mastering Services and Advice and visit our website www.miromastering.com
Be friends on facebook with us here. We use professional, mastering grade hardware in our mastering studo. Our hardware includes: Cranesong Avocet II Monitor Controller, Dangerous Music Liasion Insert Hardware Router, ATC SCM Pro Monitors, Lavry Black DA11, Prism Orpheus ADC/DAC, Gyratec Gyraf XIV Parallel Passive Mastering EQ, Great River MAQ 2NV Mastering EQ, Kush Clariphonic Parallel EQ Shelf, Maselec MLA-2 Mastering Compressor, API 2500 Mastering Compressor, Eventide Eclipse Reverb/Echo. |
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Nov 29 2011, 11:02 AM
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+1 on the treated room, it is so important to do it when building a studio. It sounds good when the regular room is treated too, makes me feel nice and comfy in the room
-------------------- - Ivan's Video Chat Lesson Notes HERE
- Check out my GMC Profile and Lessons - (Please subscribe to my) YouTube Official Channel - Let's be connected through ! Facebook! :) |
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