!

THE NO.1 WEBSITE FOR MUSICIANS

MORE Acoustic DJ Bass Best VST synths Best guitars and amps Free samples iOS music making apps

How to measure your room's acoustics with Room EQ Wizard

By Computer Music December 31, 2014 Tech '

Calbirate your monitoring system to suit your listening environment

" # $ % &

Room EQ Wizard can help you decide on the best course of acoustic treatment.

Going in blind with acoustic treatment is always a gamble, but we can take the guesswork out of the equation by
measuring our progress with acoustic measurement software like the free Room EQ Wizard (REW). To get going, you'll
need an omnidirectional mic (a cheap one like the Behringer ECM8000 can had for under 50), a stand to hold it, and an
audio interface with the necessary mic input.

Advertisement

The basic idea behind REW is to play a sine sweep through the frequency spectrum. Behind the scenes, some fancy
calculations are then performed to generate a series of data plots that show us exactly where the problems in the room are.
The ones we're interested in are the frequency plot, the waterfall plot and the Energy Time Curve (ETC) plot.

( Going in blind with acoustic treatment is always a gamble, but we can take the guesswork
out of the equation by measuring our progress with acoustic measurement software.

The frequency plot displays the frequency response of the room. We're usually interested in the sub-300Hz region (showing
how the room modes are aecting bass response), checking to see if there are any excessive peaks or nulls in the spectrum
that can be addressed through speaker, listener and acoustic treatment placement. In a well-treated room, we'd expect the
dierence between the largest peaks and troughs of our modal region to be under 10dB, but anything under 20dB is a good
start.

The waterfall plot displays the time it takes for frequencies to decay to silence over time. As with the frequency plot, we're
interested in the modal region (sub-300Hz), so we can plan our strategy for soaking up that excessive modal energy. It's not
uncommon to have a long, honking room mode at the very low end - trapping lower frequencies can be very dicult - but
any improvement in reducing modal ringing will have a positive eect on the way you mix.

The ETC plot is a time vs amplitude plot - it displays the early reections arriving after the direct signal. We're interested in
the rst 30ms or so to ensure that the early reections (spikes on the downward curve of the plot) are at least 30dB quieter
than the direct signal.

When taking measurements, we'll measure the left speaker, the right speaker and both speakers together. This way, we can
check how each speaker is performing and contributing to the stereo response of the room, and make adjustments to the
position of each accordingly. It's useful to keep an archive of measurements along with photos of speaker/listener
positioning so you can retrace your steps if you move away from your sweet spot.

For much more advice on optimising your studio acoustics, pick up Computer Music 212, which is on sale now.

Step 1: Calibrate your audio interface according to REW's instructions and re up the software. Place your mic where your
head normally is when mixing, pointing it at either speaker to measure one at a time or at the centre-point between them for
L+R measurements. Set the Start and End times to 20Hz and 20kHz, and crank up your monitors reasonably loud.
Step 2: Click Measure>Start Measuring, then move at least six feet back behind the mic so that your body doesn't inuence
the measurement. Click the SPL & Phase tab to bring up the frequency plot (uncheck the Phase box at the bottom, as we
won't be looking at that in this tutorial). To view multiple measurements at once, you can instead use the All SPL tab and
check the boxes for what you want to display.

Step 3: We want to frame the plot so that we can view only the relevant part of the spectrum within a sensible dynamic range
- in this case, we want to view the sub-300Hz range. Click the Limits button and set the Left value to 30Hz, the Right value to
300Hz, and the Top and Bottom values so that you have around 30dB dierence, or as much as you need to see the highest
peak and lowest trough.
Step 4: Now click the Waterfall tab to see the plot your room has created. At the bottom left, click the Generate button to
create the waterfall plot. Now set the Limits to the same settings as the frequency plot, but with a 40dB dierence. Don't
worry if your plot looks dierent from ours - we'll tweak it next.

Step 5: Let's adjust the display of the plot to get a better view. Click the Controls icon and Set X to 15, Y to 55 and Z to 114 -
this gives a good starting point. Move the scrollbar on the left up or down if needs be, to make sure the highest peak is still in
view. The frequencies that take longer to decay can be tamed with more bass traps.
Step 6: Now click the Filtered IR tab to bring up the ETC plot. Framing plots to sensible parameter ranges is key to reading the
data, so click the Limits tab and set the Left to 0, the Right to 0.03 (30ms), the Top to 0 and the Bottom to -60. Those spikes
above -30dB are troublesome early reections that we
should treat.

Huge Creative FX guide, plus our huge collection of 66 free plugins

with Computer Music issue 237

MORE INFO )

Advertisement

SEE MORE TECH TUITION )

You May Like Promoted Links by Taboola

Is Your Dog One of the Trendiest Breeds?

PetBreeds By Graphiq

This 100 y.o. man is learning a new language - so you can too!
Babbel

Blackstar unveils 3 aordable, record-ready ID:Core V2 guitar amps

Try Not To Look At This Ingrown Hair Video

ZestVIP

Martin Dreadnought Junior 2E Sapele review

How To Make Your Old, Slow Computer Like-New Again (it's easier than you think)
Xtra-PC

Total Guitar 287 on sale now: Ultimate Rock Ri Lesson, Metallica, Tom Morello and more!

Uberchord guitar-learning app adds Universal Music songs

Olivier Giacomotto's favourite music software

You May Like Promoted Links by Taboola

10 questions for Crippled Black Phoenix's Justin Greaves

Shocking: 11 Everyday Foods That Combat Diabetes

NatureTip.com

Tiny Device Allows You To Track Anything (it's Genius!)

Trackr Bravo

Mike Keneally's 10 tips for guitarists

Tiny Device Transforms Old Computer into a Blazingly Fast PC

Xtra-PC

30 Weird Photos of The Freakiest Places On Earth

GeekVIP

Waves puts two Wurlitzer pianos into its Electric 200 plugin

Robert Paiste, cymbal maker and innovator, dies aged 84

Sting talks Fender P-Basses, technique and jamming Jaco Pastorius

Advertisement

THE BEST OF MUSICRADAR IN

* YOUR INBOX

Don't miss the latest deals, news,

reviews, features and tutorials

Enter your email address:

NEXT

Enter your email address:

No spam, we promise. You can unsubscribe at any time and
we'll never share your details without your permission.

Advertisement
 MOST POPULAR MOST SHARED

1 Best in guitars 2016

2 10 of the best multi-channel guitar amp heads

3 Free music samples: download loops, hits and multis

4 The 50 best VST/AU plugin synths in the world today

5 The 10 best DJ software applications in the world today

Advertisement
MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

Terms and conditions

Privacy policy

Cookies policy

TechRadar

Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.