TAXI.com

Has someone had any luck recently with Studio room emulation plugins? My studio has an unusual configuration and installing absorption panels and bass traps etc, would prove complicated and costly. I've seen some information on Waves NX but I find it difficult to get unbiased reviews.

Thanks for your help,

Chris

The Waves plugin you mentioned and the SPL headphone amp with speaker simulation are workarounds I could think of right now (BTW - Sennheiser HD 650s are the only headphones I can really trust - if you like check out the Sonaworks plugin for headphone calibration, too). My room is far from ideal (even though I tried to do almost everything I could...). There are ways to counterbalance that to some degree. A great advice that I got from Marc Mozart (check out his mixing handbook online) is: Big decisions require small speakers and small decisions require big speakers. It is a bit counter-intuitive at first but makes a lot of sense. I use one of those Tivoli radios most of the time (I know Michael Brauer and CLA use old Sony boom boxes from the 90s). And the rest is a mix of my studio monitors, listening in my car and on Iphone headphones (yes!) As much as I liked the 80-90s where a lot of people were trying to get as audiophile as possible in their living rooms, these days the vast majority listens to music on really simplistic gear and I therefore think it is imperative to set the priorities right. Aha, I always try to use an external mastering service and try to get their feedback on the mix before they go to work. They got the right room and ears to let you know if there is something that requires adjustment.

Just my five cents

Hi Matt,

I guess Marc Mozart meant that if it sounds good on small speakers, it will also be the case on the big ones. You've obviously learned that lesson well since you test your mix on different speakers making sure your final mix is compatible with varied real world scenarios.

I also considered outsourcing but the costs would considerably reduce the number of submissions I could send in a given month. Basically, what I need is a (workaround) that will emulate a practically neutral mix room. Right now, my room is confusing and fixing it is unrealistic. I would of course test my mixes in the car, on an Ipad etc. as you do.

One thing I don't remember seeing on this forum is, what do the Taxi screeners use to listen to our submissions; headphones, monitors?

Thanks for your input,

Chris

Chris, try this:
http://www.toneboosters.com/tb-isone/

Recording a space is much more critical than reference monitoring mixing where you aren't recording the room sound.
You can try for free, you just can't save your presets.

I believe the headphones provided were Sony. I wouldn't be concerned about that though. The headphones aren't gonna be what determines a forward or return.

Thanks Len.
Your reply has made me realize that I need to expand my research on this subject which has sparked quite a few debates in the past.
I'll get more background on this and come back to this post later.

Reference monitoring is the broad subject.

Headphones take the room out of the equation, near-field monitoring adds little room, and of course full power full room speaker monitoring. So they all have benefits and problems.

Reference monitoring doesn't affect the sound itself, it only influences how extreme you effect and change the sound. Another tool
is the analyzer. https://www.meldaproduction.com/MMultiAnalyzer Another tool is having a reference cd, one of your choosing.

If the gear is causing you to make extreme settings to arrive at a good sound, it's probably wise to upgrade the gear. I don't subscribe to the maxim, "It's the ear not the gear", you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

I theenk that ToneBoosters thingy is worth a try.

I've been using ARC Room correction by IK-Multimedia for years. I personally wouldn't mix without it.

Stuart

Wow!
I'm really impressed with the awesome advice I'm getting from experienced members. I'm going to try out the different suggestions over the next few weeks.

Thanks everyone!

I'm going to be experimenting with the Sonarworks Reference 3 Headphone Calibration:

http://sonarworks.com/2015/02/sonarwork ... tion-plug/

This takes a different approach than the room simulation plugins which I think is very interesting and might be a good fit for me. Will let you know how they do after I try them out.