04/20/2019
The Importance Of Your Listening Environment..and why it's especially important for dialing in amp sims..
Firstly, let me state that this is info many of you know. I may be preaching to the choir here but I think it’s still a good point to bring up for those that are really trying to understand the basics. I explain this on a regular basis to bands in the studio and folks that are starting up studios. It is not as common knowledge as you might think.
So, there have always been lots of posts (and understandably so) about amp modelers…
“not sounding right” or
“doesn’t sound like my amp and cab” or
“sounds entirely different live” or
“sounds different in my practice space than on my monitors” …etc...
I figured it would be beneficial to chat about why as I think the two things most folks overlook are the listening environments and the playback equipment. These have a gigantic effect on the sound!
Listening environment:
It’s important to consider your listening environment because each room has its own set of problems. Untreated rooms (and even treated rooms) can have significant impacts on the sound. Comb filtering and nodes/antinodes (see below) in your room can create “missing data” in your tone or accentuate other frequencies making it seem to your ears like you have something dialed properly only to realize it sounds entirely different in literally any other room because of the same reasons… those rooms EQ your tone too. For example, you may have top end issues in your room so tones may sound dark (lacking top end clarity). Your correction for that would be to add some top end until it sounds right to your ears. However, if you then play this tone in other environments the unpredictable and usually unknown room “EQ” may make this seemingly perfect tone sound entirely different, usually way too bright. This happens almost every time you play your studio-dialed tone through a PA or on stage in a live environment… lots of reflective surfaces. Your car will be entirely different from your studio which will be entirely different from your living room because you simply aren’t hearing the sound accurately. Your environment is EQing your sound and sometimes to a great extent. Playing your amp modeler in your listening environment through reference monitors that are full range and then comparing that to your amp which is playing through a 4x12 that has the top end basically low passed around 6k will not be anywhere near the same ballpark. To get close, you need to play through that same 4x12 in the same room.
Comb filtering explanation:
https://www.soundonsound.com/sound-advice/q-what-exactly-comb-filtering
Nodes/Antinodes/Standing waves explanation:
https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/waves/Lesson-4/Nodes-and-Anti-nodes
Which brings me to the next point… your playback equipment:
As I stated above, two 6” speakers with a tweeter are not going to sound like four 12” speakers without tweeters regardless of the IR capture; they aren’t moving the same air. The same can be said for headphones. All headphones will have their own “EQ” as well, regardless of their quality. Sure, better headphones will sound much better than low-end ones, but they are still not going to sound like an amp in the room. There literally is no room. Headphones, unless you add in room tones with mics or software, are stale by comparison. There is no room excitement happening which is one of the main reasons people use them as a reference point for mixes… so they can more accurately hear the material without the room EQing the sound or adding anything at all to the equation (which actually presents its own set of problems). Another thing to mention is that most folks, including me most of the time, are dialing in patches that sound like what you hear in a mixed song rather than what the amp sounds like in the room. These tones rarely translate into the live environment because they are not really an accurate representation of a live tone. They are two separate beasts, in my opinion.
How do we solve this? I think there are a few ways:
-Treat your room but do your homework on it. It’s not as easy as placing some auralex on the wall. That can actually create issues rather than solve them. There are tons of forums online about this and with a little elbow grease and a trip to home depot (or acoustimac.com) you can relatively cheaply get the job done to the point which you can start to trust your room a little better. Trust your room and you will get tones that translate better outside of that environment.
Cabs should likely be moved around the room until they are a good representation of the amp. In a small room or even larger rooms, certain frequencies build up dramatically and can drive you nuts. I worked with a drummer who had to wear hearing protection at his practice space because he thought his bass player was WAY too loud and the bass player said he couldn’t even hear himself. Turns out the drummer’s head was located right where there was a huge 120hz spike. He moved into the room a couple feet and everyone was happy. This is not uncommon.
excellent acoustics resource:
https://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=3
-Monitor placement. In most cases, putting your monitors right up against the wall will cause all kinds of issues. Putting them too close will cause issues. Putting them too far apart will cause issues.
https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/studio-monitor-placement-5-tips-for-optimal-sound/
The icing on the cake is something I’ve been using for about the past year or so. Sonarkworks. This is not your average room eq wizard. This software runs you through about 50 different reference positions around your ideal listening area. Rather than try to explain it. See the link below. The cool part is you can actually make most of the popular headphones and speakers relatively flat (within reason). This along with proper monitor placement and room treatment will go a LONG way to making your more confident in how your tones translate and will also make the amp modeler translate better outside of your room when played live because much of the EQ your room was adding will be gone.
www.sonarworks.com Sonarworks
