Bass Traps: "I've got this annoying resonance at 126Hz!!" - AcousticsInsider.com 

The more I watch videos like this, the worse I think my own room is.

What's often overlooked is the mode between floor and ceiling. In your example 126Hz matches the room height 260cm with a listening position of about 130cm pretty much exactly. At 16:14 we see that this mode was shifted up (and reduced) by mounting the angled ceiling absorbers and effectively reducing the room height (great solution). An easy test to see if you are dealing with a room-height mode is to play this annoying frequency at your listening position, stand up and see if the volume reduces.

PLEASE keep making videos! I've found them all really great and they have helped me set up my home studio a lot. The way you explain things is accessible and understandable

Your content is absolutely amazing. Keep it up!

This is one of the most helpful videos I've ever seen regarding studio acoustics. Thank you!

Definitely the best and most helpful video on acoustic treatment basics I‘ve seen. By far! Thank you.

This is an absolutely phenomenal video! Even after building many home/project studios with good treatment, I still learned a lot by watching. Well done!

Wow, the channel I've been waiting for - epic knowledge presently intelligently, thank you Jesco!

Many years ago, long before I got into hi-fi and all that stuff, the kitchen of my home (made with prefab panels) had such a bad resonance that, sitting on a corner and humming up and down, I discovered by chance that at a given frequency I was able without effort to make it resonate wildly, with everything in it vibrating, window panes included, to my wife's annoyance (wifes aren't usually interested in acoustics, physics and experimenting about) and instead of sharing my excitement, she commented that doing so I was showing autistic traits 🤦‍♂️

What a great masterclass.. Amazing.. Thanks.

Great stuff, so happy to have found you.

Jesco, you are the best ! It is so good to hear the science without some marketing push. While most of it I already knew, it is nice to have dealing with the complexities put in a sequence that makes sense.. Love your presentation style and the measurement graphs supporting your arguments. .

Thank you for the great thorough explanation. Great video my friend!

Thank you very much for your help and your time. This information is really amazing

Great video! 👍👍👍I wish I could have watched it 8 years ago when I was setting up my stereo system in my then new listening room. I have basically come to the same findings through trial and error, involving a lot of sweating and cursing, ending up having the listening position in the spot with the fewest compromises. Along the way I also realized that my room will never be great but it has become acceptable. And has other benefits such as no neighbors despite being in an apartment building in the middle of Copenhagen.

I was playing noises in a frequency generator and i found that it was around 126 that my room started rumbling. For me it's absolute magic to find a video that talks exactly about this frequency lmao

Excellent advice. My favorite video of yours so far. Thanks.

Great as always! Thanks Jesco

Thank you Jesco for another helpful video. Cheers!

great videos man. I really appreciate your stuff!

I'll put the order here mainly to remind myself: Step 1: Choose the best room possible Step 2: Pick the ideal listening position Step 3: Treat the room with as much porous material as possible Step 4: Use tuned treatment Step 5: Use software EQ calibration Step 6: Learn your room by listening as much music there as possible

Awsome video! Great Tips!

Thanks man, it is really helpful!

Great video as always. Thanx for sharing your knowledge, Jesco. How much can drywalls add to resonances? I've read that a drywall sheet can resonate around 120 Hz or so. True?

Bro you are the best, i just couldn’t figure out how this was called. I couldn’t ask friends because when i recorded it the sound on my phone you don’t hear it. Bro ppl where thinking i was crazy and even i started to think i was crazy after replacing everything in my entire setup.

Great video and very well explained... Like you say without the "Voodoo"!

Amazing content thanks!

Thank you so much!!

Thanks for sharing the details. It was refreshing to see data showing the results. Could a significant improvement have been achieved without using panels and just using regular day to day items to decorate the place? Maybe some tall indoor plants, bookshelves with various books, etc. Thanks!

Thanks for many informative videos. What if you use REW and generate white periodic noise (20-300Hz) and analyse with RTA, instead of songs that you know in and out and you ears to locate the best listening position? In my head that should be more effective and accurate.

Decades ago I read Everest's Master Handbook of Acoustics and lusted for a very expensive Techron TEF analyzer that was well outside my price range since I'm not an audio professional. Now we can do all that and more with free software and a $100 measurement mic. I appreciate your practical advise as I revisit this topic.

Thank you so much!

I rearranged my room using the simple and really quite fun BassHunter technique. The sweetest spot ended up being smack bang in the centre of the room. OMFG it sounds so much better!!! I had no idea it was possible to get this much improvement just be rearranging furniture. It means I have a lot less available space in the room (no more doing Yoga in this room!) but it came with some unexpected advantages: my synth setup is much closer to the desk and computer now, it's actually nice being able to walk behind the desk, vacuum and tidy up cables, and it could be confirmation bias but it feels like the Feng Shui has improved as well 😄 Many many thanks for the amazing BassHunter technique and letting total amateurs like myself enjoy some decent sound quality in their rented apartments!

Hi Jesco! Thanks a lot for these kind of videos! Super helpful and informative content! Im currently building my home studio and i ve already built two super chunck bass traps made of low density rockwool from floor to ceiling in the two corners behind where ill put monitors. My question is: i didnt use the bass hunter tecnique to find the best listening position cause the room wasnt empy, in fact there were still a lot of stuff there (not mine) but in order to speed up the process i started building the two bass traps anyway. Now, is there any chance i could still find out the best listening position without undo all the bass traps work? Would it be useless to try out the bass hunter tecnique by putting one monitor next to one of the two corner bass trap (i mean doing that in the empty room but with the two bass traps already mounted. I watched your videos and i apologize for the mistake, those are not really bass traps but more like broadband absorbers i know, im just trying to explain the situation sorry). How could i deal this? Thanks so much in advance

For 99% of us, what is the one component of an audio system which hasn't been designed to provide the best possible audio within a certain price point? Your room.

It will be great of u can make video about dip and peak and theirs connection with each other as they are related. Also how to threat dip. Thanks

Thanks a lot!

Awesome information! It would be awesome if you explain where you should have to place some resonance or let's say narrow band absorbers. Of course every room is different but aren't there any guidelines or specific messurement points in the room? Greetz Nico

Thank you!

what a great explanation, great job, my question is, why did you use MLS pattern absorber in side wall instead of pure broadband absorber? thanks

I was having the EXACT same issue this is extremely helpful

great video

Yeah, I am going to need you to come by and help me with my audio in my polaris slingshot. Got a dsp in it. I installed an amplified system but don't know enough to go this far.

Hi Jesco, did you moved also the speaker's position to keep the 60 degree / equi distant position of them when you rebalance the bass distribution ?

Typically it's around 130 to 140 Hz (C#2-D2) right in the middle of your workstation with standard or small room. Right after I moved my Studio to a home studio, this has been a battle for years. So I rather work entirely on Headphones and have the speakers set up for the client's delight where the room has it's sweet spot without sacrificing half of your room to setup your work station. I have zero issues working with top quality headphones, no phase issues or any complaint from Customers. Been doing this trick for decades.

Hi, Thanks as always for your videos. Great channel :) I have a noise coming into the house from a local industrial estate. It is bang on 90hz and is 24 hours a day. I'm trying to persuade them to either move the generator or do some absorbing around it, but until then I am suffering a bit. Would you say that a tuned absorber would magically remove the noise if I tuned it to 90hz? Like as a noise cancelling exercise? Or is that only going to absorb 90hz from the music I may wish to play through my speakers? Th incoming sound might be coming in airborne or through the ground, not sure which. Be really interested in your thoughts on this. Thanks again :)

There is some great info here! One thing I would note is also should be watching the big dips due to sbir. No amount of eq will solve that. I initially placed my listening position for the flatest response unfortunately it came with a dip at 75HZ that I just couldn't get rid of. I had to push my desk much closer to my front wall to raise the frequency my sbir issue affects and use 6" panels on my front wall to deal with them. Made an insane difference. In my initial position position when playing a sine wave at 75 hz it would completely disappear. now I can trust my listening position. The 75Hz null still exists, just not at the listening position. Next up tuned treatment for that null.... Any suggestions?

Couple of questions: 1- Would it be reasonable to have a “room treatment” that is actually some form of “wedge” that is the width of the room, the height of the room but is, say thin at the bottom and thick at the top? It would have to be large and easy to “unfold” but I imagine such a device could be workable in smaller rooms. 2- It would be cool if a mode calculator also included listening position in the room so you can both factor out the frequency AND the attenuation (or reinforcement) given your listening spot might be at a peak or a node of the wave (as you mentioned).

Hello sir its verry usefull and i have my home studio like a 6m x 3m could you please to tell which side speakers will be there . Thank you

brilliant

good stuff

I would argue that while tuned absorption is no doubt an excellent method another equally (IMO better) option is to consider using a multi-sub approach with DSP to flatten FR and decrease decay time. Yes, the tuned absorption with do better with decay time but the multi-sub approach will do a much better job with flattening bass response and with DSP, you can knock down the peaks which not only further flatten the FR but will also decrease the decay time on those peak frequencies thereby helping your brain to get used to what decay time you have left. I work in the reproduction world (HT and listening rooms) and not in the creative side as you do, so our goals regarding decay time are different. But a multi-sub approach on top of the absorption is another great way of getting the 80hz and under FR flattened and decay time reduced. Especially if you've got the cash (and space) to manually work in a DBA or use Dirac ART/Trinnov's Waveforming.

are those resonances changing with less listeningvolume on the listeningpositions or is it 1 to 1 the same spektrum with the same peaks just lower in dB? thank you for this informative video!

Standing waves are just issues caused by “Time domain” and thus Phasing! boost/cancelations. Just put diffusors on the places were you dont have bass at all “Null” and keep positioning them “at all kind of directions” until the frequencies will become audible/measurable/better at the sweetspot. That way i canceled out many low frequencies to around +-3db, coming from 16db. the rest is just basic diffusion and absorption……… its just the same with audio engineering and fixing phase issue in the mix and frequency domain. Same counts for the room……. Dont need to think complicated about room nodes and so on as again its just time delays that causes frequencies to boost or cut. Cheers 😊

In my room, it's around 80Hz. Whenever I play a second octave E on any of my bass guitars through an amp, the note sounds three times as loud as any other note.

Two questions: How does one add Room Modes in the REW frequency plot, and how did you manage to get Sonarworks to be an output from REW to get that new measurement? I am using v5.19, and Sonarworks System is NOT available as an output in REW when using an ASIO device as the ouput/inputs. I don't believe you can use Java/ASIO devices as the same time. Not sure; at least I haven't figured it out yet.

Speakers on the desk like this will surely create a first reflection problem between the desk and your ears. You would need to put the speaker far behind the desk or at the edge of the desk to avoid it. I know because I had this issue before with a big dip around 70-100 hz

I would also recommend treating the low frequencies if your speakers go down that low. So, his system definitely goes down to 60hz, so you need to get at least 50% of the two walls related to the 60+hz problem.. Always treat the Axial modes (the longest pink lines in the Amroc Mode calculator). The Tangental and Oblique modes aren't as strong and then tend to work themselves out if you have the Axial modes taken care of first. Also, 125hz and above is simple acoustic panels (be careful about which foam you use, they are NOT all equal). Building insulation tends to over absorb in the 125hz to 500hz range, so be careful. You don't want to over absorb because it will end up sucking the life out of what you're hearing.

Snarworks? Measure the room before placing absorption?

Is there a mathematically "perfect" room?

Hi! Can someone please tell me what thickness of mineral wool should be I use 45kg/m3 is it great choice? Also is fabric material can lower efficiency if it is too thick or something like that ?

I have a room very similar to the example room in this video, but where the front wall is mostly glass (dual layered glass), I have multiple sets of curtains stacked in the corners and usually have one set of curtains covering that glass wall. Should I consider the properties of the glass in a similar way as the walls? What would the best advise be for this situation?

so the best listening position is not necessarily at the 37% and then the position of the speakers respectively from the "best" listening position does not matter where it is will gives the same recuency response because acoustics are linear? ...so then i can place the speakers where I feel sounds better or where I perceive them with more clarity?

I have this problem in my room: strong standing waves around 60, and a horrendus dip around 120, so the octave basically. Do you think treating the 60hz dip with resonant panels could also lift up the 120? (btw. the 120 is mainly measured on the left side, room is slightly asymmetrical). Thank you for the vid its really a great video

Its bass volume...use a linear shaker on your chair :-) How many samples did you take...did you do circle sweep with the sweep?

Room mode distribution depends on the construction of the walls. These calculations seem to take infinite mass as starting point. Wall and window resonances add to the frequency response. that’s why looking at room mode do not correlate with the real world. In the real world walls, especially at low frequency’s, are not really reflective. By the way, RT 20 measurements are accurate until the Schröder frequency.

I hung two new shipping blankets on a common wall. Sound absobtion and anti-echo?

My neighbour above me complains about bass. Any suggestions? I listen at 65db volume max. I have bass traps all over the room. I also did room correction. Sound at my listening position is great.

Sir, any fabric for covering bass traps?

Same case as the other free documents, the form loops back to it being blank. The only one that worked for me was the bass traps document. Is there another way to get them?

Hello, I have a question. My room is an attic apartment. That means that my walls are not vertical. How do I measure such room?

iam proud owner of a nait amp and neat Motive sx1 . but my room seems to eat 50 and 60 hz on the leftside ! like totally! if i check out with balance control its like the left loudspeaker is kinda flat - the right one : has more open space to the side and sounds wonderfull rich...

Never seen graphics of frequency response of a proffessional studio/control room. Very interesting how they looks like

HEY! like, I got huge dip at 60-70 hz and its from the ceiling because when I stand up the sound appears again....I got 15 inch panels on top still not working but I do have them only above me not the entire ceiling...u think adding more panels to the ceiling will fix this vertical node ? :S:S

I have the same problem. Exact the same. At around 110Hz. Unfortunately I cannot change the listening position at all. There are paid furniture inside before the decision for home studio and If I change the listening position that means I will have to throw away all my furniture from inside. Can I still place thick porous bass traps around in proper quantities, sizes and places and still get a more even frequency response and get rid off that annoying resonance? Thank you.

What about doing mixing out of doors in open air? I do a bit of home recording and considering sound shaping my room but since I live in the middle of a 100 acre farm where it's fairly quiet I'm wondering if taking my speakers and computer outside would negate the need for mixing indoors on a nice calm day. Has anyone tried this? Are there other factors other than reflections I need to be concerned about?

Sun's frequency is 126 Hz....and that's THE star of our cosmic system....It has to be epic, inevitably, inexplicably! Thanks btw...

Have been working acoustics for bass in my room. Getting better to about 50hz. Can’t get that final octave?

Can use amroc for irregular rooms?

First off, there are three lines, the tallest lines are Axial mode, and they are against 2 surfaces, so the first problem in that room is around 35hz and it's along the shorter wall 9ft surfaces. You have to treat those entire walls (front and back) with something that's going to absorb 35hz at a decent level. Those devices are going to be pretty deep and you are going to lose real estate to go after 35hz. Then you have some more Axial mode problems. at 60hz, but it's along the longer wall distances. then you have another Axial mode problem at 67ish and 72ish Hz. the 67hz problem is along the floor and ceiling. Not much you can do for that since you only have about an 8ft ceiling and there really is no decent method to go after 60ish hz with that low of a ceiling. Plus, you have another modal problem at 72.8hz and that's along the shorter wall distance with one distribution in the middle. Look at each frequency and then look at the 3D map of where the problem is located. Yes, you have lot of other problems in the higher frequencies above 125hz with lots of Axial, Tangental and Oblique modal problems, but that's easily fixed with a decent foam. the height of the lines are just to represent Axial, Tangental and Oblique modes and the actual amount of problem must be measured. But judging from the room size? It's going to always have that 60 to 70hz problem because of your ceiling height. You can't do much about it, because the best treatment to go after that will lower your ceiling by about 8 or so inches along the entire ceiling, or at least most of it. I don't know how many people want to lose that much ceiling height to treat the 60hz problem. everything above the 100hz part is pretty easy to treat, you just need a lot of coverage, and against the back wall, I'd consider putting some quadratic diffusor, but not until you've figured out how to treat that 35hz problem IF your speakers go down that low. Personally, get a room with a higher ceiling, that will give you enough room to put actual treatment. That's the problem with low ceiling rooms. the other problem is you have a distance that's 9 ft width. Too narrow. if your speakers go down to the lower Hz levels, you need to treat the low frequency (under 100hz) first. Once you do that, the mid's and high's is easy, you'll just need a fair amount of coverage. probably somewhere around 65 to 75% coverage. since you have a length of around 16 ft, once you put in all of the absorption, then you might be able to put some quadratic diffusion against the rear wall. But in this video, you are focusing on an area that's not as big of a deal as you are making it out to be. Your biggest and most costly problems are the 100hz and below areas. with above 100hz, you are just going to need a fair amount of coverage and that's about it.

The link to the guide appears to not be working! Your content is great btw. :)

I've got a question: When we look at those waterfall diagrams and some specific frequencies are louder. Isn't it completely natural, that the decay takes way longer? Is it always a room resonance then? Or do room resonances even take way longer to decay compared to when I just would aritifically boost a specific frequency via a narrowband filter?

How about using multiple subwoofers placed to help cancel resonances? Thanks for your very informative videos 🙂

How do I rwbalanxs and pick a spot? This gets too confusing

What about multi sub? For that extra mile

Hey, cool Video. But what are porse absorbers or porse materials? English is not my mother language and I can‘t find something about it via google.

To save a lot of time and money; I guess it would be beneficial to measure rooms before renting them. But you would have to know what your looking for in terms of the measurements. Which I don't, at least not yet.

Yes same thing happening in car also . 125 hz to 300 hz

I am planning for 6 feet breath 6 feet width and height 10 feet will it be a good plan?

What if you've got a normal everyday sitting room and you can't put sound traps in the room because of the wife Factor. How can you improve the sound then❓

Why is the green line better? If seems all of your nulls have been dramatically increased except for the trough at 200hz.

Can't we just start with Sonarworks? Especially those of us on an extremely tight budget?

How do i blick incoming sound ...( door) from.my neighbour? urgent. please help.

What software is used here?

What prevents flat/wide response studio headphones being a complete solution to these problems? Surely, with decent cans you could mix to perfection in a sewer pipe.

haha this is exactly the tutorial i was looking for...

Let's see.. how can I even get close to expressing how awesome your content is... Let me try this:"Do you wanna marry me?" Oh no, hold on, can't do that to my wife(I'm a guy,lol)...dang, dude, I love you! What a scientific, positive, encouraging, reassuring way of going about this issue.. thanks so much!! (Läuft einfach bei dir, SO mega dein content!)

Can you please include a video step by step on how we can measure our frequencies in our room ? What equipment to use and how to use it. Thank you

Very informative video as always. Quick question. How it possible that such a small mini monitors can have so much output at 30hz?

Won't you have phase issuses by just EQing your monitors???