Assuming the noise levels are workable, what can I do to set up a reasonably accurate monitoring environment — short of employing a studio consultant and spending a lot of money?
If you’re doing any commercial work, then paying a consultant might not be a bad idea as it can save you from wasting a lot of money doing the wrong thing. Even so, there are simple things you can do to a domestic room to make it work better as a mixing environment. For monitoring, it’s important to have a room that’s not too live — everything should be as acoustically symmetrical as possible. Ideally, the reverb time should be even across the audio spectrum, though even in the best studios, it tends to rise a little at the bass end. In a domestic room, excessive reverb can be addressed reasonably well by carpeting the floor and using a few soft furnishings, though it also helps to fix a square metre or so of acoustic tiles to the walls each side of the listening position to kill flutter echoes. A soft sofa at the back of the room can also help, along with shelves, to break up reflections from the rear wall. Strong early reflections from the monitors should also be avoided so, if at a
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