[LAU] Measuring the acoustical characteristics of my studio using FLOSS software?

[Jostein Chr. Andersen]

On Wednesday, July 23, 2014 07:52:52 Gabriel Nordeborn wrote:
....
> 
> So, my question is: How on earth do I do this?! Are there FLOSS tools
> available for this? Is it easy to do something as basic as this?

Some of the FLOSS tools are nearer than you might think, it's your ears!   :-)  
Here is my thoughts on small control rooms/studios, and you can do a lot 
before starting to measure:


First of all, no matter if the room is perfect or not: When you mix, do it at 
an amplitude where you can speak normally.  That way, the room's impact is at 
a minimum and your ears will be very happy! Everything "sounds good" when you 
play loader. If it does not sound good when you play at a low level, then it's 
not finished yet.

And don't bother to make the room perfect, it's better to have a sweet  spot 
or two-three in the room where it's  good,  first of all  where you sit and mix 
and possible a spot or two where you can record vocals and acoustic 
instruments.

Measure tools and software are great, but you should also trust your ears. I 
think that is more important. I you from your listening position plays a sinus 
tone from a C1 note  (that''s around 33Hz) and walk chromatically up to C4 ( 
262Hz), then you will easily hear  that some notes probably will sound 
stronger and some weaker (phased out). When you identify a trouble note,  you 
can localize where the spot in  wall or ceiling or whatever that is making 
problems. Thankfully, not all room resonances will kick in from you listening 
position, but let's say that a low E (the one at approx 82 Hz,  ie the low 
guitar e-string) is stronger, then divide 172 with 82Hz and you will get 
approx. 2 meters as the answer.  Is there something with 2 meter of length 
that can create problems? It can be between two walls or even more likely the 
distance from your ears to where a wall and a ceiling meets. That sounds 
amplitude may be weaker if you move your head a little bit. You should be able 
to quickly identify the 3-4 worst problem areas in your listening position.

Apart from that, the measuring is of course very important, but most sound 
engineers (at least the ones I know) don't measure, they use their ears and 
have also learned their rooms and gear.

Jostein