Whenever I calibrate my speakers to output 75 SPL, which should be fine, then go into Measurement, it says my levels are low, so I always have to increase the volume a little more before sweeping but now it's not at 75SPL calibration anymore. This video made me realize I should have been increasing my microphone volume and not my speaker volume when this happens. Looks like I should go back and take more measurements with this in mind!
Great finding! This is what we all should be doing checking our assumptions by measuring regularly. I appreciate learning something new every time I work with REW! It's challenged me on what I know and what "I THINK" I know. So happy you are learning new things too!
Great video! From what I realized by calibrating SPL first and then correcting the microphone gain will change the "measured SPL" as if the the output was louder or quieter, right? Wouldn't it be better if we do the opposite? Set the mic gain right and then calibrate SPL to get the real value? Thanks
11:15 whenever I try to use the "open" button in REW I get the error that the file is not a valid mdat file. But when I got into my documents and double click the file it opens. Have you run into this? I'm on the latest version
@@mediaunion FYI I finally got to the bottom of this. I had two different versions of REW installed without realizing it, so the old REW didn't recognize the file. Figured I'd provide the explanation in case you were wondering
Interesting graphs, regarding the large amount of energy at 130hz, my guess is that's the second axial node between your floor and ceiling. Are your ceilings about 8.5ft high? The first order of this node would also produce a cut at around 66Hz. The cut at 93 Hz is also interesting. My guess is this could be speaker interference off the back or side wall. Are your speakers about 3ft from the back or side wall? That distance would produce a notch at 90Hz like you have. If so it would mean you'd need more bass traps behind/ to the side of your speakers, or you'd want to make sure the speakers are different distances from the side wall, back wall, and speakers.
Good suggestions! Monitors are 3' off the front wall and 2.5' off the side wall. Mix position is 6' off front wall and centered between side walls(4'8"). I've pondered modes between the floor and ceiling and have built some 24"x48"x4" traps for this. I am planning to hang these in the wall/ceiling areas above the monitors. I'll detail the results of these experiments in a future video. :D
@@mediaunion very cool! I'd love to see how you make that trap. Over the weekend I made 8 2'x4'x4" traps filled with Rockwool safe and sound. They're almost done, just need some fabric. Im having a problem with the exact same axial mode, floor to ceiling, giving a similar result to your graph. Since I rent I don't think I can do much about it since my landlord probably won't want to see anchors coming off his ceiling when I move out. But I figure if I treat the other two dimensions, hopefully it will be manageable, I can resort to a REW EQ filter as a half-baked solution. As a request it would be fun and educational to see a video of you treating that dip at 93Hz. Like moving the traps to different spots and taking measurements to find the most effective placement. There's very few videos like that on UA-cam (and trust me I think I watched pretty much every bass trap video on YT 😂)
You got it! I hope that it helps us and others to know their rooms better before buying or building trap/absorbers. I see so many for sale on Craigslist and wonder…
I had a 10dB bump at around 124Hz that was driving me nuts. The room was already pretty well-treated with absorbers, bass traps, and some diffusion. Firstly, I got rid of cheap monitor stands and placed the monitors on tube traps. That helped a bit. Then, I installed a 180x60x10 cm (70"x24"x4") absorber on a Front Wall-Ceiling corner at 45 degree angle. That worked like a charm, the resonance is gone.
Hey Matthew. Not sure I understand the statement about whether calibration is required. Can you clarify this for me? Maybe a timestamp will help me. Thanks!
I believe this comment may be in reference to sound card calibration. I use a usb minidsp umik1 microphone and rew displays a message that sound card calibration is not necessary with a calibrated USB mic. Minidsp provides calibration files for the microphones.
Thank you Kevin! Learning a lot with the series!!
@RayManuelMuzik Thank you! I'm learning a lot too! Really starting to check my assumptions at the door before I start a video. :D
So excited for this one!!! I was just trying to figure this stuff out myself without much luck. Especially the elusive Clarity graph
Glad it was helpful!
Whenever I calibrate my speakers to output 75 SPL, which should be fine, then go into Measurement, it says my levels are low, so I always have to increase the volume a little more before sweeping but now it's not at 75SPL calibration anymore. This video made me realize I should have been increasing my microphone volume and not my speaker volume when this happens. Looks like I should go back and take more measurements with this in mind!
Great finding! This is what we all should be doing checking our assumptions by measuring regularly. I appreciate learning something new every time I work with REW! It's challenged me on what I know and what "I THINK" I know. So happy you are learning new things too!
@@mediaunion of course, thank you for the videos!
REW was asking for louder input not output.
Great video!
From what I realized by calibrating SPL first and then correcting the microphone gain will change the "measured SPL" as if the the output was louder or quieter, right?
Wouldn't it be better if we do the opposite? Set the mic gain right and then calibrate SPL to get the real value?
Thanks
Got the rt60x1/3rd octave example at 18:50: thx!
Awesome! I still responded to the other question in case other views have the same question. ;)
Thanks for the Video very very helpful 👍🏻🙏
Thank you! Glad it helped.
11:15 whenever I try to use the "open" button in REW I get the error that the file is not a valid mdat file. But when I got into my documents and double click the file it opens. Have you run into this? I'm on the latest version
Have not seen that before. Did you reinstall REW? What OS and computer?
@@mediaunion I'm on Windows, good point I'll try reinstalling!
@@mediaunion FYI I finally got to the bottom of this. I had two different versions of REW installed without realizing it, so the old REW didn't recognize the file. Figured I'd provide the explanation in case you were wondering
@@irascib1e Thank you for the follow up! I think many will find this helpful infor. Well Done. :D
Interesting graphs, regarding the large amount of energy at 130hz, my guess is that's the second axial node between your floor and ceiling. Are your ceilings about 8.5ft high? The first order of this node would also produce a cut at around 66Hz.
The cut at 93 Hz is also interesting. My guess is this could be speaker interference off the back or side wall. Are your speakers about 3ft from the back or side wall? That distance would produce a notch at 90Hz like you have. If so it would mean you'd need more bass traps behind/ to the side of your speakers, or you'd want to make sure the speakers are different distances from the side wall, back wall, and speakers.
Good suggestions! Monitors are 3' off the front wall and 2.5' off the side wall. Mix position is 6' off front wall and centered between side walls(4'8"). I've pondered modes between the floor and ceiling and have built some 24"x48"x4" traps for this. I am planning to hang these in the wall/ceiling areas above the monitors. I'll detail the results of these experiments in a future video. :D
@@mediaunion very cool! I'd love to see how you make that trap. Over the weekend I made 8 2'x4'x4" traps filled with Rockwool safe and sound. They're almost done, just need some fabric.
Im having a problem with the exact same axial mode, floor to ceiling, giving a similar result to your graph. Since I rent I don't think I can do much about it since my landlord probably won't want to see anchors coming off his ceiling when I move out. But I figure if I treat the other two dimensions, hopefully it will be manageable, I can resort to a REW EQ filter as a half-baked solution.
As a request it would be fun and educational to see a video of you treating that dip at 93Hz. Like moving the traps to different spots and taking measurements to find the most effective placement. There's very few videos like that on UA-cam (and trust me I think I watched pretty much every bass trap video on YT 😂)
You got it! I hope that it helps us and others to know their rooms better before buying or building trap/absorbers. I see so many for sale on Craigslist and wonder…
I had a 10dB bump at around 124Hz that was driving me nuts. The room was already pretty well-treated with absorbers, bass traps, and some diffusion.
Firstly, I got rid of cheap monitor stands and placed the monitors on tube traps. That helped a bit. Then, I installed a 180x60x10 cm (70"x24"x4") absorber on a Front Wall-Ceiling corner at 45 degree angle. That worked like a charm, the resonance is gone.
@@AdamMGuitar Thank you! I am going to try both of these ideas.
The radio shack meter can be out of calibration
There is contradictory information about whether the calibration is required. Why did you do it ?
Hey Matthew. Not sure I understand the statement about whether calibration is required. Can you clarify this for me? Maybe a timestamp will help me. Thanks!
I believe this comment may be in reference to sound card calibration. I use a usb minidsp umik1 microphone and rew displays a message that sound card calibration is not necessary with a calibrated USB mic. Minidsp provides calibration files for the microphones.