I've lurked on the gearslutz forum for years and always knew Ethan was a man that knew his stuff, but the man can also get on video and explain everything eloquently in easy to understand terms, with visual representations. One thing is for sure, room treatment is vastly over looked and underrated. When I was younger I tried everything I could to get around having to CORRECTLY treat my recording spaced etc, but once I took the time to soak up the knowledge online and put in some time building some DIY absorbers etc, my mind was made up real quick. Top notch video, even 6 years after the fact.
I don't know what i enjoyed more about this video. The huge amount of good information, the dad jokes, or the dudes disgust for poly diffusers. Well done Ethan, you made a masterpiece
It really helps to close my eyes while listening to these demos on my headphones.. I'm surprised the differences are so easily noticeable. I noticed the QRD sounded the "harshest" on both my tablet and my headphones.
One well deserved like from me. I can see you know, what you are talking about, and the way you explain the inner workings of an acoustic science is both information dense and easy to understand. Well done.
Thank you for the actual demo of the subject. Theory & fact are great but then adding actual application and demonstration is the way to teach. Subscribed !
Fantastic demo!! The QRD device clearly sounds the best... I'm strictly a voice over guy so I much prefer a DEAD room as apposed to a LIVE one.... And no doubt for musicians diffusion makes a LOT of sense!
Glad to know Flutter Echo is the name for why a house sounds different inside when you move all your stuff out that was acting as diffusers and informal absorption surfaces
Thanks very much for the informative video! It's given me a better understanding of the role diffusion plays in control rooms, and in recording situation. I particularly appreciate the simple, very useful A/B comparisons.
I'm changing the acoustic of my studio and wasn't sure about what kind of diffusers to get...Had polystyrene ones, less than half-inch depth.... With your demonstrations am gonna get the QRD's straight away! Thanks a lot Ethan for sharing your knowledge with us!!!! think the best video on youtube found so far :)
I always question people who say "how do people not know this video". This is the first time I agree . I am weirded out by the sub count. Wish you many more in the future
Brilliant video, so well explained, and on top of this, the phenomenon being described (flutter echo, comb resonance etc.) is actually shown (or more importantly heard!) Very useful information!
There used to be a gigantic bookshelf in my mixing room. In fact it covered all of my back wall except for like a foot near the ceiling.Filled with all kinds of books (small large and inbetween) The day It was taken away from my room OH BOY did it sound nasty.
There are some cases of well known sound engineers using bookshelf in their studio as part of their absorption/diffuser components and seems to work well for them.
I received the mobile bass trap "vocal booth" from you years ago that is absolutely indispensable. I do voice overs and narration and no matter what else acoustically I add to my humble home studio, those foldable panels are still great to put up in a free standing position or making use of elsewhere for additional coverage.
Best explanation and demo on diffusion! I ve been searching for something like this for ages! Do have 1 question, placing them directly behind speakers on a wall, which are 45 cm from the wall (bassport in rear). Is that going to help? It's a normal livingroom, no studio. Some folks keep pushing that idea....
I'm listening on a Bluetooth box that is also my grotbox, the bookcase isn't nearly as good as the qrd, but better than the inside of the poly and way better than wall and absorber at scattering usable highs towards the mic. There was some dose of myth busting here, but I'm glad that I'm stuck with our giant Billy full of crap behind my listening position.
Bass-Absorption + Diffusion: A way which produced interestingly nice results was to use polystyrol diffusors in front of classical bass traps. The styro diffusers are very light weighted and had been additionally covered with epoxy and clay to create a rigid surface. Anyway the whole object still mostly transmits wavelength beyond 200Hz allmost up to 100% as expect. These run into the bass trap.
Remember Ethan, things like flutter are heavily dependent on the placement of the source. Generally when the source is near a wall, flutter is greatly reduced as the reflection is not even remotely equal from the near wal to a far wall. But when the source is more centered, or worst of all, dead center in a room with self divisible or square dimensions(i.e. 10’x20’, 9’x27’, 15’x45’, etc) where the flutter can be quite unnerving. But the source placement is crucial. The worst I’ve ever heard was in a theater just about dead center and clap. The reverberant sound was like a spring, meets a slinky, meets a flanger, meets and wiffle ball bouncing within a foot wide gap really fast. Big room. Very quick flutter. In fact this example was the most textbook example of “flutter” I’ve ever heard because it truly sounded like something was “fluttering”, waving back and forth, but more like a hummingbird’s wings than a butterfly. But, for the gig, it was nonexistent, because the sou4ce wasn’t anywhere around that center area. No biggie. And as you very well know, the placement of the source of the sound of concern is crucial. Want a huge drum sound? Try placing it dead center. But depending on dimensions and volume, the whole thing could cancel itself out. If the walls and/or ceilings are irregular, you’ve struck gold! Throw your PCM91s in the trash cases the room has your canned verb in visceral form! But verb doesn’t have to be outrageous when the source is closer to the reflective surface. Of course that usually makes it farther from another maybe reflective surface. So……. Refraction is key, even for bass. If you are lucky enough to be able to absorb bass, more power to you. My solution for bass resonance is to prevent that level and eq of bass from even making enough volume in that direction as to reduce said ill resonance. Even that has side effects, cause as we all know, there are no free lunches. Or are there? No. There are not. Good ole pro tips I learned from veterans who can still school me: The smallest drivers you can get away with. If you can use a 10” instead of a 15”, do it, all day long. If you can make the bass you need with 12” instead of 18” drivers, do it man. And cross over as low as you can, whether from hi or mid, as low as the driver and phase will allow. You’ll notice that nowadays these guys are letting their line arrays go down to 60 and 50 hz before the subs pick up the rest. Wow. But there you go again. A shit load of 6” drivers will blow your mind for low end coherence and reduced phase issues because the note may be the same, but the distance between the sources of the notes can be so much less with smaller drivers giving you better control of things like the impossible to control interference between the outer edge of one 18” driver with the same edge at just the wrong distance apart, where the larger circumference simply aggravates the issue by spreading the tones across a larger surface, with less choice of placement. An SVT makes tons of low end, yes. But it’s an uncontrolled line array, and the inherent phase alignment is as problematic as it is beautiful. For each step you take away from an SVT or even off-axis, the resonant and loudest tone will change, so that low E was nice a full step away,but disappeared into feel-only zone when you step back to it, and then the F chews you up in one particular place, but is gone if you move around too much. A gradient array can help that, but even that has layered compromises and dimensionally difficult to comprehend, as height plays a big factor too. Sitting down can sound totally different that standing u in the same spot. Of course one the other pro tips they used to tell me was point source, point source, point source, where you can. Delay fills are fine, but keep the volumes lower than higher, and psychoacousticly the delay times will be less a liability by position, but a more realistic and forgiving plug in the acoustic hole. Nowadays, after 27 years of live mixing, where I thought I had a pretty solid grasp of acoustics, have discovered a whole new way to look at sound reproduction and sound reinforcement. I don’t look at two drivers trying to do the same thing the same way anymore. Never again. No matter what, there is a compromise. The purity of source versus reception(your ears) can never be as high with more than one driver, especially low frequency drivers. Notice co-axial speakers. Still though, a compromise, by construction restraints. The idea is golden. But the horn never has sounded right to me, as the LF driver seems to reverberate the “lense” of the HF “throat” gets harmonic “fluttering” (see what I did there?) that does affect the tones above crossover point. Now the 400-600 hz has to go “around” the HF lense before joining the rest of the LF content, just as a loose example, and becomes literally “behind” the 90-400hz material. This can used by tuning the shape and placement to get things back in phase that may be out by inherent wave lengths anyways, but regardless, there is going to be a compromise somewhere. This may be intuitively obvious to some. But point source is always best, smallest drivers crossed over as low as possible. So a nice 1.5” horn with a 3” diaphragm might just work with a 12” LF driver with cabinetry designed to cancel its own reflections and sum where the driver might be weakest. West Lake monitors use 15” LF drivers, two of them per cab, and if you are dead center or way off to the side there are holes down low, depending on how far away you are. But otherwise sound KILLER. But, they are willing to accept the compromise for the exceptional results. Bass traps? I try to use various diameters of soft, heavy, cylinders, either right in the corners or just out of them along the wall. What is soft, heavy, cylindrical, and dense? Punching bags. Various weights, sizes, not expansive, irregular as you want, and incredibly effective bass diffusers. I wouldn’t call them traps, but hey can break up a ton of would-be summation built up in corners or opposite walls from the subs. Traps? Good luck. It’s incredibly difficult to really “trap” bass. A sub gradient is the best way I know to truly “trap” sub-bass. With that you can tune and control direction, less in a room, but still very doable and effective, yet confoundingly difficult if you let the theory get away from you. Bass. Ahhhh. Bass. Nose twitching, eyes rippling. Nearby rolling thunder. Bass.
Hi Ethan! I stumbled upon this video (again) having not seen it for some time. Great as always and pretty spot on regarding bookshelves (with acoustic books) not being a diffusor. However, as absorption, they do actually have a small effect (as you also mention). In Denmark (where I live), the acoustic department of a test-center named Delta (now a part of Force Technologies), made measurements of bookshelves acoustic properties and found, that a somewhat standard bookshelf (with books), can have up to 0,7-0,8 absorption cofficiency in the 150-250hz area. That being said, the rest of the spectrum would be around 0,4-0,6. You probably already know this, but I just had to share this information, given to me by my former acoustic teacher. Take care and thanks for the videos!
Excelent video! now I'm decided where to put a pair of diffusors to enhance my drums recordings! thank u very much for using ur time for us with making this video! really appreciate it! :)
You're Da Man old friend !!! .... Thanx for sharing your wealth of knowledge with everyone Ethan !! Love this ... you've been a big help in my trying to figure out my new SMALL room in FL :-) ... Hope all is well !!! Chris T.
Really informative video. To me the only surfaces that sounded bad were the book shelf and absorber, although I could hear the differences between all of them. I thought the bare wall sounded ok.
Thanks for the video. Would there a a better audio result if you put some kind of fabric on it? What about the material of the diffusor, how much does it affect the sound? Thanks
If you have technical questions about this video that require a reply, please do not post them here as comments. UA-cam is not a good venue for a technical exchange. Instead, please post your questions in the Acoustics section of my Audio Expert forum: the-audio-expert.freeforums.net/
Thank you @ethan winer for your video. That was pretty refreshing :). Im currently trying to 3d print some acoustic piramide diffusers. But I have no idea if they will work, if they are too small... I am currently printing either 3 by 3 cm and 2,1cm heigh. They have a wall thickness of 2 (around 1mm, yet its pretty strong), and the piramides are hollow. The idea is to print sheets of 7 by 7 piramides, so 49, and then I can just tile them. My other option is piramides of 6 by 6 cm, and 4,1cm heigh... My question is, will this work, even when the piramides are hollow... And how much surface should I cover to effectively test it. Thanks in adance!
Ethan, this is a great idea for a video. However, I noticed that the volume between each surface differed, and the QRD sounded the loudest. I understand that it may be that the QRD was the loudest surface of the three, but when it comes to recording, doesn't it make sense to compare these surfaces at equal volume (which I understand could be a challenge with the different harmonics presented by different surfaces)? Also, in the past you used a speaker for a similar test, rather than a live instrument. I thought that was a clever way to avoid the inherent differences between different performances- was that a consideration for this demo? At any rate, thank you for sharing your insight!
9 років тому+3
+Steven Morris Yeah I would also like to see a non dynamic variable method ( guy playing guitar) of the test. Your point is very important IMO. Even a mono speaker but highest quality recording ( tape or 24 bit for those extended frequencies) would work.
+Steven Morris The volume differences are what they are, but you and goat are correct that having a person play live adds an undesirable variability. An acoustic guitar radiates sound differently from a loudspeaker, so I'm not sure how I'd position a speaker for these comparisons. More important, to my ears the differences between these surfaces are very distinct. It's not like some types of audio testing, where the differences are so subtle you're not totally sure the differences are even real!
Ethan Winer Thanks for taking the time to reply. I understand your point and agree with the fact that the audible differences between the surfaces aren't exactly subtle, which was made apparent when you were testing them with your voice.
i love these old skool guys, they are so honest, knowledgeable and thorough!
Absolutely! No show, no bullshit, just information and a few jokes.
i truly love how hard he's rocking those two chords
Those 2 chords sound the same as from a song that had a rather famous copyright lawsuit.
There I thought you were referring to the eyebrows, but yes chords too.
@@VEC7ORlt damn ya beat me to it
@@jcisme Those two chords are Em and A Major. They form the basis of thousands of songs.
@@VEC7ORlt definately ...!
You rarely see such a professional person visibly passionate about his subject these days. I enjoyed this video a lot.
Thanks Alex.
Ethan, you ROCK!
I've studied acoustics since 1978 and testify your videos are BAR FAR the most concise presentation of acoustic science.
he absolutely rocks!!!!!
He's the best man. He makes himself accessible to all of us because he truly loves the science!
WOW the diffuser brought the guitar to life. Much more definition and energy.
This explanation reinforced by the guitar comparison demonstrations at the end was superb!!! Really terrific!
Thanks!
I've lurked on the gearslutz forum for years and always knew Ethan was a man that knew his stuff, but the man can also get on video and explain everything eloquently in easy to understand terms, with visual representations. One thing is for sure, room treatment is vastly over looked and underrated. When I was younger I tried everything I could to get around having to CORRECTLY treat my recording spaced etc, but once I took the time to soak up the knowledge online and put in some time building some DIY absorbers etc, my mind was made up real quick. Top notch video, even 6 years after the fact.
Thanks!
It's sad to see that now its GEARPAGE. Fragile world.
I laughed at the Acoustic Books joke.
Same :)
he seemed slightly pleased to make the gag
i know right XD, really helpful otherwise
I was a lot more excited than I thought I should be...
acoustic book. hahaha
This is a true masterpiece of a learning video. Great job
Once in a while you find educative videos that are more focused on actually learning something than just entertainment....
By far the most in depth informative video I've seen on diffusion yet.
THEE single best video I've ever watched to explain diffusion. Thanks man, great work.
I really learned from this. I like that you put different kinds of acoustic treatment to the test like this in an A/B listening - thanks :-)
Thats exactly the style of explanation in a nutshell i was looking for all over the internet. Thank you very much!
Thanks, and you're welcome!
The most concise explanation of diffusion I have seen on YT. Thanks for this.
I don't know what i enjoyed more about this video. The huge amount of good information, the dad jokes, or the dudes disgust for poly diffusers. Well done Ethan, you made a masterpiece
It really helps to close my eyes while listening to these demos on my headphones.. I'm surprised the differences are so easily noticeable. I noticed the QRD sounded the "harshest" on both my tablet and my headphones.
thank you for the knowledge
7:07 acoustics books joke was hilarious
At last - a chap who knows what he's talking about. ESPECIALLY at the end with the A/B demo... THANK THANK YOU!
Thanks, glad you liked it.
The man is straight to the point with no embellishing , dramatics like some of the other clowns . Thanks Ethan
Ethan Winer is truly THE BEST!! Thank you so much for this. It helps that so many acoustics books have been written, to help treat the finest studios!
One well deserved like from me. I can see you know, what you are talking about, and the way you explain the inner workings of an acoustic science is both information dense and easy to understand. Well done.
Thanks Juraj.
this is my new favorite person
The most useful information I’ve found in 12 and a half minutes on UA-cam. Thanks a million!!
The best video on this topic. Thank you!
Thank you for the actual demo of the subject. Theory & fact are great but then adding actual application and demonstration is the way to teach. Subscribed !
if I can do 15 mn of Ethan's videos everyday, I can defend my PhD thesis in acoustic / math by next xmas. I am in IT.
Fantastic demo!! The QRD device clearly sounds the best... I'm strictly a voice over guy so I much prefer a DEAD room as apposed to a LIVE one.... And no doubt for musicians diffusion makes a LOT of sense!
Brilliant and thorough video, I could sense your passion for music from my home studio, thank you.
Thanks Jose.
Glad to know Flutter Echo is the name for why a house sounds different inside when you move all your stuff out that was acting as diffusers and informal absorption surfaces
best YT video i've seen in a while, i'd highly recommend this course instructor to future students. :)
This is the best and the most informative video I’ve ever watched on acoustic diffusers..thank you for sharing such valuable information..❤
Wow, thanks!
Excellent demonstration. Thanks.
wow, so much info and demos, thank you.
Thanks very much for the informative video! It's given me a better understanding of the role diffusion plays in control rooms, and in recording situation. I particularly appreciate the simple, very useful A/B comparisons.
I'm only about 4.5 minutes in, you haven't started a demo yet, but this video is GREAT! Lots of good info.
Book cases are actually great to have at the rear of your control room, not to be underestimated! Especially in a small home studio.
I appreciate your honesty about diffusion for small rooms. Thank you
I loved the ventriloquist dummies in the corner watching along with the demo. Bravo, you truly are informed and unique.
Thanks for your comments, Edward. The puppets were made by my friend Robert Rogers, who does that for a living:
www.robertrogerspuppets.com/
Why is this guy not an awesome meme yet?
people who have listened to him are busy treating their rooms
@@Dm3qXY Ohhhh shit! lmfao
cuz 12 year olds don't hang around here
@@ByGraceThroughFaith777 Yes they do, it's UA-cam.
@@QoraxAudio No, they don't watch these types of videos...
I'm changing the acoustic of my studio and wasn't sure about what kind of diffusers to get...Had polystyrene ones, less than half-inch depth.... With your demonstrations am gonna get the QRD's straight away! Thanks a lot Ethan for sharing your knowledge with us!!!! think the best video on youtube found so far :)
Glad to, thanks.
I always question people who say "how do people not know this video". This is the first time I agree . I am weirded out by the sub count. Wish you many more in the future
Thanks Guido.
Brilliant video, so well explained, and on top of this, the phenomenon being described (flutter echo, comb resonance etc.) is actually shown (or more importantly heard!) Very useful information!
Glad it was helpful!
Finally an YT video that clearly illustrates acoustic treatment. I finally have a better idea on what to do with my home studio.
Excellent video. Where do I get one of these "bookcases"
Ethan, thank you so much for this. Superb knowledge sharing and great practical audible examples. This is a gem of a video. Subscribed.
Wow, very educational and easy to understand. Exceptional presentation!
Thanks!
The final back-to-back-to-back demonstration was VERY helpful.
Great audible comparison, Thank you Ethan.
Glad it was helpful!
Great and eye opening video . Thank you for your knowledge.
A lot of information packed in your presentation. Thankyou.
Glad it was helpful!
There used to be a gigantic bookshelf in my mixing room. In fact it covered all of my back wall except for like a foot near the ceiling.Filled with all kinds of books (small large and inbetween) The day It was taken away from my room OH BOY did it sound nasty.
Who's stealing your books? Who hurt you?
had fantastic results with mine
There are some cases of well known sound engineers using bookshelf in their studio as part of their absorption/diffuser components and seems to work well for them.
I received the mobile bass trap "vocal booth" from you years ago that is absolutely indispensable. I do voice overs and narration and no matter what else acoustically I add to my humble home studio, those foldable panels are still great to put up in a free standing position or making use of elsewhere for additional coverage.
Great, thanks for the nice note.
All time favorite acoustics walkthrough!!! Thank you very much!!!
I respect what you’re trying to do. It’s hard to get people to understand how much it matters. Which is why it’s so easy to go broke trying to do it.
Best explanation and demo on diffusion! I ve been searching for something like this for ages!
Do have 1 question, placing them directly behind speakers on a wall, which are 45 cm from the wall (bassport in rear). Is that going to help? It's a normal livingroom, no studio. Some folks keep pushing that idea....
With normal "box" speakers that send most of the sound forward, diffusion on the front wall behind the speakers is a waste.
10:11 holy shit, that sounded beautiful
It"s the acoustics books fam
I'm listening on a Bluetooth box that is also my grotbox, the bookcase isn't nearly as good as the qrd, but better than the inside of the poly and way better than wall and absorber at scattering usable highs towards the mic. There was some dose of myth busting here, but I'm glad that I'm stuck with our giant Billy full of crap behind my listening position.
Bass-Absorption + Diffusion: A way which produced interestingly nice results was to use polystyrol diffusors in front of classical bass traps. The styro diffusers are very light weighted and had been additionally covered with epoxy and clay to create a rigid surface. Anyway the whole object still mostly transmits wavelength beyond 200Hz allmost up to 100% as expect. These run into the bass trap.
This guys great! Where has he been?
LOL, thanks, I've been around for a long time:
ethanwiner.com/music.html
First video, that actually shows the effect of diffusing... and super helpful
To the point and no bullshit. Great video! Subbed.
This video comes like on order. Excellent video bringing together the pieces I already know with the right exprience, use in small rooms. Thanks
Thank you for imparting valuable knowledge.
Remember Ethan, things like flutter are heavily dependent on the placement of the source. Generally when the source is near a wall, flutter is greatly reduced as the reflection is not even remotely equal from the near wal to a far wall. But when the source is more centered, or worst of all, dead center in a room with self divisible or square dimensions(i.e. 10’x20’, 9’x27’, 15’x45’, etc) where the flutter can be quite unnerving. But the source placement is crucial. The worst I’ve ever heard was in a theater just about dead center and clap. The reverberant sound was like a spring, meets a slinky, meets a flanger, meets and wiffle ball bouncing within a foot wide gap really fast. Big room. Very quick flutter. In fact this example was the most textbook example of “flutter” I’ve ever heard because it truly sounded like something was “fluttering”, waving back and forth, but more like a hummingbird’s wings than a butterfly. But, for the gig, it was nonexistent, because the sou4ce wasn’t anywhere around that center area. No biggie. And as you very well know, the placement of the source of the sound of concern is crucial. Want a huge drum sound? Try placing it dead center. But depending on dimensions and volume, the whole thing could cancel itself out. If the walls and/or ceilings are irregular, you’ve struck gold! Throw your PCM91s in the trash cases the room has your canned verb in visceral form! But verb doesn’t have to be outrageous when the source is closer to the reflective surface. Of course that usually makes it farther from another maybe reflective surface. So……. Refraction is key, even for bass. If you are lucky enough to be able to absorb bass, more power to you. My solution for bass resonance is to prevent that level and eq of bass from even making enough volume in that direction as to reduce said ill resonance. Even that has side effects, cause as we all know, there are no free lunches. Or are there? No. There are not.
Good ole pro tips I learned from veterans who can still school me: The smallest drivers you can get away with. If you can use a 10” instead of a 15”, do it, all day long. If you can make the bass you need with 12” instead of 18” drivers, do it man. And cross over as low as you can, whether from hi or mid, as low as the driver and phase will allow. You’ll notice that nowadays these guys are letting their line arrays go down to 60 and 50 hz before the subs pick up the rest. Wow. But there you go again. A shit load of 6” drivers will blow your mind for low end coherence and reduced phase issues because the note may be the same, but the distance between the sources of the notes can be so much less with smaller drivers giving you better control of things like the impossible to control interference between the outer edge of one 18” driver with the same edge at just the wrong distance apart, where the larger circumference simply aggravates the issue by spreading the tones across a larger surface, with less choice of placement. An SVT makes tons of low end, yes. But it’s an uncontrolled line array, and the inherent phase alignment is as problematic as it is beautiful. For each step you take away from an SVT or even off-axis, the resonant and loudest tone will change, so that low E was nice a full step away,but disappeared into feel-only zone when you step back to it, and then the F chews you up in one particular place, but is gone if you move around too much. A gradient array can help that, but even that has layered compromises and dimensionally difficult to comprehend, as height plays a big factor too. Sitting down can sound totally different that standing u in the same spot. Of course one the other pro tips they used to tell me was point source, point source, point source, where you can. Delay fills are fine, but keep the volumes lower than higher, and psychoacousticly the delay times will be less a liability by position, but a more realistic and forgiving plug in the acoustic hole. Nowadays, after 27 years of live mixing, where I thought I had a pretty solid grasp of acoustics, have discovered a whole new way to look at sound reproduction and sound reinforcement. I don’t look at two drivers trying to do the same thing the same way anymore. Never again. No matter what, there is a compromise. The purity of source versus reception(your ears) can never be as high with more than one driver, especially low frequency drivers. Notice co-axial speakers. Still though, a compromise, by construction restraints. The idea is golden. But the horn never has sounded right to me, as the LF driver seems to reverberate the “lense” of the HF “throat” gets harmonic “fluttering” (see what I did there?) that does affect the tones above crossover point. Now the 400-600 hz has to go “around” the HF lense before joining the rest of the LF content, just as a loose example, and becomes literally “behind” the 90-400hz material. This can used by tuning the shape and placement to get things back in phase that may be out by inherent wave lengths anyways, but regardless, there is going to be a compromise somewhere. This may be intuitively obvious to some. But point source is always best, smallest drivers crossed over as low as possible. So a nice 1.5” horn with a 3” diaphragm might just work with a 12” LF driver with cabinetry designed to cancel its own reflections and sum where the driver might be weakest. West Lake monitors use 15” LF drivers, two of them per cab, and if you are dead center or way off to the side there are holes down low, depending on how far away you are. But otherwise sound KILLER. But, they are willing to accept the compromise for the exceptional results. Bass traps? I try to use various diameters of soft, heavy, cylinders, either right in the corners or just out of them along the wall. What is soft, heavy, cylindrical, and dense? Punching bags. Various weights, sizes, not expansive, irregular as you want, and incredibly effective bass diffusers. I wouldn’t call them traps, but hey can break up a ton of would-be summation built up in corners or opposite walls from the subs. Traps? Good luck. It’s incredibly difficult to really “trap” bass. A sub gradient is the best way I know to truly “trap” sub-bass. With that you can tune and control direction, less in a room, but still very doable and effective, yet confoundingly difficult if you let the theory get away from you. Bass. Ahhhh. Bass. Nose twitching, eyes rippling. Nearby rolling thunder. Bass.
Finally, someone who truly knows what he’s talking about.
Thanks.
Hi Ethan!
I stumbled upon this video (again) having not seen it for some time. Great as always and pretty spot on regarding bookshelves (with acoustic books) not being a diffusor. However, as absorption, they do actually have a small effect (as you also mention). In Denmark (where I live), the acoustic department of a test-center named Delta (now a part of Force Technologies), made measurements of bookshelves acoustic properties and found, that a somewhat standard bookshelf (with books), can have up to 0,7-0,8 absorption cofficiency in the 150-250hz area. That being said, the rest of the spectrum would be around 0,4-0,6.
You probably already know this, but I just had to share this information, given to me by my former acoustic teacher.
Take care and thanks for the videos!
Thanks Mads.
Excelent video! now I'm decided where to put a pair of diffusors to enhance my drums recordings! thank u very much for using ur time for us with making this video! really appreciate it! :)
Awesome education accoustic class with lots of precise information for sound enthusiast
A very good and helpful demonstration. Thank you.
Great video!! The traps and the wall sound nice…
Thanks! Glad you liked it.
bookshelves ARE excellent i have to say - they worked a treat for me - especially when they have built in traps
Giggled at the book joke;). Laughed out loud when the headbanging started! Very informative and entertaining. You tha man Ethan!
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!
I saw "diffusion" and thought I was getting a video about semiconductors... but the quality of the presentation held my interest.
The diffuser shootout was gold, as was the entire presentation. Absolutely aces. Thank you!
Thanks.
thank you! Cool review!
Fantastic guitar head movement, A+
Ethan Winer is a Legend. Most of you youngsters may not know this.
Excellent video, this guy really knows his stuff. Thanks for the info!
Thank you so much! It's really helpful for me to decide what kinds of acoustic treatment for my recording booth.
This is an excellent informative video. Ethan is a true pro!
You're Da Man old friend !!! .... Thanx for sharing your wealth of knowledge with everyone Ethan !! Love this ... you've been a big help in my trying to figure out my new SMALL room in FL :-) ... Hope all is well !!! Chris T.
Thanks Chris.
I learned so much and what a great presentation! Thanks! Great playing by the way
Thanks.
Very helpful!
Also... “testing testing testing testing testing testing testing testing”
Really informative video. To me the only surfaces that sounded bad were the book shelf and absorber, although I could hear the differences between all of them. I thought the bare wall sounded ok.
in this small sample size the bare wall sounds alright, but walk into any fully bare walled empty room and the sound is rarely pleasant or desirable
EXCELENTE!! muy bien explicado!!!
The best part was seeing Microsoft Office 97 on his bookshelf. You never know when you might need to refer to that one. :-)
Don't laugh! I still use Excel and Word from that package and they still work perfectly.
Wow... This video is pure gold... Thank You!!!
very clear explanation, love your videos!!
greetings from Agentina Ethan!
The bookcase was an improvement over the bare wall :-) Thanks for reminding me of the Alton Everest book, of which I had forgotten
Thanks Ethan, this was a real treat.
great explanation and great examples - thanks for that!
Thanks for the video. Would there a a better audio result if you put some kind of fabric on it? What about the material of the diffusor, how much does it affect the sound? Thanks
If you have technical questions about this video that require a reply, please do not post them here as comments. UA-cam is not a good venue for a technical exchange. Instead, please post your questions in the Acoustics section of my Audio Expert forum:
the-audio-expert.freeforums.net/
Thank you @ethan winer for your video. That was pretty refreshing :). Im currently trying to 3d print some acoustic piramide diffusers. But I have no idea if they will work, if they are too small... I am currently printing either 3 by 3 cm and 2,1cm heigh. They have a wall thickness of 2 (around 1mm, yet its pretty strong), and the piramides are hollow. The idea is to print sheets of 7 by 7 piramides, so 49, and then I can just tile them. My other option is piramides of 6 by 6 cm, and 4,1cm heigh... My question is, will this work, even when the piramides are hollow... And how much surface should I cover to effectively test it. Thanks in adance!
That sounds pretty small. You should ask this in my Audio Expert forum. See the note and link above in the description for this video.
A masterclass - Sound Teacher... Learnt something today.
Ethan, this is a great idea for a video. However, I noticed that the volume between each surface differed, and the QRD sounded the loudest. I understand that it may be that the QRD was the loudest surface of the three, but when it comes to recording, doesn't it make sense to compare these surfaces at equal volume (which I understand could be a challenge with the different harmonics presented by different surfaces)? Also, in the past you used a speaker for a similar test, rather than a live instrument. I thought that was a clever way to avoid the inherent differences between different performances- was that a consideration for this demo? At any rate, thank you for sharing your insight!
+Steven Morris Yeah I would also like to see a non dynamic variable method ( guy playing guitar) of the test. Your point is very important IMO. Even a mono speaker but highest quality recording ( tape or 24 bit for those extended frequencies) would work.
+Steven Morris The volume differences are what they are, but you and goat are correct that having a person play live adds an undesirable variability. An acoustic guitar radiates sound differently from a loudspeaker, so I'm not sure how I'd position a speaker for these comparisons. More important, to my ears the differences between these surfaces are very distinct. It's not like some types of audio testing, where the differences are so subtle you're not totally sure the differences are even real!
Ethan Winer Thanks for taking the time to reply. I understand your point and agree with the fact that the audible differences between the surfaces aren't exactly subtle, which was made apparent when you were testing them with your voice.
Nice reference to George Massenberg, My sound engineer hero who worked with my favorite band, Earth, Wind & Fire on their great albums.
why aren't more youtube tutorial vids this informative and organized?
Super informative. Thanks for the upload.
Poly sounds most natural. Thanks for the awesome explanation and information.