Use Of Acoustic Diffusers In A Recording Studio

By Author: O'Neill Engineered Systems, Inc
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If you have witnessed a professional studio, you would have noticed that the walls are embellished with tiles, canvas, and foam or felt that look like art installations. These are types of acoustic treatment called acoustic diffusers.

The idea is to prevent echoes in the room from reaching you. If you are hearing the same sound bouncing across the room multiple times, it will sound different than what it was supposed to. This makes mixing slightly more challenging, and to mix precisely, you will want to avoid it from happening altogether. This problem is specifically common with smaller spaces. Therefore, if you are mixing at home, it is surely worth considering.

Location

As mentioned before, you will like to consider the position of your monitors in respect to your desired seating position. It is worth mentioning that this might need some experimentation to determine the place you expect the sound best may not always be right!

It is frequently best to experiment with putting a single monitor. Once you have found a position you are felicitous with, mirror it with the second monitor, and experiment ...
... until you have found the best combination. In a smaller area, the size might restrict your flexibility; hence aim to put monitors at an equal distance from the walls and in the right place to offer maximum space for you.

With the monitors in position, we can consider how to utilize acoustic diffusers to enhance the listening experience.

Divide and conquer

The aim of the game is to make use of a diffuser to prevent sound reverberation across the room and reaching your ears. Audi reflecting off the walls and other surfaces is inevitable. We are just going to tame it to make sure that your listening experience is as precise as possible.

You have already positioned the monitors so that you can get pristine sound, but there will be natural reflection points in the rom. The idea of a diffuser is to break up and weaken the reflections, preventing them from warping your perception of your mix.

There are basically two ways to approach diffusion. Either you can use a soft surface, or a surface with an assortment of angles. Soft surfaces like foam and fabric won’t just deflect sound, but they will go a long way towards absorbing the sound itself to maintain the db sound level.
When we speak about surfaces with multiple angles, think about the egg box reference. The goal is to break away the reflections into several directions as possible. To do this, you will require a surface that can reflect in several directions possible. This is why so many acoustic diffuser products in professional setups resemble some type of trendy modern art. However, they can be quite complex!

Much of the acoustic treatment products available in the market will fit into one of these categories.

O’Neill Engineered Systems is your most reliable choice for acoustic diffusers, to maintain db sound level, to control harmful noise levels or wall noise. Contact us today!