VRM Is it a hoax?

Thinking of getting KRK virtual reference monitoring or equivalent.

Anyone use it and is it any good?

Without going into a long lecture about all the technical reasons why these systems are klonkity klonk geranium pansy you should instead spend the money on a bit of room treatment and listen to your mixes on a variety of different systems in different rooms. including the car ( which is one of the best places )

Hi Mr Woodlock

I’ve been told to get a spectrum analyzer and run pink noise through both speakers is this the approach I should take?

It’s not very accurate ( doesn’t tell the whole picture ) but better than nothing. use an omni directional flat response mic - Behringers ECM-8000 is a low cost option, and 20 time cheaper than a B&K :slight_smile:

If you are serious about measuring your speaker/room system then use this, as it does it properly …


http://www.etfacoustic.com/


Apart from boundary bass boost roll off you can’t flatten your system by EQ. Room acoustics are time based and location based. EQ makes things worse

Thanks for the link.

I can borrow an Edirol MD-10X which has a built in analyzer & mic which might do the trick.

Cheap I know but at close range do you think it would help me produce more accurate mixes?

I wondered, if you did make EQ adjustments and these were made based on pink noise measurements made in your normal listening position and used with the understanding that they were valid ONLY in that position whether that would in fact be a reasonable approach in lieu of a fully treated room?

While I have a partially treated room I am aware of one quite apparent resonant peak at around 120hz - very noticable in my normal listing position unfortunately. When I’m mixing I’ve recently been working with EQ on my output bus - subtracting this frequency by around -9dB. It’s less than ideal I guess, but does seem to do the trick.

it will only work for one position in the room though and will makethigns much worse in other zones And is far from ideal.

And in situationswhere you have a dip in teh bass response and use EQ to fill in the gap, then you eat up a lot of headrom in the monitoring system and produce huge peaks elsewhere in the room.

Hey Paul so what about mixing demos mp3 for laptop computer speakers and things like that?

You spoke of boundary bass boost. Is that when speakers are close to walls and things?

yup close to a wall. speakers are omnidirectional in the bass region. the bass projected backwards is reflected forwards and it summed with the forwards projected bass. Speakers in a corner have this effect even more pronounced as their are two or even 3 boundaries. A lot of pro active speakers have roll off filters to compensate

Yeah, which was what I was saying… the ONE position being the normal monitoring position I sit in. I don’t really care about how it sounds in the rest of the room because I don’t usually listen to a mix from anywhere except where I usually sit… i.e right in fron of my DAW. :slight_smile:

And in situations where you have a dip in teh bass response and use EQ to fill in the gap, then you eat up a lot of headrom in the monitoring system and produce huge peaks elsewhere in the room.

I guess that could be an issue, though fortunately in my case its the opposite I have a peak at 120hz… so I guess thats not of concern for me.
:sunglasses:

If 120 hz is your room peak, then Auralex LENRDs may be of help to you, they won’t go down a whole lot lower than that, but do help in that area. http://www.auralex.com/bass_traps_lenrd/bass_traps_lenrd.asp

Yup a much better solution.

Already have two installed! Maybe I need two more???

You might be surprised how much absorption is needed to cure room resonances. :slight_smile:

What would be interesting is how that VRM system would work in an already well treated room?

That is what I’ve been curious about and so many different ones have come out too. I think JBL even has one now, but my problem is that I already have a Mackie Big Knob and would have to run it afterwards.

OoEr Misses :laughing:

If you record vocals and live instruments in this room that resonance peak must have quite an effect on them?

hehe

I have a big knob as well. It’s well used now.

Good bit of kit too. Solidly built.

hehe

They should make a little knob and see if anyone buys it :laughing: