Getting back into REW - finally setting up my home studio

[tripey]

Hey all, I'm finally getting around to seriously setting up my studio. I've had my GIK Acoustics sound panels for years and had them setup in my old place. I never really got the hang of REW but used it. Fast forward to now and I'm in a new house with a full basement. It's dimensions are W 12 1/2' x L 40 3/4' x 6 5/8' (Drop ceilings). I measured the room, in the listening position equal distance from the speakers, untreated. Then i measured the room with the acoustic panels added but in phases so I see can the progression. I have 6 GIK 242s (2' x 4' and 2" thick with an air gap),2 x 244s (4" think with air gap), 4 x tri corner bass traps and 2 x 7" monster bass traps.
What's interesting is that there seems to be more dips in certain frequencies after adding panels. The spectrograph does show low/mid bass not having as much SPL after treatment.
My plan is to get as good as I can get with the room and finish off the rest with Dirac Live (which I was using last year before I moved my setup down to the basement). Wondering if anybody can offer any insight if I was to share my REW measurements and pictures of my setup.

Thanks all!

 

[CAAudiophile]

It is hard to tell ... have you had before and after measurement, and how about the ceiling any treatment there?

 

[tripey]

Hi! Thanks for responding! I do have before and after measurements! They're all in this google drive folder. There are a Before (Untreated) and After (Treated) folders. There is also a Room Pics folder with pictures of the room and a text file with dimensions and sound panel setup.
No I don't have ceiling treatment yet and was thinking of getting 2 x GIK 2" ceiling panels to replace the two panels in the picture marked with green frog tape.

Thank you!!!

I can't post a link google drive yet. I will attach the files here.

Room dimensions:
W 12 1/2' x L 40 3/4' x H 6 5/8'

From from of the room to back:
Left and Right corners: GIK Tri Corners (Green)
Left and Right 1st and 2nd reflections: 2 GIK 242 Panels (Burgundy?)
Left and Right arbitrary placement: 1 GIK 242 Panel (Burgundy?)
Left and Right arbitrary placement: 1 GIK 244 Panel (Green)
Center of back wall: 2 GIK 7” Monster traps (Burgundy?)
Back wall Left and Right corners: GIK Tri Corners (Green)

 

[CAAudiophile]

Nice setup ... Looking at your before and after files, there is a peak at 90HZ and 176 HZ!! The room may sound a bit BOOMY. The highs are too low -6 dB compared to the over all graph. Don't worry about the dips. It is the room however the peaks are easier to control. Do you use a DSP? if so try to target those peaks and remeasure.
I would separate the sound panels 1 foot if not more a part to get a better effect. I don't see any absorbers, you really need to have them in between each sound panels. That might help a lot.

 

[tripey]

Oh cool thank you so much for looking at the measurements! So the highs dipping, I shouldn't worry about that? And you're saying peaks at 90hz and 176 hz are easy to control... with DSP? Or DSP can handle the dips too? I used to run Dirac Live speaker calibration. I'm waiting to use it until I can get my room as good as I can.
Ok thanks for the suggestion on the spacing of the sound panels. Are absorbers different than what I have? The GIKs 242 and 244 are considered absorption panels.

Thank you so much!

 

[CAAudiophile]

Well I meant to say DIFFUSORS not absorbers, off course you have may absorbers, and it is best to alternate between absorber and diffusers. Perhaps for now you could separate the absorbers a part to kind of simulate the diffusors in between them.
If you have a DSP, you could handle the peaks and somehow the dips. or PEQ (Parametric EQ) can also help there. If you could measure again after all the fixes and share the results.

 

[tripey]

Right on! Im gonna move the side reflection panels so they're spaced out a little more and then measure. Then I'll setup my room correction EQ with Dirac Live and measure again. I should have some time next week. I'll report back. Thank you so much !

 

[ddude003]

Here is a wealth of information about absorber placement... http://arqen.com/bass-traps-101/placement-guide/

Moving your corner traps off the floor decreases their effectiveness... You really want floor to ceiling if possible...

 

[tripey]

Oh right on thanks for the link! Yeah I've since moved the corner traps off the floor but they're on top of cinder blocks. I have to custom make some 2 to 2.5 ft corner traps to stack on top of existing ones.