(With apologies to Captain Malcom Reynolds of the Firefly class transport “Serenity” for nicking his saying as the title of this post.)
I’m just going to whinge, here, for a minute. But I’m open to feedback, if anyone has any, after all the whinging is done.
So… I have an amp, but I don’t use it. I play into either a Behringer BDI21 or a Zoom B1Four, through either a 1K Multimedia AXE I/O ONE or a Focusrite Scarlett Solo. Monitor on the DAI is on, and I’m listening through headphones. This allows me to play music through Songsterr or whatever and play along with it.
I’m tired of wearing headphones. So! I figured the easiest solution would be to get a decent set of studio monitors and connect them to the interface. I don’t need to have crazy thumping bass, I just need enough to hear myself play.
Bought some JBL 305P MKIIs and some little desk stands. Great sounding, but damn if certain notes didn’t just boom like dammit. Like crazy boom, hard-to-listen-to-and-play-with boom. I figured it was the rear-porting, being too close to walls and corners, because I’m limited on space.
So, I exchanged them for some KRK ROKIT 5s, thinking that being front-ported I wouldn’t have the issue. BUT I STILL DO! After doing some research it looks like the culprit is the room where I have them setup, the proximity to the walls, the fact that I do NOT have an insulated floor, and all sorts of stuff that with a DB meter and creative EQing and effing with the KRK’s DSP I might be able to work around. But I am not a sound engineer and that is all woefully over my head.
I don’t know what I’m going to do now. I spent a decent chunk of change on these monitors, and they’re awesome, but my house is not.
Might seem, like, obvious and shit, but why not just get a decent amp to accommodate your room space? Like, something that produces the sound you want/expect to hear?
How long have I been on this forum with you, @MikeC?
It’s because I’m dogged and impulsive and when I get an idea in my head I beat my head against the wall until the idea falls out or it works. LOL.
But seriously, it’s because I would really like to have one solution that I can use to play along to music with my PC, play by myself, and also record when the mood strikes and play with FX chains and stuff, (edit) with or without headphones.
I would guess this is your “challenge”. There is something in the same room that picks up certain frequencies and resonates like crazy.
So, I guess you need to a) verify this theory, and b) identify the resonating body and either move it or change how it stands, what it stands on, what it touches etc.
For a): can you - indeed with a graphic EQ - find the frequencies that do the most harm. Is it just one note on the bass (and some of its main harmonic relatives (fifths, octaves))??
For b): it could be a desk, or a cupboard, or a shelve. You probably need a second person to touch all the possible culprits while you play the resonating note on the bass. Once you found what is resonating in the room, see whether it could be moved slightly, put on some felt pads, changed what and how stuff is standing in the shelves (maybe put more in there; something heavy), whether it (needlessly) touches a wall and so - anything that will change its resonance frequency.
I doubt it’s the speakers - it’s something else in the room!
I had the same problem with my new “studio” when I moved to France. I converted the second bedroom to my music room. It’s just big enough to hold a double bed. A queen size wouldn’t fit. I have Focal Shape 65 monitors (made here in France). They’re fantastic, but boomed like crazy in this room (hard walls and parquet flooring). Fortunately, the powered monitors have an EQ built in. I had to dial back the lows quite a bit, but the boom is now gone and they sound great.
It looks like your Rokits have a DSP built-in. Look for a preset with an EQ curve with a low cut (the opposite of the low boost shown in this photo).
I solve such issues with (free) REW software and a UMIK-1 measurement microphone.
I have a PA that has it’s speakers pointing to a wall that is about 30cm away (ino rder to use refelctions) but - using REW - I can adapt speakers to room situations easily, and it sounds absolutely great.
If your speaker has a built-in DSP (as @TheMaartian says), that would be absolutely perfect!
EDIT Just read that the Rokits have a KRK app with room correction tools (iOS + Android). That should solve your issues…
Yeah this is likely a room resonance. Speaker positioning can help. Even opening a window or cabinets can help. It’s not the KRKs or the original JBLs.
Killing the EQ in the resonant frequency range can help as mentioned but you need to find it too and also defeats the purpose of having a flat range monitor. I’d try and fix the resonance.
Sorry, I misunderstood this bit of poetry. I thought you were lacking boom, not having too much. because I didn’t realize that was a thing with bass players. (I’m sorry, that was all very snarky) So a subwoofer would not help at all. My bad.
you need a bass trap or something like one to suck up the boom
if crafty, you can build one, or be exceptionally nice to @Barney, pay for his filghts and he might make you one (but doubt it)
