HEDD 20 Mk2 - Are they worth the money ?

[Drew Stephenson]

Without room treatment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJnGeDsly6M
With room treatment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c4hKBWk6Ac

[Hugh Robjohns]

[Marbury]

Its a small room with carpet and lots of clutter so it will hardly need any treatment if any to be honest.

[Drew Stephenson]

It's possible that what might really do the trick is a very nice set of headphones?

[Marbury]

I do have a very good, accurate set of Shure SRH840 headphones that I tend to use to mix permanently.

[RichardT]

Its a small room with carpet and lots of clutter so it will hardly need any treatment if any to be honest.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, but I’m afraid that’s not right. Carpet will cut down some of the high frequencies, but it won’t do anything for mid and bass frequencies, and it can lead to a dull but boomy sound. Clutter won’t help there either. Small rooms can have really bad problems with both room modes and reflected sound, as I know from my own experience. Lots of treatment may be required to get a decent sound - broadband trapping, and absorption at mirror-points.

Seriously, do not get expensive monitors and leave your room untreated!

[Marbury]

Well perhaps headphones for monitoring is the way forward, for now at least.

[RichardT]

Well perhaps headphones for monitoring is the way forward, for now at least.

That sounds like a good idea. You can use your existing Spirit monitors, even if they’re not very good and the room is untreated, to give you some information on whether things are panned sensibly - that’s not always clear on phones (at least to me).

[Marbury]

I am in the process of re-jigging the room, de-cluttering as its not right for me as a working environment. Its hard to explain but it needs to be a place I want to spend time in, and for some reason it affects my creative mood. Sounds pretentious, which it isn’t, but I hope you know what I mean. Every now and again you feel like a change. Been through 18 months of emotional upheaval losing my mum, selling the house, etc and neglected the creative side because of this. I will perhaps sit tight and keep using the cans for now, and to be fair, I don’t think my mixes are too bad considering. Also my musical direction is changing. I do the library bread and butter work (although it’s more bread crumbs these days) but my heart is in the sound design, experimentation side.

So I will get the room right and then start thinking about the monitors, treatment of the room. I just get impatient and need to slow down. I either spend too long being ridiculously indecisive or make reckless impulsive decisions that I live to regret.

The ideal monitors would sound pleasing to the ear as if listening for pleasure, as well as being very accurate. HEDD do some seriously good headphones for £1500, but at that price you may as well get monitors.

[Mike Stranks]

Please listen to the corporate wisdom...

If it's a smallish room without treatment I wouldn't be spending anywhere more than a few hundred £ on monitors... you'll be wasting your money...

Room treatment is boring but essential if you're serious about getting half-decent mixes.

[Martin Walker]

Please listen to the corporate wisdom...

If it's a smallish room without treatment I wouldn't be spending anywhere more than a few hundred £ on monitors... you'll be wasting your money...

Room treatment is boring but essential if you're serious about getting half-decent mixes.

+1 to this advice.

Martin

[Marbury]

A set of diffusers would be the best way forward watching this guy,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrNBrl9qMLw

although I will reiterate that I have various items in the room that will be already contributing to diffusing the sound.

[Mike Stranks]

I have absolutely no idea where to start when it comes to treating the room, let alone the space to put anything else on the walls. Don't some monitors come with correcting software to adjust the speakers for the room ? That would be much less hassle.

Maybe it would be less hassle, but if your room is 'off' you run the risk of damaging your new, expensive speakers as the software sets up correction curves boosting certain frequencies with possible 'phut' or 'blue smoke' consequences.

There is loads of stuff available on the SoS website about acoustic treatment and where it needs to be placed. Also some of the reputable makers/suppliers are happy to offer free advice on what you need and where it needs to be placed.

For example: https://gikacoustics.co.uk/acoustic-advice/

I say again, if you're serious about mixing and intending to spend on monitors the sort of money you're contemplating, then acoustic treatment is not really a 'perhaps' - it's a 'must'.

Ah! OK; you've edited your post... you don't need YouTube vids you need proper advice... I have a bit of diffusion, but I still have acoustic treatment panels.

[Martin Walker]

A set of diffusers would be the best way forward watching this guy,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrNBrl9qMLw

Not so I'm afraid, especially in smaller rooms, where if you're too close to diffusers you'll hear a set of reflections rather than a more diffused sound.

Martin

[RichardT]

Hi Marbury,

Room correction software can only get you so far - actually not that far at all! Although it will adjust the frequency balance, it won’t affect how long your room will resonate. This is what causes most of the blurring at lower frequencies. It also won’t do anything to deal with reflected sound.

[Marbury]

Looks like I will stick with the absolute 2s in a room, and monitors I know well. For the end mix I will use the Shure headphones.

[Drew Stephenson]

It's the boring option but probably makes sense.

[Marbury]

For now at least unless someone would take a commission on designing/treating my room

[Martin Walker]

For now at least unless someone would take a commission on designing/treating my room

Dare I mention that most online acoustic treatment manufacturers will happily provide free recommendations based on your room dimensions and a quick sketch of where you intend to place your gear?

You've got nothing to lose by asking advice from the professionals!

Martin

[Martin Walker]

Room correction software can only get you so far - actually not that far at all! Although it will adjust the frequency balance, it won’t affect how long your room will resonate. This is what causes most of the blurring at lower frequencies. It also won’t do anything to deal with reflected sound.

In my experience, once you've got sufficient acoustic treatment to get your room frequency response to have peaks and troughs no bigger than 6dB from the baseline, room correction software can make a significant improvement to the final result.

However, room correction software can never totally correct for an untreated room, so it's an enhancement rather than cure-all.

Martin