Acoustics

#1 To be able to hear your music clearer and have less conflicts with freq. you should “acoustically treat” your room with various foams/furniture/diffusers/etc. to lessen the amount of natural reverb your room reflects while you play your music. This reverb sends reflections of the song that are bounced off the walls/windows/floor/ceiling/furniture and return back to your ears causing conflicts with freq. and overall clarity. Once you treat your room you will “deaden” the sound so little to no reflection is occuring. Carpet and thick foamed cloth furniture act as treatment. Wood, flat steel, concrete, etc. will reflect the sound. If you have wood floors you could just add an area rug(s) if you do not want to carpet the whole room. You can search for various companies that sell treatments, some even offer free layouts of how your room should be treated to save you the mental anguish of calculating the acoustical structure of your room.

#2 Time to clarify 2 words that I hear producers misuse a lot!

Sound proofing: Most producers use this word when they really mean “acoustic treatment”. Sound proofing is a very long and expensive process by which you add extra walls that are insulated in a way that sound going inside the room or sounds from outside the room is muted, even at high volumes. This is for producers to record vocals, guitars, drums, etc. without any concern of being too loud with their neighbors as well as getting unwanted sounds from the outside world seeping into your recordings (like loud motorcycles and assholes who play their bar stereo too loud).

Acoustic Treatment: This is where a producer/band places heavy sheets/acoustic panels/acoustic foam on/around the walls in precise places to help stop the natural reverberation of the music coming from the speakers and bouncing all around the room making various problems happen like a louder sounding bass then there really is or an echo like “slapback” that makes the music seem sloppy/muddy. The foam/panels/sheets absorb most of the sound making it sound “dead” so you hear the music in its cleanest/clearest form. It also helps for recording in the studio when you do not want any any reverberation when recording.

*Side Note* There is also a process called “diffusion” which is very complicated and expensive. It is like acoustic treatment but you keep the acoustics more natural and have a less “dead” feeling while keeping away the unwanted reverberation and bass problems. I recommend you google/youtube this process as well to see some of the most beautiful studios imaginable. Most people who use this process are professional “Mastering” agents.