Want more bass from your tiny monitors?

[RawDepth]

Do you have a very small set of studio monitors? You probably don't get much bass from them, do you? Perhaps you should consider adding a sub.

Even if the sub is on the floor behind your desk, your ears will fool you into believing that the bass is coming from those two smaller speakers. The low frequencies are not very directional. In other words, those sound waves fan out extremely wide in a big hurry and fill the entire room. The human ears cannot easily discern where it is originating from.

If you don't have an extra amp to run a sub then look for a "powered" sub. Powered means the sub box has an amplifier built right in. The amount (volume) of bass on most powered subs can be adjust. A few simple tests with some test tones and an SPL meter will get it right in line with the rest of the spectrum.

You will probably only need one sub. Bass sounds almost the same in mono as it does in stereo. Most built-in sub amps will sum the two channels together just for the sub, but keep the output in proper stereo for the two monitors. You run both left and right speaker cables from your rig, down into the sub. It splits off what it needs for the low end and sends the rest to the monitors. (so, you will be needing two more speaker cables to hook it up.)

Choose speaker size based on the size of your room. If your studio is fairly small (like a small bedroom) then perhaps an 8" or 10" will do. If you have a larger control room, I would spring for a 12" or bigger. Your usual monitoring volume can be a factor too.

It really works great. I love mine. For a few hundred bucks, you can have huge bass.

[thebigcheese]

I always felt like putting in a sub would blow the bass out of proportion, so I wouldn't really be getting an accurate mix unless I used some fancy tool to make sure all the frequencies are coming out at the right levels. But maybe I'm way off base here.

Get it, base/bass?

[thebigcheese]

Actually, maybe someone could post up a clarification on getting the most out of your monitors and making sure that your sub isn't up too loud. I don't know too much about that. Do you need a special tool for it or something?

[thebigcheese]

An SPL meter would work, I'm sure.

What does that do? I was thinking you would want like to sweep frequencies with a tone and record it, but then I guess you have to deal with which mic you're using, unless you've got a reference mic, and those are all super expensive.

[RawDepth]

Raw - Can you recommend a good floor sub for a small room to go with my monitors?

Well, I was always a fan of keeping the sub the same brand as your monitors. This is because they are usually designed to be used as a matched set. Crossover frequencies will be matched up perfectly and performance will be optimized. But then, that’s just one opinion. And you know what opinions are like.

I talked about speaker size in my original post of this thread. Playback volume should be considered as well.

Setting the proper level of bass is not that hard. Some of those powered subs have a level knob that works on the plus-minus theory. Meaning that the center most setting (or 5 on a 10 scale,) produces a flat or true level. Turning the knob clockwise (above 5) will boost more bass and turning counter-clockwise will cut or attenuate bass.

If you are anal like me and want to be sure that the sub is matched to the room, you can use an SPL meter and test tones. An SPL meter is a small hand held box that measures volume. You can get them at electronic stores and you can usually mount them on a camera tripod.

You simply play test tones one at a time (most recording software can produce these for you,) at different frequencies and measure the volume of each one at the mix position. The goal is to get all or most of the frequencies to play at the same volume.

Step the frequencies down through the range that your monitors play and then through what the sub plays, measuring as you go. The lower the frequency, the closer the test intervals should be. Example; in the mid-range, you can test about every 1000Hz or so, in the low-mid every 100Hz, and in the bass range you should check every 10Hz or so. If you find that your sub is louder or quieter than the monitors, simply adjust until matched. If you have one problem frequency that is out of line with the others, you can fix that with targeted room treatment.

Hope this helps.
Raw

[mattila]

i use a 10 inch sub with my epicure t/e 70s and tannoy ls3s. but not with my kliptsch kg4s. if you can tell where the sub is located its to loud.i play loud drums to set the low end eg rush tom sawyer ,audioslave like a stone ....then huck on a joan baez song for tweakin,on vinyl, of course.