The practical effects of mixing in an environment closely resembling a home listening environment

Abstract

Two traditional philosophies exist when considering recording studio control room design: the method of closely replicating the listening environment of the consumer, quite often the typical living room, as juxtaposed to the idea that the control room should be uniquely suited toward color-free critical listening. While both of these design philosophies have had their proponents and detractors, very little data have been gathered to show the merits or drawbacks of either when used for critical recording and mixing work. A novel method of task-based testing is developed to determine what, if any, affects can be attributed to particular aspects of control room designs. The method employs highly trained recording engineers and producers to provide real-world feedback on the makeup of a control room's sidewalls. By having these trained subjects to perform basic mixing tasks while altering the reflectivity and diffusiveness of the sidewalls, the effects of these isolated acoustic features are determined. Data showing the final balance levels, as well as total elapsed time per trial, are recorded from more than 20 expert subjects. Despite strong differences in lateral reflected energy, most subjects were able to perform their task with relatively little variance.