Dynaudio BM5A MKII or Focals CMS65

Both used ofcourse, but still for that money it blows all the new speakers around $300 out of the water.

On the other hand I know I'm prone to placebo effect, especally when I've paid a lot of money for something. Thus the testing. Not saying it's your case too, though. Just pointing out.

Funny that you mention this.

During my search for a new unit I found several voting topics of what is the best DAC etc.

For example in one topic of a few a guy uploaded two samples called sample A and sample B. One of the unit cost 3000 euro's while the other cost around 750 euro. He let the vote run for about a month and 73% voted for sample A. During the voting there were a lot of replies and between them professional audio mastering engineers who do jobs for (big) artists. Anyway as far as I could tell they all voted for sample A and writing that this is the most expensive unit as it's more transparant and better highs etc.

After a month the guy closed the poll and said that sample A was the unit of 750 euro.

A lot of people were in shock..

Anyway.. I'm now deciding between Tascam UH-7000 or the Audient ID22.

I was thinking about SPL Crimson too but I read more negative about it than with above two.

I'm currently using a motu 828 MKII but since I do not use all the channels at all and could do with a 2/4 channel i'm thinking about selling this unit, plus the fact that the unit is already on the market for + 8 years and by now I'm sure even the "budget" interfaces of from 400 to 800 euro will beat the motu in sound quality.

I already checked a few options but I'm unable to decide, which interface would really be a big improvement over the  motu.

Should be windows compatible.

Any suggestions?

- The RME babyface pro is not an option. I read that the sound quality is not that good compared to others in the same price range.
- Steinberg audio interfaces are not bad rated from what I read, but can't drive a 600ohm headphone properly.
- Metric Halo ULN-2 is for sure the best out there, but it cost a lot.

Thinking about the Tascam UH-7000...

I could mod the motu by black lion, but I think it would be cheaper in my case to sell the unit and buy a new one.

What other options do you guys suggest to me?

It isn't free but it's well worth the money.

http://www.moultonlabs.com/full/product01

I went to school for audio engineering and we spent 30 minutes at the beginning of one of my classes using this to train throughout the semester. It is a very effective way to train your ears. The concept, you'll hear pink noise (pretty much even volume throughout the frequency spectrum) and then they will make a 10dB boost or cut in a specific area and you have to guess where that boost or cut happened.

The boosts/cuts happen within a smaller and smaller range as you go through the disc so your ear becomes more laser focused on frequencies.

A recommendation: if you do buy them, do it at the beginning of the day and ONLY do it for 30 min or so at a time. Any more and your ears become fatigued and the effort is wasted.

Hope this helps!

Thanks mate!

I have a look into this course and you are right about what you said. The best thing is to do it when you wake up in the morning and sit for 30 minutes training your ears.

I'm going to do myself an audio engineering study from september this year, but it's still far away.

What about the Diamond 12x12 panels? Are they useless like the egg foam?
I've seen 12 packs of the 3" for like $25. Fairly cheap but if they are useless then I might hold off.

They fall in the same class. They barely do anything.

Anything cheaper then these? Serious college budget here lol.

Probably, but maybe slightly.

What you can also do is to buy mineral wool yourself and make them.

In my project I used knauf RS-45 100mm for the wall & ceiling panels with a 100mm space between the wall/ceiling and the panel and rockwool deltaplaat 212, 180mm for the corners (superchunks).

Each panel costed me about 25 to 30 euro. I've build 8 for on the walls and 4 on the ceiling.

Check the gearslutz forum, there's plenty of DIY topics there.

This is my build -> http://www.radford.edu/~shelm/acoustics/bass-traps.html

Except I improved the hang method. I didn't do it by wire.

Hey guys,

I was wondering the right technique to properly sound treat a room. I have two JBL Studio monitors and a dorm room, whats the best i can do?

The biggest improvement you'll see is when you add basstraps to the corners of your room. The second step would be to treat the reflection points and last the ceiling and all between (diffusers etc). 

Now there's several ways to measure your room and some would probably say, download a program which can do room measurement and place according to the results, but those programs are not that good and don't give you the optimal result.

It would be much better if you let someone with the proper equipment measure you room.

Anyway, if you are on a tight budget, just place basstraps in the corners & panel on the reflection points. This will help already a lot.

Edit: Don't fall for the egg foam stuff and put your walls full with them as they really don't do anything.. go for panels. ;-)

GIKacoustics is pretty good and if you want to have good results on a tight budget, make them yourself. It's pretty easy with very good results.

I'm thinking people are going to use this thread and apply it without knowing what they are doing, probably even during producing.

I find myself not quliafied enough to do the mastering, so I'm keeping it as clean as possible. However, starting a study in september this year that teaches mastering. (in different genres)

- White noise (Can't believe no one mentioned it yet, such a big difference!)
- Several layers (each layer fills eachother up at different frequencties) (can put effects such as phasers, saturators on some) and change what they play. For example the top pads play high notes only.
- Low cut around 100hz with a soft slope. That means overlap with the bass pad. So many cut around 250hz.. don't do it.. unless you want a high hz pad, then cuts lots.
- Send to one bus and compress (+ whatever effects you like)
- Panning (L + R)
- Choosing the right sounds.
- Lots of reverb (send channel to bus channel)
- Delay (send channel to bus channel) 
- A->B between mono and stereo (phase issues)
- Proper EQ (m/s)
- Pluck playing with pads

+ some already mentioned above, just play around.

That's more or less how I do it. Effects varies on the channels depending on the sound or what I want to archieve.