{"id":61376,"date":"2023-11-09T11:34:57","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T10:34:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hofa.de\/akustik-v2\/unkategorisiert\/raumakustik-messen-mit-room-eq-wizard\/"},"modified":"2024-09-16T10:17:21","modified_gmt":"2024-09-16T08:17:21","slug":"measuring-room-acoustics-with-room-eq-wizard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hofa-akustik.de\/en\/blog-en\/measuring-room-acoustics-with-room-eq-wizard\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Measure Room Acoustics With Room EQ Wizard"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Good room acoustics, whether in a control room, recording room or home studio, are crucial to any professional audio recording or music production. Whether you are a musician, sound engineer or podcaster, room acoustics play an important role in achieving optimal results. A poorly treated room can lead to unwanted sound colouration, resonance and inaccurate monitoring conditions that can cause you to make the wrong decisions when using an equaliser, for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fortunately, there are software solutions that can help you analyse the acoustic properties of your recording studio room and plan improvements more accurately. One such software is the freeware Room EQ Wizard, or REW for short.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this blog post, we\u2019ll show you how you can use REW to measure your own studio room, gain a better understanding of its acoustic properties, and take targeted action to optimise the room\u2019s acoustics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Equipment requirements<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
To accurately measure your room, all you need is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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A computer, running the free Room EQ Wizard software (Mac\/PC)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Studio monitors<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Audio interface<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Measurement microphone (even inexpensive models will do, e.g. Behringer ECM8000, Superlux ECM-999)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
XLR cables<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Level meter or mobile phone app<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\nSchematic of the measurement setup<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
2. Set up REW and audio devices<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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First, connect your speakers to the outputs of your audio interface that is connected to your computer.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Connect your microphone to an input and activate phantom power for that channel.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
If your interface allows direct monitoring (the microphone input goes directly to the speaker output), make sure it is switched off. You can find this setting in your interface\u2019s control software.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Download and install REW on your computer.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Open REW and go to Preferences to select the audio driver and interface. Depending on your version of REW and operating system (Mac or Windows), the screens may look slightly different. Then select the appropriate outputs for the audio output of the test signal (e.g. Output 1 and Output 2) and the appropriate input to which you have connected the test microphone.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
If your test microphone was supplied with a calibration file, you can load the file into the Preferences window.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\nREW Preferences, page 1: \u201cSoundcard\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
3. Adjust the measurement microphone and loudspeaker<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Leveling the measurement microphone and the loudspeakers is essential for accurate and comparable measurement results. Leveling ensures that the microphone preamplifier and the loudspeakers are always set to the same reference volume for consistent and comparable measurement results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Place the measurement microphone at the listening position, approximately at ear level, and with both speakers having the same distance from the measurement microphone.<\/p>\n\n\n\nMicrophone position<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Now start the SPL Meter function in REW to set the volume reference so that all measurements will have the same volume reference point for comparison.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSelect \u201cSPL Meter\u201d from the menu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
To do this, select the Z-weighting \u2013 everything else is predefined \u2013 click \u201cCalibrate\u201d, select \u201cSpeaker Signal\u201d in the window that appears and click \u201cOK\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now set the output volume at the interface to a level at which you would like to listen to (loud) music and use a sound level meter or app to check the volume in the room at a distance of about 1-2 meters from the speaker. Readings of 70 to 90 dB are good. If it is still too low, feel free to turn up the output volume on your interface. Trust your ears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Enter the value you now read in dBC on the sound level meter into the dB field of the SPL meter in REW. From now on, do not change the output volume on the interface!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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We plan your room<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Just send us a sketch and some pictures of your room. Our acoustic experts provide you with an individual plan for the room’s acoustics. It will show you which measures will improve the acoustics of your room.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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