7 Mistakes Audio Engineers Make When Setting Up a Home Studio — Audio Issues : Audio Issues:

Setting up a studio can be expensive. All too often, engineers blow their entire budget on gear and forget to buy cables to hook it all up.

I found out about TS vs. TSR (balanced vs. un-balanced) cables 15 seconds in to installing by JBL LSR305 monitors. Balanced cables everywhere except for the guitar cables.

I have “little or no acoustic treatment”, but! Wall behind monitors has non-flat surface, reflections are “different”. Ceiling has coved corners, so angles are odd. Right wall has bookcase with assorted things on it. Back wall is bookcases with assorted things. Front left corner is bare. When doing room correction with ARC2 I can actually hear the corner being weird. With Sonarworks Reference I can see the odd curves in the correction model.

My speakers are isolated with yoga blocks. Fantastic stands. $10/pair. Currently using one pair per side.

No sub-woofer here. The <40 Hz response on the JBLs is enough to get me happy bass. Got rid of the sub-woofer in my TV room as well. Nothing useful there. If I want big bass I’ll just go to a club, throw the -20 dB earplugs in, and let my body be pummeled. 😉

Good tips

This is a nice and concise set of definitions surrounding metering. Understanding the terminology really helps.

Why restaurants became so loud — and how to fight back — Vox:

This experience is by no means unique; it’s become a fixture of dining out in America. ‘What did you say?’ ‘Can you repeat that?’ and ‘It’s so loud in here’ are now phrases as common as ‘Can I take your order?’”

I carry a sound meter. I check. I have earplugs in my pocket (-12 dB flat)