Most people make music in a bedroom, a spare room, or a corner of the living room. No panels, no bass traps. You can still make mixes that sound good everywhere. You just need to know what your room is doing.
What an untreated room gets wrong
Two things, mostly:
- Bass. A few low notes get much louder where you sit. You turn them down in the mix, and the mix sounds thin everywhere else.
- Echo. Bare walls bounce sound back at you. It blurs detail and makes reverb and stereo width harder to judge.
The bass problem is the bigger one. Echo you can reduce with soft furniture, a rug, and curtains. Bass notes go right through those.
Set up for the best spot
- Put your desk against the short wall, facing the long way into the room.
- Keep monitors away from the wall behind them and out of the corners.
- Sit so you and the two speakers form a triangle.
- Keep the setup the same from left to right, so both sides of your head hear the same room.
The free Monitor Placement tool works out the spots for your room's size.
Check your mixes elsewhere
Listen on headphones, a phone, earbuds, and a car. If the bass is too quiet on all of them, your room is exaggerating it. Reference tracks you know well help too: play them in your room and match your mix to how they sound there.
Deal with the boom
Placement moves the boom around, but one note usually stays. That's the one making your mixes thin.
Unboom finds that note and gently turns just that part down in your music and video apps. It only cuts, never boosts. Flip Correction off and on to hear the difference. It won't fix echo, so the rug and curtains still help.
Not sure your room has a boom? The free Room Bass Test plays a slow sweep so you can hear it.
FAQ
Should I just mix on headphones?
Headphones skip the room, which helps. But most people can't judge bass and stereo width on headphones alone. Use both.
Is acoustic foam enough?
Thin foam soaks up echo, not bass. It won't touch the boom.
How much treatment do I need?
Start with none. Set up well, fix the boom, and add soft things to the room. Buy panels later if echo still bothers you.