Fantastic. Thanks so much Scott for your help. A lot to think about.
My wife thinks I've completely lost my marbles (as we say in England) with my
new hobby, so rather than shipping in a hoard of new hardware, a new carpet and
20 sqm of foam, I'll work in small increments.
BTW - to the admin - apologies for bombarding the forum with such simple
questions - but I am a self-confessed novice, and maybe this can all feed into
the FAQ at some point.
--- In Scott Fraser <> wrote:
>
> <<I'm trying to set up my Mac Pro in a basement 'bunker' for listening/
> mixing. At the moment the sound just comes out of the Mac monitor
> speakers.
> I already got some recommendations for near field speakers from the
> forum. Do I need any additional hardware to set this up for a quality
> listening experience?>>
>
> Ideally you'll want to add an audio interface, but for the moment you
> can connect the audio output of the Mac to active monitors. It's not
> very elegant, nor is it a critical listening scenario, but it will get
> you sound into the speakers, provided you get powered speakers.
>
> << Do I need to invest in a top-of-the-notch audio card?>>
>
> Even a middle of the road interface is going to give you very good
> audio. In the Mac world there are many outboard FireWire or USB audio
> interfaces, & very few actual soundcards which fit in the PCI slots.
> Unlike those for PCs, the PCI audio cards that I'm aware of for Macs
> are parts of much larger, much more expensive pro systems.
>
> <<Is there a handy way to take advantage of the S/PDIF digital audio
> output? >>
>
> If the speakers you purchase have a SPDIF input you could do this,
> however you will be stuck with always having to make volume
> adjustments for listening level in software. I suspect you'll tire of
> this quickly & want to have a physical volume knob within reach.
> Alternatively with certain interfaces you could run the SPDIF out of
> the Mac into a SPDIF input on the hardware, although you gain
> absolutely nothing doing this over sending audio via the FireWire or
> USB connection most interfaces will be utilizing anyway.
>
> <<I have Adobe Soundbooth and Cubase SL but I have no idea if these
> are suitable for editing wildlife sound. What SW do you use/recommend?>>
>
> I use Digital Performer. I have no experience with Soundbooth or
> Cubase, but basically all DAWs can do extensive editing processes,
> some more intuitively than others.
>
> << A friend mentioned Pro Tools ('radio journalists standard')>>
>
> ProTools is a standard in the recording industry. It comes with
> specific proprietary hardware requirements which end up making even
> the lite version an expensive alternative. Every serious DAW available
> can do everything that ProTools can do, & with the same level of
> quality.
>
> <<For listening in a small basement room - would you recommend
> acoustic foam?>>
>
> Only if you have noticeable slapback echoes which are coloring the
> overall sound of the room. If the room appears overly bright sounding,
> perhaps if most of the boundaries are concrete, you may get just as
> much an improvement in sound by laying down a thick carpet. Too much
> absorption, though, can create an overly dead room, which is just as
> problematic as an overly live room. Adjust in small increments.
>
> << Is that at all necessary? Would it enhance listening or is that
> intended for making/concealing noise.>>
>
> 'Acoustic' foam absorbs mostly high frequencies. It will do nothing at
> all for concealing noise, i.e. stopping incoming external noise.
> Neither will it do anything whatsoever to stop sound you create in the
> room from traveling into the rest of the house. Used indiscriminately
> it can unbalance the audio spectrum, resulting in a preponderance of
> low mid & bass response in a room. Used judiciously along with other
> treatments it can tame some problems in rooms with excessive flutter
> echo caused by bare walls. Generally the primary problems in smaller
> listening rooms are in the lower frequencies, but if you hear multiple
> repeated fast echoes when you clap your hands in the main listening
> position in your room, you have problematic flutter echoes & a few
> strategically placed pieces of foam can knock those down. Compressed
> fiberglass panels (e.g. Owens-Corning 701, 703 & 705) do a better job
> of this with a wider bandwidth extending into the mid range.
> Additionally foam deteriorates over time (15 to 20 years in my
> experience) into sticky gooey particles, while fiberglass maintains
> structural integrity essentially indefinitely.
>
> <<Anything else I ought to know?>>
>
> Yes, but one small step at a time is probably better than
> informational overload.
>
> Scott Fraser
>
>
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