gustav_errata
pfm Member
File under: "you get what you pay for"
TL;DR: Is there a DIY/hobbyist-oriented measurement-microphone calibration service in the UK, similar to what Cross Spectrum does in the US?
I wanted to do some basic room correction for the low-end in my yet-untreated bedroom studio. Given that money in the long-run would be better spent on some basic treatment, I just bought a cheap measurement mic (Red5 RV200). Now I'm thinking maybe I should have just ponied up the extra cash for a Dayton Audio EMM-6.
In short, the Red5 doesn't come with a calibration file and the company never responded to my query about it. I did some measurements of my room in REW, which showed rather elevated low-end (50Hz - 500Hz) relative to the rest of the response (i.e. when I set the target level in the REW EQ tool using the full 50Hz-22kHz sweep, and then tried to match the response on the above low-end frequency range, it complains about something like 80% of the response being above the target). The anomolies were greater than what could be fixed with the EQ knobs on the back of my studio monitors (Focal Shape 50).
I generated impulse files from the filters estimated for the left and right channels and loaded them up in a convolution plugin. Upon listening, the result feels really anemic. However I can't tell if I just had already gotten used to a large bass response or whether something else over-emphasized those frequencies during measurement. So, naturally, I start to worry about the calibration of the mic and that maybe it's not so flat afterall.
So, basically, I'm wondering if there's a cost-effective way in the UK to have the mic measured and a calibration file generated so I can redo the measurements with confidence, or whether that cost is just going to end up matching that of a DA EMM-6 or a UMIK-1 in the end. All I can find are industry-oriented, certified calibration services, which are way beyond what I need.
TL;DR: Is there a DIY/hobbyist-oriented measurement-microphone calibration service in the UK, similar to what Cross Spectrum does in the US?
I wanted to do some basic room correction for the low-end in my yet-untreated bedroom studio. Given that money in the long-run would be better spent on some basic treatment, I just bought a cheap measurement mic (Red5 RV200). Now I'm thinking maybe I should have just ponied up the extra cash for a Dayton Audio EMM-6.
In short, the Red5 doesn't come with a calibration file and the company never responded to my query about it. I did some measurements of my room in REW, which showed rather elevated low-end (50Hz - 500Hz) relative to the rest of the response (i.e. when I set the target level in the REW EQ tool using the full 50Hz-22kHz sweep, and then tried to match the response on the above low-end frequency range, it complains about something like 80% of the response being above the target). The anomolies were greater than what could be fixed with the EQ knobs on the back of my studio monitors (Focal Shape 50).
I generated impulse files from the filters estimated for the left and right channels and loaded them up in a convolution plugin. Upon listening, the result feels really anemic. However I can't tell if I just had already gotten used to a large bass response or whether something else over-emphasized those frequencies during measurement. So, naturally, I start to worry about the calibration of the mic and that maybe it's not so flat afterall.
So, basically, I'm wondering if there's a cost-effective way in the UK to have the mic measured and a calibration file generated so I can redo the measurements with confidence, or whether that cost is just going to end up matching that of a DA EMM-6 or a UMIK-1 in the end. All I can find are industry-oriented, certified calibration services, which are way beyond what I need.