Professional Quality Recording & Mixing—All in One Room Studio Acoustic Kit
We don’t all have huge, dedicated, purpose-built rooms in which to turn our musical creations into real productions. Often, all the items in the production chain—recording, editing, mixing, and mastering—are performed in the same room, under the same acoustic conditions. But you are a professional, a musical connoisseur, a sonic chef, and you demand the best. Here it is: ASC’s legendary flagship studio tool, the StudioTrap, can be configured and tuned to suit the needs of the moment, allowing optimization of each step in the musical production process–using the same acoustic tool.
Record
Mix
Produce
QuickSoundField
System 1: Recording
Arrange your StudioTraps in a QuickSoundField configuration. Hear every musical detail created by the talent. Sculpt the sonic scene to your heart’s content, providing a perfect track. Pro results, single take, same in every room.
- Fully adjustable treble brightness – live or dead, your choice
- 1/30th second fast decay time
- Adds fused early reflections to the direct signal, negating floor and ceiling bounce
- Natural sound, fully analog
- Portable and consistent—bring the same sound wherever you go
AttackWall
System 2: Mixing
Arrange your StudioTraps in an AttackWall configuration. Hear the details in your tracks like never before. Sculpt a 3-dimensional sound stage with precision and confidence. Work faster with flawless translation of mixes.
- Create a reflection-free zone in any room
- Mild soffit loading produces strong bass without boundary coloration
- Smooth low-level ambient tail reduces mixing fatigue = longer sessions
- Pack up and move to the next location with the same sound
No more making compromises with any piece of the recording chain.
One kit delivers vibrant vocal and instrument recording and quickly transforms into a monitoring setup that allows you to hear all the harmonic detail and stereo information in your recordings to create dynamic mixes that translate perfectly.
The primary StudioTrap setups are simple and easily repeatable. In a small production studio, you work through the recording process one step at a time—your kit provides ample acoustic control for each of these steps. The most basic kit includes (10) StudioTraps and a MonitorStack set, and is infinitely expandable and re-configurable. ASC MonitorStands provide a solid foundation for your reference speakers as well additional bass reverberation control. One kit with infinite configurations leaves only your imagination as the limit.
Using StudioTraps
Here’s a typical example: Start with a circle of StudioTraps around the drum kit.
Next, get out your guitar and play “into” the QuickSoundField arrangement of StudioTraps. Experiment with artist positioning, mic placement, and diffuser (brightness) orientation on the traps. Sculpt the sound you’ve been dreaming of!
Now it’s time to mix!
Move the StudioTraps into a basic AttackWall configuration. MonitorStacks work with a variety of size speakers, but our technicians will help make sure you are using a model compatible with your favorite reference monitor. Minimalist DAW setups work very well, avoiding desk reflections. But don’t be afraid to use your cherished vintage 24 channel analog console instead! They will all sound great.
So, what exactly are StudioTraps?
StudioTraps are cylindrical broadband passive sound absorbers with a built-in treble range diffuser covering half the cylinder. Used by renowned music producers, mixing engineers, and artists, StudioTraps are height adjustable from 4 to 6 feet tall and stand on a stable tripod foot. You can quickly modify the diffusion characteristics to create the exact soundspace you need at any time. Relatively small and lightweight, they are easy to move around the room, down the hall, or around the world. These innovative acoustic columns provide a multitude of uses in the recording studio.
Unlike some fiberglass-based studio acoustic products, StudioTraps are fully fiber-sealed in acoustically transparent micromesh. Their unique RC-time constant technology allow them to operate down the lowest vocal range. StudioTraps are not only broadband sound absorbers, but also provide the broadest band of diffusion of any TubeTrap product, scattering coherent sound between about 500 and 5000 Hz!
In a sentence, StudioTraps are the most essential acoustic tool in your kit, and will transform your process and results.
How the System Works
The total performance of each StudioTrap arrangement is greater than the sum of its parts. When used in an AttackWall, the characteristic impedance of the StudioTrap’s inner material allows it to partially absorb and partially vent low-frequency energy emanating from the loudspeakers. The “impedance walls” created by several StudioTraps arrayed together allow the operating frequency to extend well into the subwoofer range, where energy dissipation and diffusion both occur. While a free-standing StudioTrap does cannot extend this low, the AttackWall does.
When arranged in the classic QuickSoundField (QSF) layout, each StudioTrap is oriented with its diffusive face (indicated by the bright shiny button) toward the microphone and talent. The most common QSF size (8 StudioTraps in a horseshoe pattern) provides an extraordinarily dense sequence of early reflections in the “presence” tonal range. Thousands of reflections arrive and fuse at the microphone within the Haas window, strengthening the direct signal, while the absorptive outer faces of the StudioTraps reduce the reverberant room noise reaching the mic. This improved S/N ratio allows greater mobility of the performer during recording (such as a singer dancing, or a saxophonist reeling up and down) without compromising the quality of the track. Additionally, the sound inside the QSF is much less dependent on the room, allowing for seamless retakes, overdubs, and fills at any location, any time.
Applications:
- Vocal Recording
- Instrument Recording
- Live show stage isolation
- Mixing
- Mastering
- Room tuning
