… and why it’s the best investment for your musical journey ahead.
Acoustic Panels. Ask those who haven’t used them, and they’d say they aren’t really necessary. Ask those who have, and they’ll tell you they wished they began using them sooner. And the opinion of the majority is shifting to the latter. The value of good acoustics is dawning on more and more musicians and producers. And in an industry, that’s faced its toughest crises yet during this pandemic, many still don’t realise how indispensable treating your room actually has become. And that’s something we would like to dive in to with you, right now.
Its 2021. If you are a musician yearning to make a career in the industry, you know what the challenges were, and how hard it was even before the pandemic. And since the pandemic began in India, with gigs cancelled, venues shut down, and projects put on hold indefinitely, the primary sources of revenues for professionals in every aspect of the industry, have effectively ceased. These dire circumstances called for radical solutions, and many an innovative persevering artist realised that though the pandemic had hit, the demand for entertainment did not cease, but only went up. After all, with lockdowns everywhere and people having to stay home for their well-being, most folks were starved for entertainment. And with major production houses and studios being shut due to safety guidelines, the gradual but certain shift to relying on capable Home Studios, began. And these opened up huge opportunities to many a session musician, producer and mix-mastering engineer that had the means to deliver high quality work from his home studio. And now, especially since more waves of Covid-19 are anticipated, the smart musician or podcaster will soon realise the benefits of setting up a good studio in the comfort of their home. And that is where good acoustics can make all the difference!
But why acoustics though? Is it as crucial as other gear essential to a studio?
Because when you are on a budget, good acoustics is the keystone for getting superb results WITHOUT HAVING TO KEEP INVESTING IN MORE AND MORE GEAR. And you’d be surprised how little you need to get incredible sounding recordings, masters, podcasts, etc. We’ve dedicated a blog to this too (read here), but to sum it up, if you’re looking for a home studio that delivers superb results on a budget, these are the essentials you need.
A computer the specs of which is suitable for audio production,
A sound card (also known as an audio interface),
DAW (Digital Audio Workstation, the software you’d use to record and edit your music) and Plugins (Softwares like EQ, compressors, reverb, delay, etc, of which many stock options come with the DAW, which are quite good these days, and more non-stock that you can get additionally)
Microphone,
Headphones,
5-inch Studio Monitors (nothing smaller in size, ideally. Monitors = Studio quality Speakers that you use for playback)
Connecting cables, and
ACOUSTIC TREATMENT (the minimum essential of that being – Acoustic Panels)
And here’s why acoustics is so important in that list. Remove it, and you’ll find that your room’s sound and the quality of your work degrades, MORE THAN ANY OTHER ELEMENT that you could remove or change from the list. And additionally, sound-cards and studio monitors all have different “sounds” (they never really sound the same because of the different components that go into manufacturing them) and have a LEARNING-CURVE in getting used to them to have your projects sounding the way you want. BUT NOT ACOUSTICS, because the improvement in your work flow and results, IS IMMEDIATE, right from the first project you work on after getting them.
Yup. That’s how crucial good acoustics is in the chain of events, across the entire process of recording, arranging, mixing and mastering a song. Because if you RECORD in an untreated room, you are getting poor quality recordings which are not going to inspire you, and are only going to be harder to edit during the mix stage. And if you can’t hear your recorded tracks accurately nor do they inspire you, you’re not going to be creatively engaged or immersed enough to ARRANGE music efficiently. And if you can’t hear your editing decisions accurately, because of how an untreated room “colours” the sound (undesirably affects the tonal perception of sound, like increased boomy bass, thin mids, masking and clashing of frequencies, and loss of clarity), then your MIXING and MASTERING decisions cannot be reliable, and your final results will not translate pleasantly on other speakers and headphones (for a mix to “translate well” means that a song that you mixed will sound as good on other speakers and headphones, more or less just as good as it was sounding in your studio). And the easiest way to get your mixes to translate well, and your recordings to sound good, is by investing in acoustics.
And here is the important factor that most people take lightly: The MORE YOU INVEST IN GOOD ACOUSTICS (and the operating word here is GOOD), THE BETTER THE QUALITY OF YOUR RESULTS OVERALL, especially in the LOW FREQUENCIES, and STEREO WIDTH. And we’re not saying that you should eat into a good chunk of your Studio’s budget and compromise on the other elements, not at all. We’re saying that whatever you can invest, GET THE BEST QUALITY OF ACOUSTICS FOR THAT PRICE, and don’t buy cheaper alternatives. Because all good brands, and us include with the new FUTURE SERIES, have packages for all budgets. And all our packages in particular offer unprecedented, industry-leading performance to price ratios (which means whatever your budget is, you’re getting superb performance for excellent value). And if you don’t have enough of a budget at the moment for good acoustics, that’s okay! Because its better to wait, save for the good stuff and buy it once, rather than opt for cheaper alternates thinking you can upgrade later and have your work suffer for it.
You might as the question now? If Acoustics is so important to a studio, why hasn’t it been given priority as an essential product?Because prior to the last decade, the common knowledge about acoustic treatment that had been handed down since the late 50s, was that all you could do with a small home studio was put some acoustic panels in the room. And since that was more or less just a one-time investment, pro audio dealers realised that it isn’t ideal to sell a product that could only be sold once, especially when many folks were trying to DIY it themselves. So, the importance of Acoustics was understated, BECAUSE THERE WAS NO SCOPE FOR A REPEAT CUSTOMER. But in the recent years there have been huge advances in the science of Acoustics, and we at E Flat have brought cutting edge technologies to the country. Like our PATENTED Bass Management System, an incredible BASS TRAPPING system for managing low frequencies and creating incredibly tight acoustic response, and our entire Portable High Fidelity Studio Setup, that essentially creates World-Class Acoustics in any room that you employ it in, and you can take it with you if you have move houses!
Effectively, we have an entire range of high-performance products which comprise our offerings to a customer. So, our mission statement has always been to provide such good entry level packages like the Future Series Acoustic Panels, so much that our customers choose us again when they want to upgrade to the Pro setups, or when they need solutions for yet another room.
So, the main question remains? How does all this feature in a relevant way to the Future Series Acoustic Panels from E Flat?
Because the Future Series Acoustic Panels is the pinnacle of our acoustic design in terms of achieving maximized performance at the lowest price to the customer. A price that’s even beating out competitors who offer products that our Future Series can easily outperform. And we’ve incorporated the SAME TECHNOLOGY of the Premium Series in the Future Series as well, and so have come close to matching its incredible performance. The visual difference is easy to spot: the Premium Series panels have the wooden frame visible, i.e., its on the outside of the acoustic fabric (picture below) , and in the Future Series Acoustic Panels, the acoustic fabric is on the outside, covering the frame . And with a price difference of sometimes HALF THE PRICE compared to the Premium Series, the Future Series is a no-brainer for those who find the gorgeous Premium Series Acoustic Panels (which are quite honestly works of art) out of reach.
To sum up, we have chosen to reveal the most important factor about the Future Series here at the end of this blog. We at E Flat have recognized the reality looming ahead of all of us. The pandemic has hit musicians hard, and the longer it continues, the harder it will get. Yet, this is the best time to produce music and release content with the BOOM IN OPPORTUNITIES for INDIE MUSICIANS. Despite rising costs of goods, we at E Flat have taken the executive decision to make the entire Future Series a BRANDING INITIATIVE, and have humbled our prices to benefit you the artists. So, we truly hope you take the opportunity to experience the career-defining move of upgrading your studio with any pack from our Future Series. Because we are certain of two things, 1. that you won’t believe the improvements in what you’re hearing from the very first time you listen to music with our acoustic panels, and 2, that you won’t ever want to listen to music/work without them.
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