Disclaimer

What the calculators assume, and where that breaks

The acoustic calculators on this site are exact arithmetic applied to a simplified model. The model assumes a rectangular room with rigid, parallel, uniform surfaces and no contents. Your room has a doorway, at least one window, a floor of some particular construction, furniture, and probably a ceiling that flexes. Every one of those shifts the result.

Specifically:

• A large window is acoustically a different surface from drywall and reflects differently across the spectrum.
• A suspended timber floor absorbs low frequency energy that a concrete slab reflects back.
• A doorway open to a hallway effectively extends one dimension at some frequencies and not at others.
• Furniture, curtains, carpet and bookshelves all contribute absorption the calculator cannot see.
• The speed of sound changes with air temperature, which shifts every mode frequency slightly.

What a calculation gives you is the region to investigate, not a measurement. Where the arithmetic and your ears disagree, your ears are describing the room and the arithmetic is describing a model of it.

The two non-acoustic calculators do not carry this caveat. Latency arithmetic is exact, and gain staging arithmetic is exact for whatever specification figures you feed it.

Hearing safety

This is the section that actually matters, and it is not boilerplate. Noise-induced hearing loss is permanent and cumulative. It does not heal, and for anyone whose work depends on hearing it is a career-limiting injury rather than an inconvenience.

Two habits protect you more than any equipment. First, mix at moderate levels and take breaks, because loudness fatigue makes you both less accurate and more exposed. Second, treat headphone level with more caution than monitor level, because headphones put the driver against your ear canal where there is no room to dissipate the energy and no natural cue that you have turned it up too far.

Published exposure guidance from occupational bodies is included on the dB reference levels chart as a reference point. It is guidance for occupational exposure and it is not medical advice. If you have tinnitus, muffled hearing after a session, or any change in your hearing, see an audiologist.

Installation and physical safety

Acoustic panels, bass traps, ceiling clouds, monitor stands and microphone stands are heavy objects, and several of them are recommended for positions above where people sit.

• The manufacturer's mounting instructions govern. Where anything here differs from them, follow the manufacturer.
• Ceiling clouds need proper fixings into structure, not into plasterboard. If you are not certain what is behind the surface, get someone who is.
• Anything involving structural modification, electrics or gas needs a qualified professional and, in many places, permits. The soundproofing guidance on this site describes principles, not a licence to alter a building.
• Check your lease before altering a rental. Panel adhesive removes paint, and that is the cheap version of the problem.
• Fire safety. Acoustic materials differ enormously in fire rating. Check the rating of anything you install and comply with local building and fire codes.

Specifications and prices

Equipment specifications here come from manufacturer datasheets at the time of compilation. Manufacturers revise specifications between production runs without announcing it. Confirm anything you are relying on against the current datasheet before ordering. Where a specification could not be confirmed, it is omitted rather than estimated, which is why some rows are missing from some spec tables.

Prices were accurate when compiled, move constantly, and vary by region. The live retailer listing is authoritative. Build totals exist so that the figures are real rather than as a promise about what you will pay.

What we do not claim

We do not claim to have tested products in person. The workflow, acoustics and signal-flow guidance here comes from someone who records and mixes professionally, which is a first-hand claim about practice. Gear recommendations are built from published specifications, established acoustic principles and verified owner reports, which is a different and weaker claim, and the two are never blurred. The full breakdown of what is and is not claimed is on the about page.

No guarantee of results

Following the guidance here will not guarantee a good recording, a good mix, or a commercial outcome. Rooms differ, ears differ, and the largest variable in any recording is the performance, which no purchase affects. Any equipment recommendation is a recommendation rather than a promise.

Reporting an error

If a figure here is wrong, tell us. Corrections that identify the page and the correct value get read, verified and applied. Send them through the contact page.

See also the terms of service, the privacy policy, and the affiliate disclosure.