Help with acoustics of new home studio

I am in the process of building several traps, slot resonators, etc. for my new home studio...and I am seeking HELP! I would like to know what everyone here recommends in the way of treating the room. I have tools and will build. In fact I just ordered some rock wool insulation for this purpose. I will be recording drums in the "live room" area, as well as guitars, etc. I have attached a PDF of the floor plan, sorry no CAD skills here, for reference. All help is greatly appreciated in advance.

Sorry, after reading a few more posts I realized I should tell everyone what the room is made of now. Walls and ceiling are sheetrock. Floor is carpet. I have a few boxes of wood flooring I could use under the drums or where ever to get some reflexions or what not if needed. The interior walls are double insulated, just to help with the sound transfer to other rooms in the house. The floor, since it is an upstairs studio, is also insulated. Regluar fiberglass bat insulation was used. R-13 doubled. I wish I could have staggered the walls and doubled up on sheetrock, but it is a new house we just built and budget would not allow at that time. Thanks,

start with broadband treatments. use the corners for bass trapping, add slats on angles to improve room reflections and to add low-mid-mid range absorption, and use porous absorbers on first reflection points such as the side walls and ceilings. use checkerboard patterns of smaller absorbers in the live room to break up slap echoes and keep things alive.

Hey thanks for the quick reply. I was leaning toward the slot resonators. I just finished reading Rod Gervais' book and I think every post on here. LOL I am wanting a "vibe" in my home studio as well, and was thinking of using some old cedar and pine boards off a privacy fence. Does it matter what wood you use? ..or is that a dumb thing to even ask? Tell me I can take it. Also, I noticed in one of the studios built by John (I think) a post on here ( see the second pic from top at this link - it is setting behind a conga- http://www.johnlsayers.com/Studio/Pages/Oasis.htm) they have what looks like slot resonators built into a pyramid shape. Could I do that and make the insulation flat across the back, but the slots and cloth come out to a peak in the middle? It would be 24" in the back with the front (left and right sides) each coming out to a peak. Are these type slots good? do they add a bit of diffusion into the equation? Sorry - I'll have this down to an art and owe you all big time one day soon. Side note - this is an awesome site, awesome help, awesome!

in that case, yes, that design of slats adds some angles, absorption, and look nice to boot! the old wood can look nice you could build some porous absorption and add the old wood slats in front with a bunch of space to act on higher frequencies and keep some life in the room as well. http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/7623/pearlsnaprenderlf3.th.jpg http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/7696/pearlsnapex9.th.jpg

Ok, so I just got back from the local lumber yard, and the wife is off to get the cloth. I will post some pics of the before, build process, and after. Couple other questions - Should the corner traps be slots, or just cloth front? I was also going to build a gobo for in front of the drums (like the one on this site) 8" deep, 6' long x 4' tall - slats on one side - space - then cloth on the other side. Is this worth doing? Side note - my wife and I were completely floored when we saw the 3D renders of what you are recommending we do. Like two little kids. LOL Thanks for all the help on this.

you can probably just do cloth on the corner traps. if you find it too dead add widely spaced slats later. i would go with a smaller gobos say 3' high and 5' wide this way people can see each other and the lower portion of the kit has some isolation. build a drum riser with 3x 1" MDF on top of 2" 3PCF rigid insulation underneath. add clouds on the ceiling. if you need more complete drum isolation consider building a proper booth. http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/9493/drumriser2bp4.th.jpg http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/1316/drumriser1hm6.th.jpg

Funny, I was just admiring those "pyramid" slats not two hours ago, wondering if that might just be the ideal asthetic choice for my live room. On that note, and I hope this doesn't sound overly stupid (although I wouldn't be surprised, knowing myself a bit), are there rules about the thickness of wood, and/or the thickness of the slats absorber itself? The post office hates me (or is it the other way around?) and hasn't delivered Rod's book yet... Goddamn it... Must be busy cleaning their guns.

the width and depth of the slats/slots, the depth of the air cavity, the position of cloth and inside insulation relative to the slats, sealing, etc all play a role in defining the frequency range and efficiency. check out the slat resonator calculator spreadsheet in the stickies to see all the variables at play. for more try Chris Whealy's Porous Absorber Calculator spreadsheet.

Will do... Thank you so much. And forgive my ignorance. Cheers, Eyvi

I built one 2'x4'x6" deep (hang on wall) , and a 4'x6'x8"deep(gobo) yesterday. I am going to build a couple more 2'x4'x6" today. My next build will be a few of the 'pyramid' shaped ones. Working out the cuts/angles on those still. LOL I will try and post pics today as well. I have KRK Rokit 6se powered monitors , and was thinking of doing the soffits in the corner of the control room (each side of the window). Any objections to that? Thought I would do cloth at the bottom, and plywood or slat top on them. Thanks for all the great help here so far. I can't wait to get the rooms completed and then get to recording. I'll have to post some sound samples on here once completed.

gullfo wrote:

... build a drum riser with 3x 1" MDF on top of 2" 3PCF rigid insulation underneath. add clouds on the ceiling. if you need more complete drum isolation consider building a proper booth.

This riser, all the layers float on top of the rigid insulation and are not attached to the frame in any way, is that correct? You really do quality work Glenn.

Ok, so a drum riser....I see. I think I will wait a bit for that - treat the walls first. My home studio is upstairs...and it is hard to build it up there...or carry it up there. Soooo... Here are a few pics of what I have done so far...not much and my craftsmanship is a little rusty. The huge slot res. behind the drums was a gobo, but I threw it on the wall. It is 8" deep with 2" of insulation right up against the slats/cloth. I used what lumber I had at the house, and the little I picked up this weekend. Now I have a better idea of what I need. Plus with all the help here....I am sure I can get there. If I am totally screwing things up....please feel free to tell me. Pics!

nice work! you could soffit mount them but maybe start off with putting the monitors on stands in front of your mix desk and see how then sound. the soffits need to have a properly sized baffle to ensure the response from the monitor is correct. if you check up on John's designs, you'll see that behind the lower absorption is a solid panel which extends the baffle down while reducing reflections from the desk. as a rule of thumb, have the baffles at least as wide as 3x the circumference of the low frequency driver. so at a minimum if you have an 6" driver you'd want about 28-30" wide soffit (bearing in mind the angles and adjoining walls work to extend the baffle sideways as well). the drum riser "frame" does attach on the edge, and properly loaded should still clear the floor by 1/2"-3/4" so the entire thing frame and all floats on the rigid insulation.

We rehearsed the other night in the 'live room' - before we had a horable time with feedback on the mics. I know I am know where near finished, but we did not have any problem with feedback. Maybe it was just us...but we were all happy. LOL I found a local place here in Lubbock, TX that carries the mineral wool insulation....thank God! I was about to order it offline....again...but this time it was going to run $205.00 for shipping alone! OUCH! So not only are they saving me money on shipping, by driving to the east side of town, they are about $1.34 cheaper per sheet. I am happy. I've been looking over the bass traps on the site. Do they need to be sealed structures? Can I just build a frame angled in the corner with insulation and cloth? I read that for lows it needs plywood front. ....little help on this and I will get back to work this weekend. Loving this completely!!!

you can just cut it into triangles and stack (ala super chunk) and then cover the face with flame retardant treated cloth, or build a frame straddling the corner and put in the insulation and cover with cloth as above.

I had time this weekend to start on a couple more of the slot resonators. I took pics as I was building. They are not completed, but shows how I am doing it...if anyone wants to know. Enjoy & thanks for all the help thus far. Framed out and getting ready for some stain. Showing the 45 mitar joint....the wood is rough grade (which is fine for the look I am going for, but finding straight ones is a chore. Spacing for front slats. A little stain applied. Slats on, stain finished, waiting for cloth and insulation...

Here are a few more: I have a 4 year olds birthday party this weekend, but hope to build some more soon. Thanks to all!

This is my first time to try and use Sketchup, so forgive me. I thought of building this to go on the wall opposite of the drums...wanted to know what everyone thought of it. Thanks,

looks cool! any changes in the sound of the room so far?

So far I have not tried any 'scientific' tests, but to the ears that have been in the room before - it seems to be a general consensus of "more clarity", "less muddy", "cool!". LOL I think once I get the bass traps in the corner, the rest of the slot res' built, and some treatments on the ceiling (if needed) it will sound great. I am going to finish this room, then move onto the control room. I have been working with sketchup to help determine what it will take to do the soffit mounts of my monitors. Will some one take a look at this and see if they can assist me a little..... Thanks,

Does my speakers (KRK 6) need to be in the perfect center of the soffit? To get a 60 degree angle mine are over to the side just a bit off center. I am actually in bed with what I thought was a cold...and has turned out to be pneumonia. So sketchup is all the building I can do right now. :cry:

Ok, been out a while...and had time to read, learn, bug others, and play with Sketchup. I think I have a plan. Submitting pictures for final approval. Will be glad to email .skp file if anyone wants it (4MB). Here are the pics of the control room and vocal booth: Thanks to all for the help so far!

nice side absorbers :wink: i'd plan on putting a porous absorber on the door that will reflect right at the mix desk.

Yeah, ya know I thought those were pretty nice myself. LOL Incase anyone is in the dark....they are Gullfo's design (side absorbers). I will treat the door, and there will be a few clouds built as well. I'll update soon. Big thanks to Kendale (Hawaii man) and Gullfo....and this site. It sure is nice to find this kind of help.