need help: attic layout for recording and mixing

first off i would like to say thanks for having me. Now.. i just moved into a second floor apt. in a brick house that comes with an attic. landlord said he was looking for a band or artist to put the attic to good use. i told him dont worry, i will. lol.. anyway. i just moved in, and im ready to get some equipment up there to start recording and mixing. mianly vocals and some drums as soon as i get the the room right. i took measurements and did a sketchup, with some pics. please bear with me im new to this stuff. the roof is 9' but angled. and there is a brick column thats like 1' 4 1/2" around from floor to ceiling. the whole attic is insulated with 6 1/4" R19 fiberglass from owen corning. the floor is wood, and i couldn't tell you what that stuff on the walls is, but got a pic of it. as of now the equipment is just pc with mbox monitoring out of Alesis M1 Active mk2 Biamp Monitors. and a rode nt-2 mic. but i will be upgrading the whole setup once the room is right. im not trying to spend too much on the room, but i am willing to do what it takes to get the best acoustics. really i just need to know what i got to do in this space to get the best mix possible. its a wierd space. oh yeh. i live on a fairly quiet road. theres a house on each side of me, both brick and is about 2 to 3 driveways away from me. nothing but woods in the back of my house and basically the front too. just a little one story house in front and to the right. i was in the attic listening and its quiet, some birds and a few cars in the day. at night its silent. what should i put over the insulation? whats should i go midfield monitors? vocal booth? im ready to go. please help!!

I think everyone saw this already: http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... ght=#79246 Moving the link around isn't going to get the attention that you are wanting. I think you need to ask better questions? "im not trying to spend too much on the room, but i am willing to do what it takes to get the best acoustics. " /quote This is already in contradiction. Rather then coming with an open hand maybe an open mind would be more suited to this upstairs room you have. What your room can or cannot achieve is as much a part of recording as the actual recording process is. One of the >main< concerns I would have, if I was your landlord, would be the offering of this area to anyone with the fire hazard that exists from the kraft faced paper on the insulation. Other then that, a hard floor surface, soft walls with reflective paper, lets rock!!!

why i knew someone was gonna reply with some stuff like that. ok..im sorry, senior member! im new to this and didnt know how to delete my other post. now..about the room. i was planning on covering the insulation with something. dont know yet. keep the hard wood floors. i know that. what about the brick column in the middle? how would i set up my equipment for best results? i did the sketchup, gave the layout and all. i dont get that open hand /open mind comment. im new to the lingo around here. but the help would be greatly appreciated..

smoxbuild wrote:

ok..im sorry, senior member!

Anyone with a post count over 30 is a senior member...you could be too!

no time for that.. but if you not gonna help with my layout.. please dont reply. thank you. what should i put over the fiberglass? where should i place my monitors to get the least reflexions? what treatment should i use?

I have found that the best way to get help is to start by doing some of the planning yourself, When i started i didn't understand the room placements, ratios etc (Proof of this is in my early drawings!) But i did try to layout the space as i saw it then everyone else came onboard with suggestions and i slowly got to grips with the basics. No one likes being told this but you really have to take time and read as much of the forum as you can, if you can draw up a plan of how you see the space working it shows you are thinking about your build, The forum is about learning and shared experience but you have to be seen to be putting in the effort first. It can be daunting faced with the huge amount of information on the forum but if you start with the stickies in each section you will soon start to pick up the information you need. if you can i would also suggest buying Rod's book as it was invaluable to me when i was building. Cheers Alan

ok... sounds fair. but i did the reading, and didnt really see no situation like this attic. L-shaped room with a A-shaped roof and alot of angles with a brick column in the middle. if it was a regular room i would of been good. and thats why i came to this forum. for wisdom not Attidude! and even tho i did the reading, does that mean i cant ask questions? like when i ask whats the best material to put over the insulation. why cant i just get an answer to that on the acoustic section of a studio design forum? trial and error is the way to go, right? im sure not too many people had my situation, so i came to the pros. anybody else ready to take a crack at it?

I used the search facility and typed in "Attic", copied the url here, I didn't read them but some of them might be helpful to you, http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=10374&highlight=attic http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=10412&highlight=attic http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=10170&highlight=attic [url] http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... ight=attic[/url] http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=10089&highlight=attic http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9230&highlight=attic http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9421&highlight=attic http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9324&highlight=attic [url] http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... ight=attic[/url] [url] http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... ight=attic[/url] [url] http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... ight=attic[/url] http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=94&highlight=attic [url] http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... ight=attic[/url] http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=162&highlight=attic

thanks... i just read all of them. pretty much got some good ideas of what to do. i definitely appreciate it. but i wonder why i cant get no drawings from john or anybody else. i see the help they gave them with designs. thats why i got on here. i thought if i drew up the plans someone would take the layout and run with it. i put this in the other forum too. anyway. so should i get rid of the brick column or chimney out of the way and set up the long way? what effect would the brick thing have in the middle like that? where should i put my mixing desk and speakers?

smoxbuild wrote:

i dont get that open hand /open mind comment. im new to the lingo around here. but the help would be greatly appreciated..

You have your hand out wanting someone to fill it. Your mind should be open consuming the information this powerful site has to offer. It isn't lingo from around here, it is my way of saying that you will get out of this what you put into it. Thank you.

medboyle wrote:

I used the search facility and typed in "Attic", copied the url here, I didn't read them but some of them might be helpful to you,

That is some good hunting medboyle! I think I am going to spend this evening reading those, some of them for the second time, while t.d Fay waters the lawn.

xspace..how about u xout? im on this for help. i did the reading, did the drawings and all. i dont care if you read the post and just go past it.. so what if you not gonna put nothing in my hand,. then just look away. you wasting my time and urs. atleast medboyl gave me links to read. all you doing is hatin. i typed in 'attic' for the search and still didnt get all the results he got. i did everything. maybe i gotta pay that money to get john on the phone personally. yall aint no help.

Smox, You can't expect ppl to help you if you don't do some homework yeself. I know there's A LOT of info here to consume, and that can be frustrating. But you'll get in the know by reading the good stuff again and again. I've spend years on learning too. X is trying to point you in the right direction... just like I do. So, come on and get your mind cracking! Let's get that studio build! cheers.

wow.. now im not doing my homework..lol. unbelievable. anyway in the studiodem2 pic. ill have the speakers pumping from that A-shaped area on the left of the brick column. thats the only area where i can get the right symmetry for my speakers. can i go bigger on the speakers? place some gobos in front of the column to section off that part of the room.or just wrap it in some absorbant blankets. cover up all the insulation with drywall then place absrbtion in all the reflextion spots with bass traps in all corners. maybe even hang some canvas from the ceiling. is that good? thers is also windows in all the a-shaped walls. ill just cover them up with something.

Perhaps the lack of help stems from the fact that that attic looks pretty scary! That brick chimney scares the hell out me! No way you'll catch me sitting under that with the bass pounding! Seriously though - how much $ and time are you willing to spend? Theres a ton of work to be done there if you want decent isolation (sound proofing) from and to the outside world. My studio build is 60% done at the two year and $5k mark, and I started with a blank slate in a basement. You have many more obstacles to deal with in room like that attic. If I were you, I would focus on improving the acoustics by building a variety of absorbers. This will give you the most bang for the buck. Check out Ethan Winer's site at http://www.realtraps.com/videos.htm for some good info on absorbers. You may want to put your speakers at the far end (away from the stairs) of the A frame room. Wall off the L shaped area and make it a vocal booth. Take a stab at a floor plan layout, and I'm sure that will generate some feedback. Patience is your friend.....

thank you.. and ur right, it is kinda scary! lol.. nah but seriously, you think its gonna fall? hope not.. that lay out you described was my first thought. but that horrifying chimney is the reason why i thought it wouldnt work. but thats the way i think it should go. what should i do with that chimney? to tell the truth, i think the isolation is pretty good. everything is insulated. and when i played some music i went outside to see if i can hear any noise, i heard nothing but crickets. but cant hear the crickits when im inside, windows closed. silence. and traffic is minimum im only renting, so im not trying to do alot of construction, but i will need a booth. im gonna check to see if i can get that chimney out of there. and im gonna get on that floor plan too. thanks alot!

That chimney was there long before you and will be there after you are gone.

If you treat the chimney with high frequency absorbers, it should minimize the early reflections back to your mix position. As long as the chimney is not physically in your way, I think you can deal with it acoustically.