Newbie: One room studio

Hi Guys, I stumbled across this site via the Tape-Op message board and boy am I ever so grateful! Thanks John for creating this board and I've been looking around and am amazed at what you and the other here do! I know this may sound like an odd question but does anyone have a one room studio? I've seen alot of big studios with separate tracking and control rooms but I'm wanting due to budget to set up a small home studio in a spare room. It would just be a room to mix in and do vocal and guitar takes, I'd do drums in a bigger studio and bring home the sessions, well that is the idea anyway. What is the smallest usable size for such an endeavor? Is this possible and practical? Does anyone have advice or a similar set-up? I'd be most grateful for any input. Kind regards Matt

Hi Matt -a single control room/studio is OK. You just need to have headphones when you record. Treat it as a control room with the correct geometry for monitoring speakers and the same treatment will work for vocals and guitar. cheers John

John, Thanks for your response. I guess your answer makes logical sense, I'll keep my eyes open on the board to see what others are doing in the way of control room setup and design. Ideally one day I'd love to have a bigger studio but right now space and money are the limitations. Do you think it is advisable to try and at least combine a vocal/guitar booth with a control room for some kind of separation rather than just a control room where I’d have to use headphones, in which case would rectangular room be best for this, rectangular in the dimensions not in layout as I’m aware you don’t want the walls to be equal to stop slapback/reverberations off of walls (my understanding, not sure if I’m coming across technically correct). Thanks for taking the time to respond. Matt

Matt, have you seen this layout yet? Should answer a few questions. http://www.johnlsayers.com/HR/index1.htm Sound isolation is one of the biggest problems with 1-room studios - if you're using a computer for recording, it's even worse. One of our members posted his solution to noisy computers in 1-room setups - in fact, his whole setup would probably be of interest to you - the computer box part is on update2 - http://www.johnlsayers.com/Studio/Mainp ... toppop.htm Hope that helped... Steve

Hi Steve, Thanks for your posts. I spent a lot more time reading through post today and actually came across Laptop’s one room studio and took a look at how is way laid out and his PC box, a friend of mine had a similar design which he affectionately called ‘Mr Silent’! Thanks for the links on the wall units, was wondering about those when I saw Laptop’s studio (sorry about me using Laptop, not sure what his real name is). Thank you so much for taking the time to respond this board and site rock and I’ve learnt and am learning a lot, I even mailed the link to a friend who is the head of sound at a local college and told him it is a must read esp. for his students. Matt

Steve, Are bulding those treatment panels the same as buying ready made foam stuff from a company like Auralex/Primaacoustics? Are they one in the same that they are designed for room treatment. Sorry if it sounds like a daft question. Thanks again. Matt

on laptoppop, did he basically build some of these kinds of things http://www.johnlsayers.com/HR/index1.htm and then just kind of lean/attach them to the walls and corners?

on laptoppop, did he basically build some of these kinds of things

yes basically he did. Matta -Auralex works well for high frequency absorption, they look good and are easy to install and can be spray painted to any colour scheme. Unfortunately you also need to absorb the lows and low mids as well else you'll end up with a room that sounds boxey. Ethan's new absorbers work right across the whole range so it's all covered in one unit. The slots Laptoppop used are designed to work on the low mids, which when combined with high frequency absorption give broadband absorption. His low end absorption is in the ceiling. I hope this helps. cheers john

Hi John, Sorry for the late post. Thanks for clearing up the issue on Auralex for me. So I guess by building these panles you can treat your who room over all the frequencies. the isulation it mention is that like what we in South Africa call rock wool? The pink looking stuff you out in the roof to help with insulation? Thanks Matt

Hey Matt - get a spellchecker :):) cheers john

Hi Folks… I’m back! My dream has been realised with the acquisition on a 2 roomed apartment, yes not the best from my neighbours point of view but they seem to be understanding. The place was built in the 60’s out of cast concrete slab just so you know as I’m sure that might effect something with regards to treating the room. The floor is solid oak parquet and the rooms dimensions are 3.06 meters wide and 3.67 deep and +- 3 meters high, not a very big room at all I know but what I have to work with. There are also 2 built in cupboards in the room on the right hand side that are 60cm deep making the room not a complete rectangular shape. What I really needing help with is how I can go about treating the room and tune it up for better mixing and monitor placement i.e As far as I’m aware I should place my monitors on the far end of the room i.e. the opposite end to the door and built in cupboards. Due to space restrictions I need to mount the speakers onto the wall on brackets, the speakers are placed on Auralex Mopads… though I’m not sure they make that much difference. I know they should not be too close to the wall because it accentuates the bass frequencies and have them about 15 cm away. But where should I position them along the wall? I just read and article that said they need to be systemically to the room other wise you will get combing, which does make sense, but in a 3.08 meter room how far in on either side should they come? I know that foam panels don’t cut it so I’ll need to build some of the wall traps. Any suggestions on how many of those I need and where should I place them? Thanks in advance for your time and I really appreciate this community and your assistance. Cheers Matt P.S ‘John… I used a spell checker this time!’

Talk about revisiting an old thread.... Over the last year I have reworked it quite a bit from the original drawing I posted. Firstly I lost the couch, moved my desk almost 0.5 meters away from the wall, the behind the monitors/desk is is now covered with an acoustic foam wall, along with 2 large foam corner traps (they came with the kit, I know it is not as good as a proper absorber/resonator) and the 2 side walls are covered with small panels of foam. The kit is made locally here in South Africa, the closest thing to it I can find internationally is the Primacoustic London 14 kit: Where they have the rear scatter blocks in the pics, I have those on the roof above my monitoring position. The other thing I have done is where the 80cm high built in cupboard I have built a stackable book self to the roof height, 2.8 meters and filled it with books of various widths, depths and heights, which I believe acts as a diffuser of sorts. I’m stuck with what sounds a little ‘boxy’, the foam has tamed the high end from banging around (this room is solid concrete), but the low end still seems undefined and the low mids. Due to the room being almost square I am suffering from resonating standing waves, I’m not there is much that can be done in such a small room to deal with/ correct it. Any suggestions? I’m on a tight budget (under $200), but if there are practical, cost effective solutions I could try I would be most grateful. I know it will never be the greatest room due to the size, but it is all I have for now. Right now I’m feeling a little disheartened and just wondering if anyone is willing to share some suggestions. Here is a photo of the room, it might make add some light to my attached drawing Thanks in advance. Matt