New Home Studio

Hi, My name is Rob and I am writing from Houston, TX. My goal is to equip a single room studio for light tracking and mixing. Tracking can be at various volumes and mixing is usually about 85-90dbs. I work in the box with a couple of single pres and monitor with Yamaha HS80M's. I generally use VSTI drums and piano/keys and track bass through di and guitar and vocals mic'd. The room is upstairs in a house currently being built. It is due to be finished in March. The level of contruction at this time is that the frame is up, it will be sided and roofed by next week. The upstiars floor and walls are in place. The room basically is an 11wx16dx8h area with one corner cut off. There are 3 doors: the bathroom door, the closet door and the entry. The floor contruction is spaced vertical 2x8's with a particle board deck. At this time, it is scheduled to be covered in berber carpet. When finances permit, later, the intention is to replace the carpet with wood. The walls and ceilings are spaced 2x6 with basic construction insulation and covered with gypson board, or sheet rock. There is an attached closet which is 5x14. I thought it would be a great amp room but maybe someone will have a suggestion on how it could be better utilized. I had hoped to put my desk facing the middle window. I don't know if it makes sense to do so but it sure would be nice if able to make it work. I am writing and attaching a sketchup file in hopes of getting some understanding of what can be done with my room. I am budgeting at about $500 usd. Is bass trapping the only possibility? Is light construction a better solution? Any help is appreciated.

The best way to deal with these things is pre-construction. That means before it is ever built. Your build area is almost complete and sound was never a consideration in this effort. It's upstairs with three doors and windows. This is a lot to ask from even the most strident of designers to develop at this stage with a budget of 500 dollars:) You and 500 dollars are officially in the "acoustic treatment" part of this build. That is about the best you can do. Tame the room, as much as it may be, and hope for the best! Good luck and welcome! Brien

I appreciate the reply and I completely understand. I am not expecting my room to be the next Abbey Road. I assumed it would be more of a treatment issue than outright construction but being a DIY project, I wondered if traps were the only answer or if a resonator in a spot or two would be better or even still, if the best plan was to create an interior wall, in the room, I am prepared even for that. I am not concerned with keeping sound in but simply looking to improve monitoring. Many thanks. Rob

If I would have thought you were going for Abbey Road I would have given you a longer version of why this situation wouldn't work, beginning with geography :) But, that was my bad, I guess I didn't read out of it what you typed into it. Someone more qualified in room acoustics may come along soon. I always suggest searching the forums and reading for weeks on the topic of interest. But that's just me, Brien

Hi Rob, and welcome! Glad to see that you read the stickies and did the diligence! It's a nice change!!! Getting to your room: You don't say if you are looking for isolation, or for acoustic treatment. That is two totally different and independent things. Acoustic treatment does not stop sound. Acoustic isolation does not treat the room. In fact, good isolation usually makes the room acoustics worse, not better! You say:

Tracking can be at various volumes and mixing is usually about 85-90dbs.

But you also say:

The floor contruction is spaced vertical 2x8's with a particle board deck. At this time, it is scheduled to be covered in berber carpet.

Doing the math, that will give you maybe STC 20 to 25 or so (you don't say how thick the deck is). Meaning you'll have levels around 70 dB getting through to the room underneath. (And even more while tracking!). That is loud. Are you sure that is what you want?

Thanks for the reply. i greatly appreciate it. :D Yes, isolation is not my goal. I realize the limitations in that. The good thing is that my room is above the breakfast nook so at most times, I will be ok. I list 85-90 as a typical max for mixing and being that I am doing my own production, that includes editing and VSTI programing. I am an older guy and don't enjoy blasting music for long periods. I am lower volume editor and mixer but I do come up to volume to checks. With my Yams, they can be tiring listening loud for long periods. I figured mention the loudest would be the best thing. The deck is half inch particle board covered with pad and carpet. Below that, there is an 8in gap and the first flow ceiling. I realize that isolation is out the window due to the construction of the house. My wife is a musician and will be helping so I have lots of grace. My main goal is creating a fairly accurate area to mix in. My first room was a cube and disastrous. At that time, all I knew to try was Auralex, of which I have a decent amount. It was basically pointless. My current room is an office set up and although I didn't spend the money on traps, (got advice on that previously but timing for funds and short term vision precluded that) I know that the foam helped a bit but not much. The good thing is that I got a bit lucky with my position and sit in a slight null. Things are not overpowering on the bottom and with some referencing, I am doing "ok". :) My new house is my chance to take a further step. I know it won't be a high end scenario but I know it can be better than what I have had and even if I am limited on what I can do up front, it would be nice to have a longterm plan, ie: start with treatment or mild construction and later, make a more serious improvement. As mentioned by the previous helper/poster, I realize that starting from scratch is ideal, but in my scenario, the builder limits my abilities for front end changes, until I close. again, humble thanks for the input. Rob

Aloha and welcome to the forum Rob,

My main goal is creating a fairly accurate area to mix in.

For starters, here are a few bits of info gathered from the forum to consider: Setting up the Mix Position • It is better to start with a longer front to back dimension than the side to side dimension because you don't want rear reflections to interfere • Left/right room symmetry (at least within a foot or two of ear height) is important for good stereo imaging. • Angled side slot absorbers/absorption panels – left/right of mix position • Side walls angled out 6-12 degrees from front of room to rear • bass traps in corners (rear wall corners, rear wall/ceiling, front wall corners - if no soffits) • cloud (absorption panel/s) over mix position • Mix position roughly 38% of total room length from the front wall to start with • avoid sitting in peaks/nulls (both front to rear AND floor to ceiling) • Monitors should NOT sit on the console but behind, placed on heavy decoupled stands - console placement causes early reflection problems in most cases, unless the console is slanted down in front a LOT. • Monitor height – tweeters aimed at ear level (avoid mid point of floor to ceiling measurement – either sit higher or lower if necessary) • Equilateral triangle formed by left, right & mix position • Distance to wall behind speakers will change response drastically - there is a wall bounce calculator on the Acoustics forum (needs Excel) • Moving either speakers or your head by as little as an inch or two can sometimes make drastic changes in response, due to modal peaks and dips. If you will be using soffits for your monitors: • Soffits angled 30 degrees each (60 degrees total) in from a flat wall result in speaker baffles being perpendicular to the two legs of equilateral triangle comprised of two speaker centers and a point about 10" behind your head • Equilateral triangle formed by left, right & mix position • The baffle extension (the face of the soffit) should be as large as you can make it, up to about 45" in each direction from the woofer in a system with a LF cutoff of around 45 Hz - There's a formula based on LF cutoff that ensures full 2 pi response for the woofer if the baffle is at least the size obtained in the formula's solution I'll try to post some plans/illustrations when I locate them. Hope this helps, Aloha 8)

kendale wrote:

• Mix position roughly 38% of total room length from the front wall to start with • avoid sitting in peaks/nulls (both front to rear AND floor to ceiling)

Underlining by me. Where did you get this? Andre

xSpace wrote:

If I would have thought you were going for Abbey Road I would have given you a longer version of why this situation wouldn't work, beginning with geography :) But, that was my bad, I guess I didn't read out of it what you typed into it.

sorry if I seemed slighted. It was tongue in cheek. No ill intended. :D :D

Aloha Andre, Regarding the underlined portion, it's was a while ago, but I believe I got that bit of info from (Steve) Knightfly. I'll see if I can track down its source. Aloha 8)

Heartfelt wrote:

sorry if I seemed slighted. It was tongue in cheek. No ill intended. :D :D

I know as well as anyone, better than some, how one thing can be typed and someone else reads it like something else entirely:) Other than the structural/acoustical confusion, you and me are right on the same page my friend ;) Rock on! Brien