Hi folks!
My first one here so I hope it's alright for me to ask this kind of question.
Some background:
I'm renting a couple of rooms in a basement for storage and thought I'd choose one of them for some basic acoustic treatment and to put my studio gear in.
There are sturdy concrete walls all around, the one between room two and three is slightly thinner (17cm) than the rest.
Here's a 2D sketch of the place:
And a simple "from the left"-panorama of the place here if you like.
I'll be using the studio room mostly for writing, recording synthesizers, listen and mix in the box. A creative place for me to have fun in while making and mixing music I hope. :)
My thoughts:
Even though room 3 is smaller I'm thinking of using that one since it's more symmetric, will hopefully will be easier to treat and the difference in volume is not that big (or is it?).
But I don't know if the bigger volume in room 2 with the joining room 1 is better?
Room 2 is 43,6 m3 or 1539 f3
Room 3 is 40,0 m3 or 1411 f3
(Room one is not really measured correctly since there is a concrete stair with a very high ceiling after the turn. But if we're not counting the stair it's 26,5 m3 or 937 f3)
And so I wonder:
Which room would be better in this case do you think?
I'd really appreciate some input from you guys!
kind regards,
Christian Borg
I'm no expert on layouts, Christian, but if it were me, I think I'd go with room three. However, that depends on what the purpose of the room is: If it is going to a control room, then symmetry is very important so I'd go for #3. If it's going to be a live room, then volume is probably more important, so it would be #2.
Now, if you have the option, you could go with room 2 AND 3! Make #2 your live room, and #3 your control room...
But that's just my non-expert opinion.
- Stuart -
Hi Stuart!
Thanks for chiming in. :)
Your thoughts are pretty much mine as well. And yes I'm thinking room 3 will be more of a control room and then as you said I'll have the option to use room 2 for live (I use synthesizers for most part but there will be some vocals and perhaps acoustic guitar as well).
I just want to make sure I'm on the right track here.
Thanks again!
Glad to help!
Regarding orientation: It's not easy to decide which way around to arrange your CR!
You show that "locked wooden door..." thing with two steps in one corner of your CR. Can that be sealed off? Will it ever need to be opened again? Can the steps be eliminated? If you make that wall will into the rear of your control room, with the front will face the "normal medium window", then you have plenty of space for bass trapping back there, and the window between your speakers, but then the entrance door is right where your front left speaker needs to go, and you have no chance of soffit mounting, which would be a shame. On the other, hand, if turn it around so that the front is the "step" wall and the rear is the "window" wall, then you have no place to put bass trapping in your right rear corner, where the entrance door is, and you have the window (which is very reflective, acoustically) right behind your head, which is not good.
Tough call!
Maybe you could think about moving the door into your CR, so that it is in the middle of the side wall? That would make it much easier to decide: If so, then I'd go with the "step" as the rear wall, and the window in the front wall, between your soffits.
That would be my suggestion.
- Stuart -
Glad to help!
Regarding orientation: It's not easy to decide which way around to arrange your CR!
<snip>
I know! :)
Well the important thing is really that it'll be a fun creative place that sounds as good as possible with relatively simple means.
The locked door will not be used so I hope I'll be allowed to seal it off.
The steps cannot be eliminated I'm afraid but perhaps I could build something similar for the other corner.
There will be a lot of compromises I know but I don't mind. It'll be a fun project.
I'm going to start planning for room three so your suggestions are very welcome. I'll see what I will be able to pull off.
kind regards,
Christian