Control Room Conundrum

Hi, I am building a studio and rehearsal rooms in Scotland. The rehearsal rooms have been completed and I am very happy with them, thanks to all those on this forum who helped me out. I will soon update my original post with some pictures and information on how the build went. My original thread is here viewtopic.php?f=2&t=11210 We are now in the final stages of building the studio and live rooms. This brings me to my current conundrum. Having got it in my head that non parallel walls and such like was a good thing (and being covered in too much plaster and paint to be able to continue my research on this forum) I made the decision to build the control room non-symmetrical. However, upon finding time and looking into things I realised that a non-symmetrical control room is a very, very bad thing! We are still at a stage where it is possible to (hopefully) remedy this which is why I need some help. The diagram below is not to scale but shows the situation I am in. The first diagram shows the existing walls in black. I must point out that my diagram is quite poor and the room is actually a bit longer than it looks and the angles on the walls are not nearly as severe. My question is, should I build the wall shown in blue to achieve symmetry in the room? The second diagram shows where the door and window are in the room and also the mixing position. All of the walls and also the ceiling and Stud partitions with plasterboard. If I have left out any information, or if my diagrams aren't clear enough,. please let me know and ill add to this.l

Symmetry is most definitely something that you need in your control room. Without good symmetry, you wont' have a decent stereo image, and your mix will most likely not translate well. So in my non-expert opinion, I'd say that yes, you really do need to fix that. But the other issue is that your room gets narrower towards the rear, and starts doing so before it even gets to the first reflection point! Is there any way you can correct that? This would involve removing the angled wall at the left rear, and NOT building the angled wall at the right rear: just keeping them straight from that point back. That would make them parallel, unfortunately, but that can be treated. The way I see it, having them parallel is much less of a problem than angled back into the room. Many people successfully build their entire CR's with parallel walls, but I don't think I've seen a successful design where the room starts narrowing towards the rear, before it even gets to first reflection points! That's just my opinion, so take it for what it's worth: I'm not an expert, just a dedicated sponge, soaking up the subject of acoustics! - Stuart -

Why don't you rotate your mixing position so the window is on your right? What are the dimensions of the room?

Thank-you both for your replies. Soundman, yes, moving the back wall is a possibility. What you suggest sounds like a good idea as it will also give me more space in the room. I am thinking I may go ahead with your idea. Guitarman, turning the mixing position is something I had considered but as I have shown in my updated diagram there are actually two doors in the angled walls. These doors lead to a vocal booth and a storage cupboard. I should have included that in my first post as I realise it's pretty important imformation. :oops: I have updated the diagram with the dimensions of the room and the additional rooms. So would you guys think my best option is to do as soundman suggested and angle the front two walls while keeping the back two straight?