I need help setting up my tiny basement studio

Hello Everybody, I have a studio in my tiny odd shaped basement and it is time for me to get it sounding better. I need help figuring out exactly what to do to make it sound as best as I can within my limitations. I don't expect perfection but I will be opening it up to the public and starting a small business so I need something that I can do mixes in that will translate well in other rooms. This is basically going to be a control room. All I am concerned with is mixing in here, having an accurate room for mixing is my #1 goal. Accurate bass is a must as I do a lot of bass heavy dance and Hip-Hop music. I can't afford to tear the basement walls down and build everything from scratch but I'm hoping with everybody's help I will be able to achieve a much better sound with wall treatments and minimal (if any) construction. I have roughly $1750 to spend, possibly a little more. Here is what I'm dealing with: Because of resizing the image to 750 pixels it's hard to read the dimensions so just incase: wall A = 23' wall B = 15' wall C = 10'5" wall D = 9'11" wall E= 8'6" wall F = 8'9" and the little wall I forgot to label opposite wall F is 3'8" This is how I have it now: The bass is horribly uneven depending on where I stand and the same goes for the lower mid frequencies Here are some real pictures starting at wall A and going counter clockwise: I ran out of attachments adding these, so I am linking them (I hope that is OK) Wall A Wall B: Wall C: Steps & Wall D: Wall E: Little wall I forgot to label opposite wall F: Wall F As you can see I have to keep all my equipment on the left side of the steps because the right side is way too small to do anything in. So my first question is: 1. Will this layout as it presently stands work or do I need to build a wall with a door at the left side of the steps simulated by the red dotted line below to make the room a complete rectangle? If so is there any way to avoid it? - could I drape some kind of sound blocking material and make a curtain & walk through it? Or even run a curtain all the way along wall D and the red line to give a consistent acoustic property? Or is that absurd? My ideal setup would look something like this or the computer against wall B: I really would like to have the computer against wall D that way I could put it in the laundry room underneath the steps and not have to hear the fan anymore:) I could also have it against wall B and put it in the utility room but anywhere else and the monitor cable is not long enough to move it out of the room. But again this is only a miniscule detail, I realize I can't have everything I want. After looking at all the plans on this site I realize I never thought of having the table at an angle or facing a corner and even building the red line wall at a 45 degree angle. Places to have an angled table would be very limited though because of size restrictions. The lower left hand corner wall is going to pose a problem because the door (utility room) is almost in the corner so if something needs to be put in that corner it needs to be movable. After all this, I have a silly question: I have two of these ikea bookcases filled with records - http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60071358 I would like to keep them in the room but if I must get rid of them I will. They cover a lot of wall space as you can see in the pictures. Can placement of these be used to our advantage? Filled with records, do they act similar to diffusors? What if I stuffed each cube with fiberglass behind the records? Just a scientifically baseless thought... So I guess the steps are figuring our basic computer/ speaker placement + possible construction then figuring out what to hang on the walls and where? This post took me much longer than it should have. I hope my details are clear and if I left anything out or you have any questions please ask and I will post the information. thanks!

I really need some guidance from you guys! Because my room is very small the optimal way for me to set up my equipment would be like this: Does this area (left side of the steps) need to be sectioned off from the steps and the other side of the room? If so, do I need to build a wall w/ door or is it possible to make a curtain so I can walk through it? I realize that a rectangle is not optimal for a control room (better than a square), but will it be easier to control the sound within a rectangle with wall treatment or can the odd shape of this entire room be used to my advantage?

frank wrote:

I really need some guidance from you guys! Because my room is very small the optimal way for me to set up my equipment would be like this:

Not preserved: asis1.jpg

Does this area (left side of the steps) need to be sectioned off from the steps and the other side of the room? If so, do I need to build a wall w/ door or is it possible to make a curtain so I can walk through it? I realize that a rectangle is not optimal for a control room (better than a square), but will it be easier to control the sound within a rectangle with wall treatment or can the odd shape of this entire room be used to my advantage?

So many hard surfaces must be annoying. Do you get a high "zzzzz" sound from that room configuration? Last time I was in one, I did :) I see shoe mold, so that isn't carpet on the floor. Just another hard surface. If I was doing this, I would have to consider the "C" wall as my setup monitoring position, first. I know you have all your record shelves, but hey, just more hard surfaces right? If not "C" then "A" would be the next move...I think you are already at that position? If you choose the "A" spot, wall up the red line. It's coupled to the other room area and isn't helping your cause. If the "C" side, heavily drape(or wall it off) it off in some way that you can replicate on the opposite side of the room. Get a floor rug and consider an overhead cloud, or some sort of absorption. If that eggcrate looking stuff on the walls isn't specifically for acoustics, e.g. shipping rugs or what have you, lose it and get something made for this function. Get the chairs out of the corners and develop some full height bass trapping. Just some hack ideas from a hack idea guy ;) Good luck, Brien

Thank you for your reply! So I will build a wall at the red line. Unfortunately I cannot have my monitoring position against wall C. 1 of those 2 doors is the bathroom and I can't block that. I suppose I can keep everything as it is against wall A if needed. Why is it bad to have my monitors against either wall D or B?

Why is it bad to have my monitors against either wall D or B?

In that orientation, your monitors are firing across the shortest dimension of the room. They should be firing down the longest dimension, for several reasons. The two most important ones are getting your mix position in a good location in the room, about 38% back from the front wall (it doesn't have to be exactly 38%: that's just a starting point, but somewhere around there), and getting the rear wall as far away from you as possible, so that the reflections that come back from that wall are as late and as low in level as possible. If you build a good , solid, acoustically well-designed wall at the red line, and then treat your room correctly for an RFZ design, then, it should turn out pretty good, I think. Make sure to keep the room symmetrical (left-right) and get all of those hard reflective surfaces out of there! Those shelves are probably doing all kinds of strange stuff to your acoustics. They have to go.

All I am concerned with is mixing in here, having an accurate room for mixing is my #1 goal. Accurate bass is a must as I do a lot of bass heavy dance and Hip-Hop music.

So if you want good accuracy and tight bass, then I'd suggest that you need to concentrate on room symmetry most of all, followed by lots of bass trapping in the corners, soffit-mount (flush mount) your speakers, place a large ceiling cloud over your mix position, deep absorbers at your first reflection points, get that carpet off the floor and replace it with laminate floor, and treat your rear wall and parts of your side walls with absorbers / broadband slot resonators / etc., as needed after you complete the other stuff and measure the room acoustically. - Stuart -

This is all great and gives me a good direction. Now I know what to research. Till the next set of questions... thanks!