Any neat design ideas for odd shaped room in Ireland?

Hi guys, So we had to knock our current studio down as we needed space for a downstairs bedroom/bathroom for my 90year old father who can't manage our stairs anymore. It is probably a good thing as the old studio was built without the knowledge or the input of people from sites like here! Anyway this has left us with a small slightly odd shaped room but we will make do. I decided to just have a control room that can double up for vocals and instruments. its not going to be commercial but would still like to make the best of our available space so any help,ideas and suggestions around design will be greatly appreciated. our budget is tight around 8thousand euros but we have a lot of rockwool (703?) left over and some acoustic wall tiles and bass traps. i have the dimensions left at home and will update the crude image asap but heres a rough idea of layout. the ceeling height is 9'6" but the main large window (7' x7' i think) goes right to the roof so i was thinking of having a false ceeling sloping from the full height down to 8' full of rockwool. but thats just an idea. ill be back with more details asap. thanks in advance. Bryan. i think the rough dimensions are 25' X 20' x 9'6"

Hi again, so attached a sketchup 2d model of the bare room. its to scale except the window is 2.27M square so its slightly larger than the model. Anyway we are starting work tomorrow so even any rough ideas will be much appreciated. thanks bryan

Anyway we are starting work tomorrow so ...

You are starting to build tomorrow, but you don't have a plan of what you are going to build? I guess I must have misunderstood what you were saying! :) My comments on a couple of issues I see: 1) The room is not symmetrical. That should be your first priority, Make it symmetrical. A non-symmetrical control room will be a disaster. Symmetry is paramount. 2) That "triple-glazed window" is probably going to be a problem. Not what you do there, you are going to have at least four leaves, which means that your low frequency isolation will be pretty bad. Of course, you didn't say how loud you are, nor how quite you need to be outside, and neither did you mention any potential exterior noises that you need to prevent from getting in, so maybe that isn't even a problem at all. If you don't need isolation, and there is no noise at all outside, then the three-leaf window might not be an issue at all. 3) The stone walls and block walls might be OK, but it's hard to say without knowing more about them, and more about what you intend to do. What does "slatted with 2x1 and plasterboard internally" mean? 4) The plasterboard wall on the right is going to be another problem, since once again you are going to end up with three leaves there ( at least) no matter what you do. Once again, it depends what is on the other side of that wall, how loud you are, etc. You can fix it be removing the plasterboard from one side, and perhaps using what you take off to beef up the other side internally, if necessary. My $0.02 - Stuart -

Sorry i should of said starting to tear down the existing internal structure!! 1) The room is not symmetrical. That should be your first priority, Make it symmetrical. A non-symmetrical control room will be a disaster. Symmetry is paramount. I know, it really will make life pretty hard acoustically but unfortunately there really is no way of removing the two internal block walls that are causing the problem with symmetry. It really is a case of trying to make the most of what we have. not an ideal situation by any means but hopefully with a bit of work we can make a workable room. 2) That "triple-glazed window" is probably going to be a problem. Not what you do there, you are going to have at least four leaves, which means that your low frequency isolation will be pretty bad. Of course, you didn't say how loud you are, nor how quite you need to be outside, and neither did you mention any potential exterior noises that you need to prevent from getting in, so maybe that isn't even a problem at all. If you don't need isolation, and there is no noise at all outside, then the three-leaf window might not be an issue at all. Yes it is not an issue with isolation or preventing external noise coming in, so hopefully a large heavy curtain will dampen mid/high frequencies and low frewuencies will pass through. Would that be a correct assumption? 3) The stone walls and block walls might be OK, but it's hard to say without knowing more about them, and more about what you intend to do. What does "slatted with 2x1 and plasterboard internally" mean? that is basically 2 x 1 wood slats nailed directly to the stone wall and covered with plasterboard and plastered. there is no need to prevent external noise coming in. 4) The plasterboard wall on the right is going to be another problem, since once again you are going to end up with three leaves there ( at least) no matter what you do. Once again, it depends what is on the other side of that wall, how loud you are, etc. You can fix it be removing the plasterboard from one side, and perhaps using what you take off to beef up the other side internally, if necessary. there is a bedroom on the other side of that wall but it does not need isolation as they wont be used at the same time. I dont really understand why i would want to remove the plasterboard from one side of the wall? They are both independent stud walls finished with plasterboard and filled with rockwool in the cavity. My $0.02 Much appreciated, thanks. Loudness is not really a concern, I am more concerned with internal acoustics and how best to orientate the room to make the best use of space and to achieve the best acoustics in what is , really not an ideal room shape. so far i am thinking three floor to ceeling broadband corner traps in the available corners and 2 or 3 large clouds with a laminate wooden floor? and maybe use the alcoves on the left wall and fill them with rockwool flush out to the level of the window (so they would be about 5inches deep) I was thinking of locating the desk facing the internal double stud wall but im worried about the speakers (dynaudio bm6a) facing the large window. Is that a bad idea? - Stuart -[/quote]

here is a sketch of where i've been thinking of trying out corner broadband traps and broad band wall panels. 4 -6" deep the yellow ones are floor to ceeling (so about 9'6") and the grey are small ones above the door or below the window. probably about 2' high. there will also be the clouds, 2 -3 of them with the nice recessed lights ive seen on other threads.

Does anyone think it would be better to move the orientation of the desk to this setup?? would having the large window on your left really mess up the imaging? there would be a heavy curtin over it. cheers.

Aloha,

Does anyone think it would be better to move the orientation of the desk to this setup?? would having the large window on your left really mess up the imaging? there would be a heavy curtin over it.

I would go with this set up. The heavy curtain on the left will help. If you still find you need more treatment, you could build a modular absorber that you could roll/move out of the way for access. Are you allowed to add any walls? If so, you could split your room in two and have a small live room/iso booth and control room, perhaps? Aloha 8)

Thanks for the reply kendale, I think i will go ahead with that orientation. I can add any walls so whats there is all i have. The room should be plastered soon and ill up pics to give you a better idea of whats to work with. Im thinking the ceeling is a good idea for treatment but cant have a completely soft ceeling. What kind of frequency band can clouds cover? from 400hz up?? or higher? cheers bryan

Ok so the room is finished except the acoustic treatment. Im going to try get a white noise reading up asap. I know it would be best building the acoustic treatment in the room but i have to place and hang any acoustic treatment. So im thinking a large cloud above the mix position and 3 or 4 corner broadband traps and the some rockwool hung on the walls. anyone see any problems with this approach or is there anything i should watch\avoid? cheers bryan

Im going to try get a white noise reading up asap.

Pink noise wold probably be more useful than white noise.

So im thinking a large cloud above the mix position and 3 or 4 corner broadband traps and the some rockwool hung on the walls.

Sounds like a good plan! Measure the room at several different locations (with pink noise), install the treatment, then measure it again at the exact same locations, to see what has changed, and what still needs treating. - Stuart -