Small bedroom studio/mix room

Good evening, I am a new member - thank you for the opportunity to post my question. I have my home studio in a 11'8" x 9'5" x 8' (ceiling height) room. (see attached drawing) I record and mix in the same room. No more than 1 or 2 people at a time. No live drums. I am having trouble translating my mixes with the current room set up. My goal is to optimize my room for mixing. I now have 6 - 2' x 4' x 2" (owens cornings fiberglass) panels to use for treatment. No bass traps. I would like to use what I have now, and add later when the funds are available. I would like recommendations for room orientation using what I have now as option #1. I also would like a recommendation for an optimal set up as option #2. Budget - $200 / $300. Thanks

IMHO, I think the best layout would be to set things up so that your desk faces the blank wall opposite the door, (labeled " 9'5" "), with your speakers on stands behind the desk, firing towards the door. Then I'd put two of your 703 panels vertically in those two front corners, angled at 45° across the corners, as bass traps. I think I'd use the remaining four panels as first reflection point treatment and rear wall treatment. So one would go on the rear wall, next to the door, one on each side of your mix position, and the last one on the ceiling above the desk. Ideally, you should use TWO panels for each of those locations, to get 4" of thickness, but you only have six panels, so you can only put one on each. 2" isn't much thickness, but it is better than nothing! That should give you some basic treatment, but I reckon the room will need a lot more than just that. I'd also pay close attention to the speaker / mix position geometry, to get is as good as you possibly can, following all the usual recommendations (speakers in the best possible position, 1.2m above the floor, equilateral triangle, mix position fairly close to 38%, etc.). If you can get more 703 panels, then (apart from doubling up the existing ones)I'd put another one horizontally across the middle section of the front wall (behind the speakers), then maybe try to do some of the ceiling/wall corners and rear corners. You don't have much of a budget, so that's about all you can do. Not sure how much difference it will make, but it should do something useful. But that's just my opinion. Maybe others can provide better advice. - Stuart -

Thanks for the reply Stuart. I am assuming that the first reflection wall and corner panels would be centered at the monitor height. I will be making more panels as soon as the recession lightens it grip on me. The six panels made a big difference in how the room sounded, but I had my monitors in the corner (45%) and I could not hear very well. Thanks again, Vince

I am assuming that the first reflection wall and corner panels would be centered at the monitor height.

First refection panels: Yes, at monitor height: But the diagonal corner panels could either start down at floor level or up at ceiling level, for maximum effect. The reason for that is that you get a theoretical 6 dB boost in effectiveness from putting a panel up against one wall (as compared to in the middle of the room), 12 dB boost for putting it across a corner between two walls, and 18 dB boost for putting it across a "tri-corner" (meaning the corners where two walls and the ceiling meet, or two walls and the floor). So if you can get the panels into the bottom or top corners, you'll get a little extra boost there. You could also try spacing your first reflection panels a bit away from the wall, once again to increase effectiveness. A couple of inches would be good. Let us know how it works out. I'd love to know how much this plan improves things, compared to what you have now. And post some photos! It would be really good to get some feedback on the results. - Stuart -