Soon moving house - please help me design my new room....

Hi all and thanks for having me on the Forum. I'm making plans for the music room in my new house and wondered if anyone would mind reflecting on my ideas and/or answering some of my remaining questions before I start. Here's a diagram of the room from above, empty with no treatment etc.: And here's my plan of treatment: All orange sections are/will be Rocksilk RS60. The five triangular traps are superchunk-type traps and will run from floor to ceiling. The remaining rectangular traps for reflection will be at ear level, and they are 100mm thick with a small additional air gap at the back. Although not on the diagram, there will be four 1200mm x 600mm x 100mm ceiling panels - two at the mirror points, two further back in the room. The ones in the back of the room I'm doing more because I have them spare and so might as well use them! Also not in the diagram...... I plan to make superchunk type traps for across the wall to ceiling corners at the front and back of the room. Looking at the photos, these would run along the top of the windows horizontally as far as they can before meeting the main superchunks (and door in the fourth corner). See photos below. Three of the walls are external and will therefore be brick cavity walls. The remaining wall (the partition wall) is a stud wall. I'm not sure at this stage whether it has any fibreglass/mineral wool in the cavity, but I'm thinking not. Budget = I already have a of the traps made as I'm using them in my current room. I want to keep things under £500. Out of that I am planning to get enough Rocksilk to make the additional panels and perhaps to have the cavity in the partition wall filled if it isn't already. My aim/goal = to make the room sound as good/neutral as possible ready for recording sessions (at present that's for me and non-paying customers). No need for mic'ing drum kits or Marshall stacks at present, so sound leakage is not a concern. ________________________________________________________________________________ Aside from any general advice, here are my questions and queries: 1. As the diagram shows, I plan to build a fake chimney breast to keep things symmetrical. The extra corners this will create will have bass trap-type traps too. I'm thinking they are likely to have little effect on bass, but thought that if nothing else they should help tighten the stereo image by preventing sound bouncing in the corner directly back to my ears. So is the fake chimney breast a good idea and if so is my plan to treat the corners it creates a good idea? 2. How much of a detrimental effect will the chimney breasts have, seeing as they make the room non-rectangular? 3. Is the back wall superchunk a good idea seeing as I cannot do things symmetrically with a bass trap in the opposite corner (because of the door)? 4. Are the wall/ceiling bass traps I plan to put in (i.e. horizontal above the windows) worth doing seeing as they 'll be so small? I haven't measured up there but I don't think there's any more than 30cm between the top of the window and the ceiling, so the "superchunk" would be 30 x 30 x 41cm. 5. RE: ceiling traps. Are the two extra ones at the back of the room (see above) a good idea or overkill? Could too much trapping on the ceiling cause problems? 6. Would also be good to know if my room ratio of 1 : 1.25 : 1.85 is good or disastrous (those dimensions are as if the chimney breasts aren't there). A picture of the Front Wall: ....and one of the Back Wall: Here are links to the full size diagrams in case the ones above are too small to read things properly: http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii13 ... refo-3.jpg http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii13 ... refo-2.jpg Many many thanks Max

Hai Max, First advice: take your time to develop a good plan. Read this forum as it can save you serious buckaroons by building it the right way. We're here to help, ask specific questions. There's much info on this forum that will help you on your quest. Right, having said that. Here's an attempt to answer your questions;

1. As the diagram shows, I plan to build a fake chimney breast to keep things symmetrical. The extra corners this will create will have bass trap-type traps too. I'm thinking they are likely to have little effect on bass, but thought that if nothing else they should help tighten the stereo image by preventing sound bouncing in the corner directly back to my ears. So is the fake chimney breast a good idea and if so is my plan to treat the corners it creates a good idea?

It makes the room more symmetrical. It's at the end/near your listening point so, yeah good idea.

2. How much of a detrimental effect will the chimney breasts have, seeing as they make the room non-rectangular?

Detrimental effect on what? But, see Q1 :)

3. Is the back wall superchunk a good idea seeing as I cannot do things symmetrically with a bass trap in the opposite corner (because of the door)?

You mean the backCORNER, right? So, why indead not make a bassabsorber on the BACK WALL (where the sofa is). Remember, you can't have too many basstraps. Live with what you can do. . .

4. Are the wall/ceiling bass traps I plan to put in (i.e. horizontal above the windows) worth doing seeing as they 'll be so small? I haven't measured up there but I don't think there's any more than 30cm between the top of the window and the ceiling, so the "superchunk" would be 30 x 30 x 41cm.

30x30 is not that big no...... there's more than 4 corners in a room tho. sound is 3-dimensional, so why isn't your drawing?

5. RE: ceiling traps. Are the two extra ones at the back of the room (see above) a good idea or overkill? Could too much trapping on the ceiling cause problems?

If this is a mix room, I'd concentrate on the listening position and create a (near) RFZ (Reflection Free Zone). Best practice is (overall) to have hard vs soft area (eg. hard floor, soft ceiling). So, no it won't be overkill.

6. Would also be good to know if my room ratio of 1 : 1.25 : 1.85 is good or disastrous (those dimensions are as if the chimney breasts aren't there).

It's an existing room so it won't matter... can't change it anyway.

"room ratio of 1 : 1.25 : 1.85 is good or disastrous" A cube (all diminsions being the same) is disastrous. Everything else can be dealt with.