Best Control room dimensions please??

Hi, I'm splitting my 60'x 20' main room into Control room plus a Live room. I need to keep things simple and hope to get by with just building one wall to split the 60' length. If I keep the 20' dimension for both potential rooms, what would be the best measurement for the control room? I know a cube is bad, but would 20'x 25' be better than 20'x 15'? Would 20'x 13' be better than 20'x 16'? The 20' measurement has to be fixed, but the second measurement of the control room can be whatever will work best to monitor, mix, and for other control room applications. What size would you make the control room please? Thanks! Rich (314)369-1733 _________________________ RD

There is an announcement at the top of the forum about what to do to assure getting as many responses as possible. The announcement leads to this post (click here). Actually, several people, who are experts on this forum, will most likely not reply if you don't do what is written in that post. Many others who are very helpful, will most likely not reply out of respect for the moderators' wishes. Regarding your basic question: try using the search feature on the forum for "room ratios", then read through several of the threads that you find there. That should help to answer your question. One final point: a room is three dimensional, not two-dimensional. You need to take the height into account too. - Stuart -

Thanks. The room height is 12'. So 20'x60'x12'. I have decided to make the control room 20'x27.6'x12(height). I stumbled across the 38% rule, thus am making the length 38% longer than the 20' width. 38% is just a general dimension, so I am considering increasing the room to 20x32x12. Which of the two would you go for considering the 12' ceiling? Also, what types of drywall would be the best options, and how thick? 1/2 inch? Thanks! Rich

rcd wrote:

Thanks. The room height is 12'. So 20'x60'x12'. I have decided to make the control room 20'x27.6'x12(height). I stumbled across the 38% rule, thus am making the length 38% longer than the 20' width. 38% is just a general dimension, so I am considering increasing the room to 20x32x12. Which of the two would you go for considering the 12' ceiling? Also, what types of drywall would be the best options, and how thick? 1/2 inch? Thanks! Rich

Well, it isn't a rule and you are using it in the wrong area. For a better understanding of where it should be used and what it actually is applied to please read this linked page: The 38% Rule from Wes Lachot Ideally you want as much room as you can get but what you really should try to incorporate is the diffusion that you gain from splayed walls and overheads. I, like most people here, am challenged due to lack of floor space to do this, but you have a 14,400 cubic foot space, 12 foot ceilings and that is an awesome room size. If you haven't already looked into searching for room ratios, again Eric Desart authored this page: ROOM RATIOS Still, getting a room designed with good ratios is well and good but the splaying techniques seem to be the most effective thing that you can do, given the real estate, to develop an exciting sounding room. So don't mess it up with a fast paced design that leaves you wishing you would have read just one more thing ;) Gotta go, Brien