I'm 16, a little help?

Hellorr, I'm Luke Bennett. I'm 16. I've recently been given access and responsibility of a Recording Studio. I really want to get this studio rolling, I obviously don't have much money as I don't have a job and I am about to go into high level Physics, Biology, Chemistry and Music. Therefore, wont have the time for a job big enough for substantial amounts of money. I am gaining a little help from the council but I would love to get as far as I can on my own. There are people that really could use the money more. I have a few acoustic panels up already from a long time ago and all the equipment I will ever need, it's just about me trying to get a dead sound. I'm reasonably knowledgeable in the behaviour of sound and know a reasonable amount about soundproofing, due to my love and ability to understand Physics, but I am currently finding it hard to pinpoint specific areas I should manage/proof before I get money to do EVERY wall. So... I was wondering, if I took some photos the next time I'm down there, (Tomorrow, If I can find a decent memory card for the camera), would you be willing to tell me what to put and where, and possibly REALLY cheap, but effective methods of doing this, and I know that's like... :| :| :| :| , but all the help would be appreciated as it's a big world/topic for someone so small. :D

where are you Luke? - for all we know you could be in la la land

Hello again, it's great to hear from you, and Yeah, :( I'm sorry. I'm from Salisbury, UK. It's in the South-West of England, Wiltshire. :)

Hi Luke. Welcome. Please read and comply with the forum rules.

it's just about me trying to get a dead sound.

Not a good idea. A dead room is unpleasant to work in for very long: the human brain is not used to the sound of "dead", and doesn't like it much. The current leading concept in studio design is "RFZ", meaning "reflection free zone". Search the forum for this, and you'll find more stuff than you ever though existed on this concept. The basic idea is build the room such that there is an area around the mix position where no "first reflections" ever reach. The only sound that gets to this zone is the direct sound from the speakers, and the diffuse field ("resonant field") from the rest of the room. That's the theory, at least. But in order to have a truly natural, neutral and un-colored diffuse field, you need a non-dead room, such that there is a low level of reflection happening all around, with the frequency response being practically flat. If you do that right, your room will sound great and your mixes will translate well. So don't go for dead: go for just the right amount of "live".

but I am currently finding it hard to pinpoint specific areas I should manage/proof before I get money to do EVERY wall.

What is it that you want to do to these walls? You say that you understand soundproofing, yet you are talking about room treatment: They are two very different things. Opposites, actually. Isolating a room usually makes it sound really bad, and treating a room usually does nothing at all to isolate it. What treatment do you have already, where did you put it, and what result did you get? You say you have plenty of equipment so it would be really good if you could use it to measure the response of your room right now, and post the graphs here so we can see what your problems are, and suggest how you could go about fixing them.

So... I was wondering, if I took some photos the next time I'm down there, (Tomorrow, If I can find a decent memory card for the camera), would you be willing to tell me what to put and where,

If you follow the forum rules, and give us the requested information, then sure! People here love to help. But photos alone won't be enough: exact dimensions, layout, details of how the room is already built right now, details of what you want to do with it, details of how loud you are and how quiet you need to be, budget details, etc. All of those are rather important. In addition to the photos, you'll at least need to create an accurate 3D model of your room as it is now, in SketchUp, and post it here (sounds scary, but it isn't that hard to do). Based on those four things (photos, SketchUp model, current room response graphs, and detailed descriptions) folks will be able to help you. Without that, nobody can help you. You can see and hear exactly what your room is all about: we can't. We need all of that to get an idea of what you have and how it sounds.

...possibly REALLY cheap, but effective methods of doing this

Well make up your mind already! Do you want cheap, or do you want effective? You can't have both! :) - Stuart -

Ahh, I see. I shall correct my self... I guess you could say I want to soundproof it to get a good sound quality, plus there's a road right outside the window. Wow, I'm confused actually. Soundproofing = Stopping sound Treating = Improving sound Right? That's what I thought, and in that case I need both. But if I'm wrong, then I'm not sure... I don't see how the two are opposites? Confusing. This is why I needed help. Also, what I meant was cheap as possible. :) You guys really are pros, quite scary actually. Well, I used to use 3DSMax to do some modelling for games, so I'll hop on SketchUp and see what I can do. I'll get some measurements, pictures and models tomorrow. :) Thanks, - Luke Bennett BassCon Studios

Wow, I'm confused actually.

Yep! That's the way we all start out, when it comes to acoustics! There's not much about it that is intuitive or obvious.... But don't worry, it gets better: as you learn more, you'll become increasingly confused, more and more, ... :) Until eventually you'll be like the rest of us: totally stumped!

Soundproofing = Stopping sound Treating = Improving sound

More or less, yes. Except that there is no such thing as "stopping sound" on planet earth: A sufficiently loud sound will get through any conceivable barrier. You can't stop it: All you can do is attenuate sound enough to meet your needs. That's why one of the questions on the "Please read this before you post" message is about describing how loud you are in your room, and how quiet you need to be outside it (and vice versa, too: how loud is the road outside, and how quiet do you need it to be inside) in terms of decibels. Based on that you can figure out how to design the isolation (not soundproofing, but "isolation") that you need to attenuate the sound levels going in/out of your room. And "treatment" is as you say: make the room sound good, meaning that you want to achieve roughly flat response in your room with no echos, and decent low-level diffuse resonance... easy to say, hard to do! :) The problem is that the materials you use for isolation are generally very heavy (massive), rigid, large and flat. The way you isolate a room is to make the sound bounce back again, so that it cannot get out. The only way you can force very loud, low frequency sounds to "bounce back" is with mass. Serious amounts of mass. So isolation walls are massive, solid, and rigid. But that makes the room very "echoic" and resonant, which you don't want! So you have to treat the room. And the materials that you use to treat a room are normally fluffy, soft, light weight, thick, etc. Which means they are really lousy at isolation. The stuff you use to treat is bad at isolating, and the stuff you use to isolate is bad at treating... So two different concepts: Large massive flat rigid surfaces around your room to isolate it, all of them sealed airtight, then soft thick fluffy light materials inside it at strategic places and in the right proportions and thicknesses, to calm things down and control all the bad stuff created by the isolation. Yeah, it is confusing, isn't it? :)

You guys really are pros, quite scary actually.

Yeah, we might bark a lot, but don't worry: we don't bite much! :)

Well, I used to use 3DSMax to do some modelling for games, so I'll hop on SketchUp and see what I can do.

You should be OK then, if you have experience with another 3D modeler. It might take a while to learn some of the strange concepts in SketchUp, but once you get over that hill, it is actually a pretty good modeler, for the kind of stuff we do. - Stuart -

Ahaa, this is great thanks. I actually understand it now. I need room treatment. :D Thanks for guiding me on my way through the first portal of this strange world. :wink: My bands on the radio this morning, so I may not be able to get a substantial amount on dimensions but I will try my best and if not, I'll go back tomorrow or something. :) Thanks again, - Luke Bennett BassCon Studios