Need Advice for Treating Acoustics in My New Home Studio

This image show what I am thinking about doing with bass traps. These are all OC 703, 4 inches thick. They will be mounted on clips, three inches off the walls. Most panels are 24 48. The corner panels and door panels are 24 x 72. Since there will be doors in three of the four corners, I am mounting bass traps against the wall in all four corner and plan to do the triangle piece at the ceiling. In addition, there will be ceiling absorption, however, I haven't come up with that yet. I'm opening to any and all critiques, criticism, etc. Let me have it! ... and thanks for all the kind help and encouragement, especially Stuart Mike Myers mikemyersmusic.com

I am six inches to the left of center in the wide part of the room.

Why "6 inches left"? It would probably be better if your head were on the center line.

I am aiming the axis of the speakers to a point 12 inches behind my head.

That sounds like a bit too much, unless you have your speakers spread very far apart (or you have a very large head! :)) The idea is that the acoustic axes from the speakers are aimed at your ears, which generally puts the intersection point just around 6 or 8 inches behind your head. The layout is looking much better now, IMHO. So it looks like you have a good basic plan for your room now. About the only thing I would do different is to soffit-mount the speakers ... :) ! - Stuart -

It would probably be better if your head were on the center line.

I thought it was common knowledge around here that the center of the room is a null? Am I not right?

I am aiming the axis of the speakers to a point 12 inches behind my head. That sounds like a bit too much, unless you have your speakers spread very far apart (or you have a very large head! :)) The idea is that the acoustic axes from the speakers are aimed at your ears, which generally puts the intersection point just around 6 or 8 inches behind your head.

Got ya! I can do that What do you think about the absorption so far? Can I get away with using all OC 703 four inch panels? Also, what about getting the model of fiberglass with the membrane on the back and then alternating the membrane on the back and the front of the panels that go along the side walls? Thanks for all your suggestions and advice! Mike

I thought it was common knowledge around here that the center of the room is a null? Am I not right?

Yup. It's a null. And it's also a peak. And also neither null nor peak. And also both at once. Depending on which mode, which frequency, and which harmonic you happen to be talking about, and whether it is axial, tangent or oblique, .... (It gets rather complex). But basically room symmetry is far more important, and you cannot have room symmetry if your head is not on the center line. Besides, your ears will not be on the center line! Your head will be, but your ears will be a few inches off to either side (unless you have a really, really thin head! :) ) In fact, offsetting your head six inches to one side will most likely place one of your ears pretty much directly ON the center line, right where your dreaded null is... Think about it... The other issue that few people realize is that when you are seated, your ears are pretty much at half of the height of the room anyway... roughly 1.2 m, when most ceilings are roughly 2.4 m high... It's not a big deal: just get your head on the center line so you can get correct symmetry. - Stuart -

hehe...

Soundman2020 wrote:

(unless you have a really, really thin head! :) )

Soundman2020 wrote:

(or you have a very large head! :))

something like this? (pic is from http://muppet.wikia.com) sorry...it's monday morning :D

:shot: :) :!: - Stuart -

I've finally had some time to think about ceiling treatment for my studio. This is what I'm thinking about doing. All of these would be OC 703 24 x 48, hanging down 3 inches from the ceiling. I have first reflection panels in place for the front and rear surround sound speakers as well as additional absorption in critical places around the room. ...any opinions...? Mike

looks like a reasonable start. you can always add more absorbers but leaving some space between them helps keep some life in the space in exposes more of the absorptive surfaces.

Thanks for the comment Glen. So, are you saying this looks about right for the amount of absorbers to start out with and then see if I need more? By the way, I went to Lowe's today and ordered all the stuff to build these panels. Mike

my only suggestion would be to put some absorbers across the tri-corners as that will be most effective.

Yes, I will be putting some 36 inch triangle absorbers in all four top corners, I just didn't know how to draw them in SketchUp. Thanks! Mike

draw a triangle - 36" per side with one tip down. push-pull and group. stand it vertical, tip down. rotate 45 degree (to span corner), then rotate 30 on vertical.

Hello Again! I'm dropping in to update everyone on my progress. Lots has happened since I was last here. Here is a final design of my studio with bass traps. (Note to Stuart) I had a wall built over the hallway which was to the left of my work station. It has a small door in the corner. You can sort of see it in the far left of this SketchUp

This is a before picture of the problem hallway area...

...So, I had a wall built...

Another problem area was this pass through between the kitchen and the studio. It had to go! Here's a before and after picture

Notice in the previous pictures, all of the doors have been taken down and were replaced by solid wood core doors. I (unfortunately) have four doors in my studio. Next job was to move in with my workstation and computer and begin testing the acoustics. Notice the new wall and door on the right side of my workstation...

Since I work with a Mac, I purchased FuzzMeasure to use for acoustical testing. The first test I took was in this room with absolutely no muffling or absorption of any kind. It was not pretty...

Now it is time to start making bass traps!!! I ordered a whole bunch of Owens Corning 703, 2 ft. by 4 ft. panels, 4 inches thick. I'm using the directions posted by many people on this board as well as several helpful YouTube videos. This was definitely a joint effort by the Mrs. and myself. I put all the wood frames together and she attached all of the fabric to the fiberglass and the frames. and yes, she did use gloves and a face mask while doing the work. We started with the angled panels which straddle the wall and ceiling...

Just for laughs, I decided to do another FuzzMeasure test here. It looks a little better but we've got some more serious work to do!

Next, I hung the triangle panels in all four of the top corners of the room. These are 36 inch triangles. I decided to do the hardest job first and get it out of the way, so I hung the ceiling panels (with the help of my trusty wife!) I carefully measured for first reflection positions for all of my speakers, positioned a couple of panels directly above where I sit to work at the computer and also where I move back to the "sweet spot" in the room which is 38% from the wall with the windows and also three inches to the left of center. To hang the panels, I am using a 4 inch L clamp from Lowe's which positions the panel exactly three inches from the wall. I mark each clamp at one inch and line the panel up with it and drill the screw into the wood frame. Notice in one picture there is my "frame template" that I use to mark where I want to line each panel up and then drill holes into the wall for the clamps.

Notice I have changed to a 60 inch monitor that I use both as a computer monitor and home theater screen. I have also changed out my two JBL studio monitors with five Mackie HR 624 mkII speakers. Both of those changes made a huge difference. Now, it was time for more acoustical testing with FuzzMeasure. Hey, things are starting to look better. Notice the difference in the low end. Still, more work to do...

...And now for the walls... I decided to stagger the wall panels at measurements of two and three feet off the floor. Also, we used an alternating color scheme of red and tan material on the panels. I was careful to position the first reflection points with the help of my wife and a mirror. The corners in this room pose a problem because there are doors at three of the four corners so, instead of doing the triangular panel across the corner, I had to mount bass traps to the door and adjacent corner. On the one corner which doesn't have a door, I did it the same way just to keep things consistent throughout the room.

I haven't done a FuzzMeasure test yet on this latest addition. Also, we haven't hung any panels on the back wall yet. That will probably happen in the next day or so. I finally set up my V-Drums last night. I've missed playing on them for the past month and a half. I really, really wanted to put carpeting on the floor in this studio. I just like carpet and I have ALWAYS had carpet in all of my studios. Thanks to Stuart and others who convinced me that it would be acoustically better without carpet, I relented and kept the tile. So far, I haven't regretted it. I thought that the floor would still make the room too live and ringy. Hasn't happened at all. I'm glad I stopped by this forum. Stay tuned for some more photos and test results. Thanks again to everyone who encouraged me and offered advice! Mike

looks really nice! good job! you can use some small carpets as needed - under the drum kit, perhaps under your console. i'm wondering if raising the video monitor up and putting the center speaker on level with the other front monitors would be better.