Mastering Studio Dimensions

Hey All I am going to be building a mastering studio in the next 2 months. I will be using B&W 802s. What room size should i be looking at? Are there any mastering room plans here? And what materials should i be looking at for the floor, walls and ceiling? I haven't found a specific space yet. What i will do is once i have optimal dimensions and a plan, i will go a find the right space to rent.

Hi sui-city, Glad to see you made it over here!:) Browse around the site for some control room layouts and have a look here. The same basic principles for shape apply to a mastering studio. Having 802s, your biggest area of concern will be front and side wall reflections, since these speakers have such wide dispersion. Have a look at my Wall Bounce Calculator. You're going to want a fairly large room so you can pull the speakers away from the walls. High ceilings are also very helpful. You'll also want a little more absorption and a lot more diffusion in the front than a typical recording control room. A nice sized room would be something like 24'x16' with 10' ceilings. Don't know how much a space like this goes for in your area, but I think it's a good reference point. Thomas

Barefoot! Thank you for all your help.

No problem. As you read through the forum, you'll probably have a lot more ideas and questions come to mind. Keep them coming! Mastering studios are far too often just rectangular boxes. So, it's really nice that you bring this subject up. I'd like to see it turn into an in-depth investigation! :D Thomas

Hi everybody, nice place you have here!!! I'm a newbie on this acosutic design matters. Already reading a lot here, can't help it! What I wish to do is a mixroom/mastering room at home, basic doubt is how good those refelctors/bass traps kits are for real. They look awesome when it comes to praticity, mainly because I don't own the house I'm living in right now. Hope to have some questions soon! cheers! Fabio

I disagree. The mastering studio and the control room of a production studio are completely different. The concept is different. Yes, one still has to have proper ratios, etc. But the desired result is completely different. I would recommend reading some interviews with Fran Manzella, at www.fmdesign.com. He addresses this. Also, I would take a look at the best mastering houses yourself to see how they are different. If you cannot, atleast go to their sites. If it were the same, projects would be handled in-house at the studio. Have you decided on your monitors? The monitors may dictate room volume, ratios, etc. If this is going to be a real room, with real monitors and amplification, I would seriously consider the Legacy Audio Focus at minimum. They are about $3,300 EA, plus amplifiers (which I would recommend PASS or comparable. This type of system is proven in mastering rooms around the world. Then there are B&Ws, PMC's, etc, etc. For all of these systems, be ready for a room length of about 34ft or so.

You'll also want a little more absorption and a lot more diffusion in the front than a typical recording control room.

The mastering studio and the control room of a production studio are completely different. The concept is different.

Thanks for the heads up! I see I´m going into the wrong direction here, it´s just that both functions in one single room is what I desire, but looks it´s not possible. Let me talk about what is on my mind for a sec Mastering studios looks a lot more like well treated living rooms and control rooms I have been into sound kinda dead to me, if you know what I mean. I have been doing some location recording and mixing in old houses and farms and very unusual places, far away from the very well done studio environment. I use to take advantage of the natural acoustics of that places and this makes me use efects a lot less for eg. Maybe it is not accepted at all as good rooms but I came up with very interesting music for my ears... :D So in my mind I was look for a room that really sounds more like a living room to chill out and make some music, and mix, and finish.... What I was after when it comes to mastering was a totally analog suit full of gear I make myself. I´m more into digital mixdown so the gear would be very minimal, like 4 pairs of different compressors, 4 pair of different EQs, some other stuff to warm up tracks. No external effects and all you use to see in a great mixroom. Budget is very minimal also. Most DIY work going on here. Well, I´ll read more and try to learn more. Actually I´m very excited to do this, have been waiting for a looooong time to go for this. Sorry for the long text and maybe some crappy theory on it. :o I´d love to hear more from you guys about all this. cheers! Fabio

You might call up the boys at ASC (Acoustic Sciences). They see a trend in the future for an all-in-one room, maximizing their Attack Walls, etc. Bruce Swedien does it. It works for his multi-platinum clientele and productions.