Hello.
My friend and I have recently taken over a studio housed in part of a large old cattle shed (see below). The studio (A-E) has been built out of standard, low density breeze blocks into the back on the unit, with a large workshop area (F; G is a hallway/entrance between the two) at the front and 3 rooms above (simply wooden floor and stud work walls).
While the facility has a lot of potential and is sturdily built, it is badly designed/conceived for the purposes of recording/studio work. There is little if no proper isolation and insulation from external sources, and with our neighbours on two sides being rehersal studios (north and south-east, relatively speaking), there is a lot of sound leaking in. We do not need to worry about sound leaking out (except between the live room and control room), as we are situated on a farm.
The main problems:
The control room (A) is joined to the main structure and so there is a lot of low freq transmission. It appears there are quite big air gaps but little or poorly executed insulation.
The window in the control room (apart from being so badly placed you even see properly into the live room!) is also connected to the main structure and not properly constructed
The vocal booth (B) is connected to the structure, and while they have tried to put up insulation (studs, RWA 45 Rockwool, plasterboard), it is poorly done, there is no floating floor and there are no air gaps (i.e. The studs are tight against the wall).
The ceiling for the whole downstairs studio consists of plasterboard, with 18mm ply boards resting on joists on top of the block work, and RWA45 in the middle. But those boards also make up the floor above, so any movement easily transmits to the studio below.
C is the main live room and is bearable in terms of sound leakage coming in. Some acoustic treatment will be applied once the main problems are fixed. D is just a production room/office space at the moment, though we plan to float it and use a large booth in the future. E is a small corridor used as storage space.
All in all, there are a lot of critical transmission short-outs in all the key areas and a lot of work to be done/
Possible Solutions:
Having identified the main weaknesses of the studio, we have already started fixing the doors (separating the frames from each other, fixing them with insulation etc.). That leaves the vocal booth and control room.
For the vocal booth, we have realised three possible scenarios:
1) Leave the booth as it is, but redo the studs/rockwool/plasterboard and build a suitable floor – cheapest but probably least effective.
2) Built a new block wall in the booth next to the external room walls (the ones without window/door), then studs/rockwool/floor – perhaps better insulation/isolation but at the expense of space in the booth (it is already fair pokey in there).
3) Knock down the internal walls (window/door), build a new booth using 9” high density blocks, with a 100mm+ gap between the external walls and the booth, and the float a room inside – expensive and not much room to play with but effective.
4) Build a new booth in the main workshop area – expensive but it will be totally isolated, space is not an issue and we can build it exactly how we want it.
For the control room, we feel there are only two options:
1) Rip out all the studwork and floor (it is slightly raised but not properly floated) and start again. This would also allow us to re-position the window better, although we cannot extend it much further towards the centre of the room, as there is a load bearing pillar there (costly and time consuming)
2) Leave it as it is, but treat it as best we can (having set up our kit (mixing desk perpendicular to the (light grey) stud wall, speakers pointing in), we have initially found the sound quite tight although havent tested it properly yet. There is a lot of sound leakage in, though).
Questions:
1) Which is the best choice for the booth?
2) If we go with option 3, what is the optimal size for a booth given the space we have to operate in (approx. 1.9m x 2.9m*, H=2.3m), within which air gaps, blocks, floor/ceiling, studs and rockwool have to be fitted? (* - we have a bit of flexibility with this dimension, although we dont want to eat into the room too much).
3) Can we do a good job just as it is? (I appreciate it may be hard to judge this given the evidence).
4) Which would you say the better option for the control room is?
5) Are there any other possibilities for the control room that we havent thought about?
6) Is there a way of blocking sound out that doesnt take up too much room? (we are rather tight for space in the control room)
We have studied the documentation for sound proofing quite extensively and have a good idea of what is required, but would greatly appreciate some sagely advice on what the best ways of proceeding are. Your comments will be welcome eagerly.
Many thanks in advance
Chris
Taken over poorly designed/built studio - advice please!!!
Originally posted at johnlsayers.com, topic 17134.
Hi Chris, and welcome!
It sounds like you have a real problem on your hands. Some of the solutions you mention are possible, but really are only "stopgaps", or "band-aids".
To start with, the control room is very small, practically square, and has no space for the amount of acoustic treatment that would be needed.
Second, based on what you say and on the diagram you posted (assuming that the SketchUp model is an accurate depiction of the walls), there actually is no isolation at all, anywhere! It must be really hard to record / mix / master in there! :shock:
A few remarks on some of the things you said:
Sound isn't really "polarized", so isolation is more or less the same going in both directions. You should figure out where the loudest sounds are happening (either inside or outside), and then figure out what the quietest level needs to be (either inside or outside). Subtract the "quiet" number from the "loud" number, and that's how much isolation you need. That's the basis for designing a studio: based on that one single number, everything else kind of falls into place... But I'm getting ahead of myself there! Get back to that later.We do not need to worry about sound leaking out (except between the live room and control room), as we are situated on a farm.
Air gaps by themselves mean nothing if the two sides of the wall are not totally decoupled: In other words, if there is any flanking path at all across the air gap (studs, nails, etc.) or around the edges of the wall (floor, ceiling, other wall structures), then the air gap is basically worthless. MSM only works if the two leaves are fully decoupled, with no flanking paths. So there are two problems here: Number 1) is that the walls are not decoupled, which basically means that 2) the walls are actually not walls at all! They are resonant cavities. Panel traps, technically. And they are tuned to unknown frequencies which are undoubtedly coloring the response of your room, and thus your mixes. Bad!The control room (A) is joined to the main structure and so there is a lot of low freq transmission. It appears there are quite big air gaps but little or poorly executed insulation.
So far, it sounds like the best solution is to take out the entire control room, and re-build it correctly, based on a properly thought out acoustically isolated and treated design.The window in the control room (apart from being so badly placed you even see properly into the live room!) is also connected to the main structure and not properly constructed
So once again, the walls are not decoupled, and are resonant panel traps. Regarding the "floating floor". You most likely do not need that (assuming that the floor for the entire building is a concrete slab, sitting directly on the ground). Floating a floor is really hard to do right, and is expensive. Forget that idea for now: it is a very common misconception that a studio needs a floating floor: most do not. Getting it right is hard, and you'll need lots of money to do that.The vocal booth (B) is connected to the structure, and while they have tried to put up insulation (studs, RWA 45 Rockwool, plasterboard), it is poorly done, there is no floating floor and there are no air gaps (i.e. The studs are tight against the wall).
Ouch! Major problem up there. So the rooms are not only not decoupled form the walls, the are also not decoupled from above, and in fact you have flanking going on everywhere! :!: :roll:The ceiling for the whole downstairs studio consists of plasterboard, with 18mm ply boards resting on joists on top of the block work, and RWA45 in the middle. But those boards also make up the floor above, so any movement easily transmits to the studio below.
Once again, floating is very unlikely to be necessary, unless there are really, really good reasons for that. Before even thinking about floating anything, read these two sources: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8173 http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/obj/irc/doc/p ... /ir802.pdfD is just a production room/office space at the moment, though we plan to float it and use a large booth in the future.
Are you willing to change that? Rip out the wall between it and the control room, in order to get a larger and more useful control room?E is a small corridor used as storage space.
What do you mean by that? Tell us more about the doors: they are undoubtedly another weak point. Doors need to be solid (not hollow), massive (very heavy), have no through perforations (for handles), and must have at least two complete, independent seals all around the entire perimeter. Anything less is a waste of time.Having identified the main weaknesses of the studio, we have already started fixing the doors (separating the frames from each other, fixing them with insulation etc.).
You identifed three, yet listed four? :D Actually, I'd suggest #5: take out the exiting booth, and rebuild it as a proper MSM structure, fully decoupled from the existing walls and ceiling, and with better dimensions, better sight lines, and proper acoustic treatment. You don't need to do that with concrete blocks: plain old studs and drywall are just fine PROVIDED THAT you do it right, as a fully decoupled MSM system.For the vocal booth, we have realised three possible scenarios:
That sounds like the correct approach to me. Once again, if the floor is raised but not floated, then it is a resonant cavity: your room is built on a drum head! That too is coloring the room response, and therefor coloring your mixes. I'd be surprised if it is easy to produce mixes that translate well in that control room as it is now! Tearing it out, redesigning it PROPERLY and rebuilding it carefully, sounds like the best plan to me. Once again, it should be built as a decoupled MSM system, with correct symmetry, geometry and acoustic treatment.1) Rip out all the studwork and floor (it is slightly raised but not properly floated) and start again.
I don't think that's an option at all, since it is built so badly that treatment cannot solve the underlying problems. For example, there is no treatment at all that you can put in the room to kill the resonant cavities in the floor, walls and ceiling. The are all tuned to different sets of frequencies, and all coloring the room response differently, in random unknown ways. There isn't anything you can do inside the room to fix that: you have to take of the wall, floor and ceiling surfaces to get access inside, and if you are going to do that, you might as well take off everything else and do it right.2) Leave it as it is, but treat it as best we can
My opinion, based on what you say? No, you can't.3) Can we do a good job just as it is?
Rip it out, like you say, and also rip out half the rear wall to "E", so you can get a better sized room. It is just too small the way you have it like now. ITU and EBU recommendations are for a MINIMUM room volume of 42 m2. Yours is less than 24 m2. Ok, you can't get to 42 with what you have, but you can get a lot closer by adding that rear space, and you'd be able to install decent acoustic treatment, which you just don't have the space to do right now.5) Are there any other possibilities for the control room that we havent thought about?
Yup! Build fully, decoupled MSM rooms! It's the only way to do that at low cost and taking up as little space as possible! :)6) Is there a way of blocking sound out that doesnt take up too much room? (we are rather tight for space in the control room)
Actaully, "sound proofing" is a bit of a misnomer: there is no way to stop sound (except by putting a total vacuum between you and it!) . Any sufficiently loud sound will get through any realistic barrier. The best you can do is to attenuate it enough. That can be accomplished in only two ways: Lots of mass, or lots of distance. Or you can combine those two into an MSM system, which is specifically tuned to provide the level of isolation you need at the frequencies where you need it. An MSM wall is basically a tuned bandpass filter, that you tune to a frequency below what you need to isolate, so therefore it isolates all frequencies above that. Simple! It can be done in a few inches (15 cm or less, in most cases), works very effectively, and the cost is reasonable since you only need ordinary construction materials, such as 2x4, drywall and fiberglass or mineral wool insulation. That's your best bet. Actually, it is your ONLY bet if you don't have space! So, if that were my studio, I'd rip out everything that is not structural, beef up the entire floor above and seal it, seal the walls, and build the individual rooms as proper MSM isolated structures, making the best use of all of the available space. I would not try to fix what is there, because basically you don't really know what is there until you take it out, and you don't really know what it is doing anyway. My $0.02. - Stuart -We have studied the documentation for sound proofing quite extensively and have a good idea of what is required,
Thanks very much for your feedback, Stuart. Really do appreciate it.
I have spent a little time digesting what you have said and realised I didnt do a particularly good job with explaining our situation. But I have a few more questions regarding your feedback.
- I presume that, on the basis of that number, it is possible to use the figures provided here to determine what materials to use. Can one arrive at this number using a standard condensor mic? We dont have any measurement mics to hand and probably cant afford any right now, sadly.You should figure out where the loudest sounds are happening (either inside or outside), and then figure out what the quietest level needs to be (either inside or outside). Subtract the "quiet" number from the "loud" number, and that's how much isolation you need.
- This is what we thought too. However, is there a method of "tuning" a MSM barrier to specific frequencies? A lot of what is bleeding through the walls from our neighbours is around 80hz down (rough estimate).there are two problems here: Number 1) is that the walls are not decoupled, which basically means that 2) the walls are actually not walls at all! They are resonant cavities. Panel traps, technically. And they are tuned to unknown frequencies which are undoubtedly coloring the response of your room, and thus your mixes
- The floor is concrete (i forgot to mention that). I was under the impression that a floor resting on joists resting on neoprene with rockwool in the gaps (as mentioned in the link you give or John Sayers' recording manual etc) is the right way to go about things. From what you say, is it not worth floating a floor then?You most likely do not need that (assuming that the floor for the entire building is a concrete slab, sitting directly on the ground)
- We have done all what you say here: hanging the doors (which were already dense fire doors) independently from each other, building a frame on them and packing it with RWA45, ensuring there are no key holes etc. So they work quite well so far but not all are finished properly yet (there has already been some marked reduction from external sources when they are all shut).Tell us more about the doors: they are undoubtedly another weak point. Doors need to be solid (not hollow), massive (very heavy), have no through perforations (for handles), and must have at least two complete, independent seals all around the entire perimeter. Anything less is a waste of time.
- Definately agree with the fully decoupled room, but can it really be done with just studs and drywall? Id like to hear more on this if possible please.take out the exiting booth, and rebuild it as a proper MSM structure, fully decoupled from the existing walls and ceiling [...] You don't need to do that with concrete blocks: plain old studs and drywall are just fine PROVIDED THAT you do it right, as a fully decoupled MSM system.
- Again, how does one go about tuning an MSM system to specific frequencies? Is there any online material/guides for this?an MSM system, which is specifically tuned to provide the level of isolation you need at the frequencies where you need it. An MSM wall is basically a tuned bandpass filter, that you tune to a frequency below what you need to isolate, so therefore it isolates all frequencies above that
- Yes, this is very much along the lines of what we have thought. However, we arent really in a financial situation that would allow us to do that at the moment, hence my initial questions as to what we could do in the meantime. We are in a situation where we have to get things running as best they can in order to get more funding for future developments. Its not ideal, but then it wasnt really from the start. We do have plans to make full use of the space in the large workshop (approx 9m x 6.5m - stay tuned!), so there is plenty of room to build a whole control room and vocal booth there. Unfortunately most of the walls in the studio itself are load bearing (apart from the vocal booth and one or two others) so we cant really take a sledgehammer to them (e.g, the wall between the control room (A) and the storage space (E); and indeed, any other walls parallel to that one). Nonetheless, your considerations on the situation we have facing us are extremely useful and will provide much to think about. I am very grateful for this and for any future advice you (or anyone else?) may offer. Thanks ChrisSo, if that were my studio, I'd rip out everything that is not structural, beef up the entire floor above and seal it, seal the walls, and build the individual rooms as proper MSM isolated structures, making the best use of all of the available space.
:) That's what we're here for! :)Thanks very much for your feedback, Stuart. Really do appreciate it.
Exactly. But more than just materials, it will tell you how to build the walls, in the sense of how much mass you need on each side, and how much air gap in the middle.- I presume that, on the basis of that number, it is possible to use the figures provided here to determine what materials to use.
Even easier: Buy a simply sound level meter on on E-bay: You can find reasonably decent ones at around fifty bucks or so. And you'll need it throughout your build. You just need a simple basic meter with settings for A and C weighting, ranges from 30 to 120 dB, slow and fast response. You don't need anything fancier than that.Can one arrive at this number using a standard condensor mic? We dont have any measurement mics to hand and probably cant afford any right now, sadly.
Yup! That's what MSM is all about! The equation is simple: Fc=c[(m1 + m2)/(m1 x m2 x d)]^.5 If you need to isolate above 80 Hz, then tune the wall to no higher than 40 Hz. At 40 Hz the wall will be a very lousy isolator (since it RESONATES at that frequency). At 1.4 x Fc (Fc=the resonant frequency) the wall starts isolating, which would be 56 Hz. for this example. At 2 x Fc it isolates well (80 Hz in this example), and from there on up it just gets better and better. So if your problems start at 60 Hz, then tune it below 30 Hz. Etc. If you want to isolate the entire range of human hearing, down to 20 Hz, then you have to tune your wall below 10 Hz, which is a bit harder than you might thinks... :) Incidentally, if you have an 80 Hz issue in your room, that is most likely the walls singing…. The natural resonant frequency of a typical thin drywall partition (12mm drywall over an 8 cm air gap, no insulation) is about 75 Hz… So most likely you are hearing the walls “singing along” with your mix, in their own rather flat, monotone manner… They’ll pass a broad range of frequencies covering about an octave or so, centered on 75 Hz…However, is there a method of "tuning" a MSM barrier to specific frequencies? A lot of what is bleeding through the walls from our neighbours is around 80hz down (rough estimate).
Concrete is great! Excellent isolation, and excellent acoustically as a finish floor. Yes, it is a rather common misconception that all studios need floated floors: In reality, very few do. Yes, you CAN float it if you want to, but it ain't as simple as sticking bits of rubber under some 2x4s and slapping down a sheet of plywood! The basic concept is the same as for MSM for walls an ceilings, except that you can't use air as your spring in the floor! (Unless you want to build your studio on a hovercraft, maybe... :) ) so you use things like rubber, or actual physical springs. So now you need to figure out how to load the spring just right, so that it compresses and deflects the correct amount to "float" the floor. If you put too much weight on the spring, then it "bottoms out" (over-compresses) permanently , and you have no spring: The floor flanks, and you just have a resonant cavity down below... On the other hand, if you don't load the spring enough, and it doesn't compress / deflect, then it "tops-out" (under-compresses) permanently, and you have no spring: The floor flanks, and once again you have built yourself a very expensive resonant cavity down below... So you have to calculate the exact right load for each spring, at each location of your floor, taking into account which parts will be heavier (such as under the walls, console and speaker stands), and which will be lighter (open floor). Now that you know the load, in kilograms per square centimeter, on each support point of your floor, you can look for the right spring that will deflect the correct amount for that specific load. Manufacturers provide different type of springs for different loads. Of course, a floated floor is a tuned system, so you have to have enough mass and the correct stiffness in the springs to tune its frequency low enough as well! You don't want your floor floating perfectly, but with a resonant frequency of 150 Hz! :!: So you have to take that into consideration too. OK, so now you have done all your math, sprung your floor, and "floated" it.... which means that is now ALSO an air-spring MSM system (in addition to being a floated floor). So now you also need to ensure that you have enough mass and distance, and insulation, to get THAT frequency down low enough too... So you need: math skills, huge amounts of mass, proper isolation pads or springs, and lots of money. Now you can float your floor! Which begs the question: What was the objective of floating the floor in the first place? One thing, and one thing only: Isolation. That's the only reason you would need to float your floor: to isolate incoming sound, or outgoing sound (or vibration). There are no other reasons. There's another way of isolating floors: It is called "mass" and "damping". You need a very large, massive floor, and you need to damp it with something resilient. A thick layer of concrete slab has a huge amount of mass in it, and if it is poured directly on the ground, then the good old resilient earth underneath is your damping, and it is the entire planet! :!: Hard to beat that... :) So if you have a concrete slab on grade, and you are not sharing that slab with a rock crushing plant, a steel foundry, or a Pink Floyd concert, then most likely it is going to isolate just fine. You only need to float if you don't have a slab-on-grade floor, or if you are sharing the slab with a serious source of noise/vibration, or if you have unusually high requirements for isolation (screaming-extreme-mega-death-heavy-metal-ultra-rock-band-on-crack in your studio, sleeping babies on the other side of the wall), or something similar. 9 times out of 10, it just isn't necessary to float. Doing it right isn't easy, and is expensive.- The floor is concrete (i forgot to mention that). I was under the impression that a floor resting on joists resting on neoprene with rockwool in the gaps (as mentioned in the link you give or John Sayers' recording manual etc) is the right way to go about things. From what you say, is it not worth floating a floor then?
Yes, it sure can be done with just studs and drywall (and a bit of miner wool too). The basic concept is simple: you build one room inside another, with only the floor in common (slab-on-grade). The existing room already has walls around it, and a ceiling, and those will be the "outer -leaf" of your MSM system (some modification may be required, if they are not already single leaf walls and ceiling): So now all you do is build a 2x4 stud frame on the floor, a couple of inches away from the existing walls, and you put drywall on only ONE side of those new studs, NOT both sides. This is your "inner-leaf". The walls do not go all the way up to the existing ceiling: they stop a few inches short, since you need to put some 2x4 joists across the top of your new inner-leaf walls, and put drywall on only ONE side of those joists. Seal everything air-tight, and put mineral wool in the cavity between the new inner-leaf walls that you just built and the old outer-leaf walls that were already there. OK, so now you have your booth sitting in one corner of the room, fully decoupled from the existing two walls behind it, and from the ceiling on front of it. You are missing only one thing to complete it: the other two walls of the outer-leaf. So now yo build those. Just to clarify, since this is an iso booth, it is much smaller than the room, so you built it in the corner, in the angle between two existing walls, which form two sides of the outer leaf. Now you need to build the other two sides of the outer leaf, thus enclosing the booth completely. So you get out some more 2x4s, build those last two frames a couple of inches away from your booth, floor to ceiling, and once again put drywall on only ONE side of the studs, mineral wool insulation in the gap between that wall and the booth, seal it all airtight, and Bingo! STC-5o isolation booth (if you did it right. So the end result is that the booth is sitting all alone, on the floor, surrounded by two original walls plus two new walls, and everything is sealed air-tight. Now you have a tuned MSM system surrounding your booth, so it isolates really well at all frequencies above 1.4 times the resonant frequency. That's the best way of doing it: there are alternatives that work too (staggered studs, resilient channel, RSIC clips, isolation hangers, etc.). The basic concept is just that: room-within-a-room. Totally decoupled, tuned MSM. Low cost, little space, simple, common materials. Etc. What more could you ask for? :) The only trick is to design it right.- Definately agree with the fully decoupled room, but can it really be done with just studs and drywall? Id like to hear more on this if possible please.
Use the equation above, or search the forum for the terms "MSM" or "MAM", or read through some of the build threads, to see how others have accomplished it. It takes a while to get your head around these concepts, and some things are not intuitive, so take it slow. For example, you'd think that if a two-leaf MSM system is good for isolating, then surely a 3-leaf MSMSM system should be BETTER, right? After all, it adds more air gaps and more mass, so it MUST be better, correct? Nope. All other things being equal, a 3-leaf system will give you WORSE isolation that the equivalent 2-leaf, and a 4-leaf will be even worse still! Doesn't sound logical, but absolutely true....- Again, how does one go about tuning an MSM system to specific frequencies? Is there any online material/guides for this?
Now comes the part that you won’t want to hear: There are no cheap, easy, fast solutions. There are no magical products. There is nothing you can do to a room to fix resonant issues with the walls, ceiling and/or floor, without taking apart said walls/ceiling/floor. You have to attack the problem at its source. For example, you might think that adding another layer of drywall to the walls will help isolate: in fact, it will increase isolation by 6 dB theoretically, and more like 3 or 4 in practice, and that’s assuming that you double the existing mass on all sides of the room. Move the fader on your console down by exactly 4 dB: Did you notice the change? That’s how much effect you’ll get from adding mass to a coupled wall. Not worth it. Adding that extra layer of drywall would also move the wall resonance from 75 Hz down to about 55 Hz, but seeing that it covers a broad range, you’ll still have issues at 80 Hz., plus some new ones that you didn’t have before, in the bass guitar region… There is no treatment that you can put inside the room in order to isolate it better. All you can do is to put treatment in the control room, to resolve acoustic issues of the room itself, but that won’t help with isolation. But here again, the room is small, with little space for treatment. However, that may be your only option: Do a rough sketch of how you have your control room set up right now (location of console, speakers, mix position, outboard gear, couch, etc.), post a few photos of the room, and we’ll see what can be done on the treatment front.However, we arent really in a financial situation that would allow us to do that at the moment, hence my initial questions as to what we could do in the meantime.
Empty shell! Clean slate! Woohoo! When you’re ready for that one, let me know: I’m game!We do have plans to make full use of the space in the large workshop (approx 9m x 6.5m - stay tuned!), so there is plenty of room to build a whole control room and vocal booth there.
On your diagram, mark the walls that are load-bearing in red, and the rest in green…. :) - Stuart -Unfortunately most of the walls in the studio itself are load bearing (apart from the vocal booth and one or two others) so we cant really take a sledgehammer to them (e.g, the wall between the control room (A) and the storage space (E); and indeed, any other walls parallel to that one)
Hi stuart.
Thanks again for the feedback and apologies for the delay in getting back.
Ive taken some (not very good) photos of the unit which can be found here. I hope they shed some light on our situation.
Since your last comments, we've had a think and decided that we are definately going to build a control room and small vocal booth in the large warehouse at the front. This way, we can make sure it is properly isolated from the main structure, and we can design and build it according to sound principles (which the rest of the place hasnt!). As can be seen in the photos, there is quite a lot of space to work with (approx. 9m x 6.5m - although most of this is taken up with our predecessor's sound system equipment, which should be moved soon). However, we also need to keep a good portion of that space for a carpentry workshop, so cant be too build-happy.
From what ive read on John Sayer's recording manual, a control room should be at least 6m x 5m. However, using these proportions, would it be possible to reduce this to, say, 4.5 x 3.5? Also, what are the generally accepted minimum dimensions for a good vocal booth?
We will make some measurements and decide on how much space will actually be available for the booth and control room and make some preliminary designs based on that, which will of course be posted up here for scrutiny.
Elsewhere, we are going to rip out the booth to give us some more space in the live room. We are going to have to live with the control room as it is for the time being but may well combine that with the second room and make a new live room there too.
Please stay tuned for some futher designs.
Thanks
Chris
It's more a matter of total volume, floor area, and ratios than just fixed sizes, so yes you can use other dimensions. The normal recommendation is a minimum of 42 m3 of room volume (or 45m3, depending on who you listen to...). You also want the room ratio (height:width:length) to be close to one of the many know good ratios, and far away from the known bad ratios.From what ive read on John Sayer's recording manual, a control room should be at least 6m x 5m. However, using these proportions, would it be possible to reduce this to, say, 4.5 x 3.5?
Hard to say! That all depends on what you consider "acceptable". I've seen some pretty tiny ones, but I wouldn't build them that small myself. Once again, I'd go for total floor area and volume, rather than specific dimensions. Probably 6 or 8 m3 would be about as small as you'd want to go, but that will need heavy treatment. It also depends on shape: You could have a 10m3 "booth" that is 4m long, 1m wide and 2.5m high, but that would be pretty lousy as compared to an irregular shape booth of the same height and only 6 m3, where the width and length both vary from 2 to 3 m. So there are no hard and fast rules, really: Make it as big as you can, and treat it accordingly. - Stuart -Also, what are the generally accepted minimum dimensions for a good vocal booth?