Front room 'studio' - UK

Hi, I'm looking for some help to improve the sound of the room I am currently using to record a few bits and pieces in. Im pretty much recording everything apart from full drums - guitars, bass (mainly D.I), percussion and vocals being the main things. I am not concenred with any soundproofing here - its all about making it sound good! In addition I am currently using headphones to mix on and checking mixes through lots of different soucrces. I am aiming to get some monitors set up in the near future so im hoping I can work towards a decent monitoring room as well. The room is fairly small and I have tried to put together a basic sketch up model. I have added some lables to show dimensions (approximate for ceiling height) and where doors go etc - im sure there is a clearer way of showing this but its my first time using sketch up so skills are limited. The main room - The main room is an L shape and currently has a big white leather sofa and a couple of wooden sideboards in it. The cupboard in the corner is actually quite deep and tall inside so im not sure if this could be useful at all - I had wondered if filling or covering it with rockwool would be handy in some way. The whole room is carpeted. The second room - The doorway that leads to this is currently open and has no door. The room is a 'kitchenet' small kitchen with lino floor and fairly hard surfaces. The big issue here is that both rooms still have to function as a living space so any treatment that is devised would be best to be portable/removable. Im happy to hang stuff on walls, in corners and generally do whatever so long as it can be taken down fairly easily. I had guessed this flexibility may actually enable me have two set ups...one for recording and one for mixing. Im based in the UK and my budget in the short term is pretty limited - Id say about £500 but in the long run I hope to add bits and pieces as I can afford it. I am able to get Rockwool 'acoustic slabs' (which I think is RWA45) locally and would be more than happy making a few panels/superchunks following some of the very helpful instructions on this site! http://www.minsteronline.co.uk/product/acoustic-slab So my questions... 1) Do you need more information? (this is where I get told to re-read the forum rules as I missed one....sorry in advance!) 2) Is the rockwool linked above appropriate? if so which thickness? (im guessing the answer may be it depends what its used for) 3) Is it feasible to have portible/moveable solutions and change the set up dependent on what im doing? i.e. tracking or mixing. As with many posting here for the first time this is my first attempt at addressing the acoustic issues in any room so im learning alot already reading through the forum but everything I have read seems to suggest that addressing acoustics is a must so im looking forward to seeing what can be achieved! Cheers

Does the Sketchup model show two adjacent rooms? (as part of the model's doorway leading to the narrower 'room' is missing.) Also, whereabouts did you plan to set up the monitors? (when you get them of course.. :) )

photos would be great if possible

Hi "TenLetters", and Welcome to the forum! :)

(this is where I get told to re-read the forum rules as I missed one....sorry in advance!)

Nope! :) Looks like you did your homework, and your first post was great! :D OK, so to clarify, this is a multi-purpose room that has to work as both a live room sometimes, a control room other times, and living room the rest of the time. Is that about right? To answer your basic question: Yes, for something like that, your best bet is probably moveable panels, perhaps in the form of gobos on wheels that you can push around as needed for tracking / mixing, then push out into the garage or somewhere when the room is just a living room. Of course, this is not an ideal solution, and will not turn your living room into Abbey Road, but if that's what you can do, then that's what you can do. So probably you should think of building a bunch of large, thick gobos on wheels, as tall as you can make them. There are many designs for gobos on the forum, but I think for your case, I'd make the hard side very solid and massive, maybe thick plywood, MDF or OSB, and I'd make the soft side very thick absorption, with an air gap between that and the hard side, as deep as you can afford. You could cover the whole thing (both sides, if you want) with some type of cloth, to make it look good, then arrange them as needed for tracking, and re-arrange them for mixing. The arrangement for tracking is more of a "trail and error" approach, probably, but for mixing I'd use several such gobos to create a symmetrical space around the speakers and desk, with the soft sides of the gobos all facing the mix position, and positioned at least at your first reflection points, with a couple behind you, as far back as you can get them. Symmetry is the key, and first reflection treatment is the second key, get those two right, and you can build yourself a fairly workable space, I reckon. The room isn't very big, so you don't have a lot of choices, but probably for mixing I'd set up a couple of gobos in a "V" shape at the thin end of the room, using the 1.75m wall as the front of the room, then put a couple on the sides, one in the middle at the rear on the 3.66m wall, and two diagonally across the corners on that same rear wall, as sort of improvised bass traps.

The cupboard in the corner is actually quite deep and tall inside so im not sure if this could be useful at all -

That might be a problem! It will act as some sort of resonant device, without a doubt, but the question is, what will it do? :shock: Your idea of filling it with absorption is probably the best bet. You might even be able to get some small variation in the room acoustics by leaving the door open or closed, but that depends on how big the closet is. But worth a try!

The whole room is carpeted.

Any chance you could get rid of that? Carpet is not very useful, acoustically: it does the opposite of what you need! So it can actually harm the room sound, making it dull and "honky". So one option could be to take it out. Another might be to lay sheets of thick plywood on top whenever you need to use the room for critical work, then take them out again when you are done.

I am able to get Rockwool 'acoustic slabs'

That should be fine. Get the thick stuff (67mm) and use a double layer in some of your gobos (134 mm thick), and a single layer in some others, so you have some flexibility. Or just make them all double-thick! In a room that small, absorption is your friend. What you could do is to put plastic across the front (soft side) of some of the gobos, just behind the cloth, to make them more selective: that way they'll absorb bass just the same, but reflect the highs back into the room, so it doesn't become too dead. That would be a good basic approach on a tight budget, where isolation is no needed and nothing can be left in place. And like Aaron said: Photos! Post some photos of the room, so we can get a better idea of what you are dealing with. - Stuart -

Hi, Firstly thank you all so much for the responses! I have had a nighmare coulple of months so I have had my rockwool sitting there doing nothing since April! Anyway im now in a position to move ahead with this project.

OK, so to clarify, this is a multi-purpose room that has to work as both a live room sometimes, a control room other times, and living room the rest of the time. Is that about right?

Correct - although I'm the only person living here so I can pretty much do what I want within reason.

To answer your basic question: Yes, for something like that, your best bet is probably moveable panels, perhaps in the form of gobos on wheels that you can push around as needed for tracking / mixing, then push out into the garage or somewhere when the room is just a living room.

.....im considering making some wall mounted gobos and leaving them up permanely as well as having a few portable ones. Im hoping this would give me a better 'base' room to work with, taking out some of teh inherent problems, while still having some extra gobos if/when needed to allow for mixing/tracking etc. Does this sound reasonable?

I'd make the hard side very solid and massive, maybe thick plywood, MDF or OSB, and I'd make the soft side very thick absorption, with an air gap between that and the hard side, as deep as you can afford.

If it makes sense to have some wall mounted panels the air gap should be between the back of the rockwool and the wall?

using the 1.75m wall as the front of the room

Ok, so my first attempt at a diagram wasnt very clear....The little ajoned room is actaully a small utility room so has a work surface and storage etc. Could be an issue to put a mix position in there.

The whole room is carpeted.

Any chance you could get rid of that? Carpet is not very useful, acoustically: it does the opposite of what you need! So it can actually harm the room sound, making it dull and "honky". So one option could be to take it out. Another might be to lay sheets of thick plywood on top whenever you need to use the room for critical work, then take them out again when you are done.

yeah I had read that carpet is a big no. I do have another room I can posisbly use which is actually hard wood floor but its a spare room so even smaller than the current room im looking at using and is pretty much a perfect square (2.9mx3m) which, from what I have read is a nightmare for acoustics. It does sound pretty bad in there with plenty of flutter echos - I have to say putting up even small ammounts well postioned rockwool does tame it but im sure a prpoer measurement will still show issues.

aaronreeves wrote:

photos would be great if possible

I will get some photos up asap.....I just need to give the place a quick tidy ;) Cheers, Adam