Music Production studio design [small room]

I'm gonna move into a new apartment in July, and I will have a spare room for a little studio. Because I will have some spare euros, I will invest in some studio equipment for electronic music production (and the odd guitar recording directly into my interface), and optimize the room accoustics. I don't want to record vocals or other instruments. My Budget for the whole thing is between 500€ and 800€. Now, a plan of the room is attached. I apologize in advance for the poor plan, but I don't have any better plans for it yet myself. I will try to ask the owner of the house again for better plans, but seems very difficult to get them. If you need any specific meassurements, I will try to see the appartment again and meassure everything out.Unfortunately I only know the black coloured lengths, but not the length of the other walls. The approximate numbers should be fairly accurate though. The room is in a big house, but all the adjacent rooms are mine, so the noise could only annoy people above and below me. I know it is small, but I want to turn it into a studio. The size is only 6m². The height of the room is 2.50m Basically, I want to get the following equipment: A DAW controller for Cubase: Novation ReMote ZeRO SL MkII This is the wrong forum for that kind of stuff anyway, right? So we'll leave that out. New Monitors I have M-Audio AV40, but they are not that great. Which ones should I get instead? What do i need for such a small room? Rokkits RP5? I have looked into this for quite a while and they seem to be the best for my budet. Foam for sound optimizing What will i need to remove as much echo as possible? Will this do: Auralex Acoustics Roominators Also, I have read about bass-steps. Are they necessary for such a small studio? I have heard that rockwhool is very good to get rid of unwanted noise as well. Is that true? And is it better than foam? Workspace My last question is how should I position the desk/speakers to get the best audio results? I know that they should be on ear heigh, but that's it. The following equipment has to fit on my workdesk: 2 Chanel DJ Mixer 2 slim DJ controllers (Kontrol X1) NI Maschine (I have a stand for it) Laptop Second screen Monitor speakers DAW controller Mouse Line 6 UX1 Sound Card Audio 2 DJ sound card I figured that I would need a desk that is at least 1.80m wide in order to have enough space for all the equipment, which would only allow the desk to be in the very north of the room. My Plan B is to split up my DJ and production equipment onto two desks at different ends of the room, and to use my old monitors for DJing only. Do you reckon that would be better? What else, except for the foam on the wall, could I do to optimize the sound? And is there any other standart equiptment i really need for professional productions, like a monitor controller? Regards

Hi "Kontrol X1", and welcome! :) OK, so you are on a very tight budget, which leaves you without many options for treatment, so the best you can do is set up the geometry as perfectly as possible, then use your budget to put in the minimum basic treatment to get you going. You can always add more later.

I don't have any better plans for it yet myself. I will try to ask the owner of the house again for better plans, but seems very difficult to get them. If you need any specific meassurements, I will try to see the appartment again and meassure everything out.

Accurate measurements are important, but there's enough in your rough sketch to get an idea. So when you can take a tape measure over and measure everything, and also take photos. Use the measurements to create your room in SketchUp, then post that here along with the photos.

This is the wrong forum for that kind of stuff anyway, right? So we'll leave that out.

Not really the wrong forum: It's important to know what you plan to put in there, and there is an area on the forum for discussing gear, but this area is more about design.

What will i need to remove as much echo as possible?

It's not just about "removing echo". That's part of it, but the room has to be treated as a whole, and all rooms are different. The single most important thing you can do, before you even think about treatment, is to set up your desk, chair, speakers and other gear in the best acoustically correct location for your room: That costs you nothing, and will go a long way to getting the room to sound good. If the geometry is not correct, no amount of treatment can correct that, and the room will never sound good.

Also, I have read about bass-steps. Are they necessary for such a small studio?

I think you mean "bass traps" not "bass steps", and yes they are very VERY necessary in a small studio. The smaller it is, the more necessary they are. Small rooms need MUCH more treatment than large rooms, simply because they are small. Small rooms need a LOT of bass trapping, and that's a part of the treatment that you will need. But once again, it has to go in the right place in the room: you can't just put it anywhere.

I have heard that rockwhool is very good to get rid of unwanted noise as well. Is that true? And is it better than foam?

Rockwool is great, especially if you are on a tight budget. Actually "Rockwool" is a brand name: the generic name is "mineral wool". Acoustic foam is good, provided that you buy it from a reputable acoustics company, and NOT from the dozens of "foam by mail" places that you find on the internet. Proper acoustic foam is a special type of foam that looks very similar to ordinary packing foam, but at the microscopic level it is totally different. Packing foam is useless, acoustically, but some unscrupulous people sell it as though it was acoustic foam. Scam. Hoax. Fraud. Snake oil. So if you are going to use foam, then only get it from a place with a reputation. On the other hand, you can buy mineral wool or fiberglass insulation at your local building supply store, and get it MUCH cheaper than proper acoustic panels. You can then build a simple frame to put it in, and cover it in cloth yourself. Bingo! Cheap, very good acoustic panel. You'll need lots of those in your room.

My last question is how should I position the desk/speakers to get the best audio results? I know that they should be on ear heigh, but that's it.

That should be the first question! :) It's the most important thing you can do. OK, here's some general rules. Speakers go at 1.2 meters above the floor, which is the same height as your ears when seated, for most people. But that height refers to something the "acoustic axis" of the speakers, not the top, bottom or middle! Confusing. The acoustic axis is an imaginary line poking straight out the front of the speaker, at the point where the sound "seems" to come from. Normally it is on a line that joins the center of the woofer to the center of the tweeter, and very close to the tweeter. So that's the point that needs ot be 1.2m above the floor. Next comes your head: that needs to be located at roughly 38% of the distance between the front wall of the room (where the speakers are) and the rear wall. In your room, the ONLY orientation available to you, is to use the wall at the bottom of your sketch, labeled "aprox 1.4m", as the front wall. So you'd be facing that wall, with the window on your left. You cannot use any other wall as the front, since no other orientation provides symmetry, and symmetry is critical. The front part of the room (between your head and the front wall) MUST be perfectly symmetrical, and your head must be on the center line, the same distance form both side walls. OK, so with your room arranged like that, your chair should be set up so your ears are about 1.2m from the front wall. (the room is 3.8 m long, x 38% = aprox 1.2 m). That's just a starting point, and the final position might be a bot closer or a bit further away, but it's theoretically the best point. Set up your desk in front of the chair.

I figured that I would need a desk that is at least 1.80m wide in order to have enough space for all the equipment, which would only allow the desk to be in the very north of the room.

Well, that would be about the worst possible location in that room! Not a good idea at all. You'd have terrible reflections coming off that angled wall, no stereo image, no accurate sound stage, poor acoustics... You really don't have much choice here. Your only option, acoustically, is the bottom wall. So get a smaller desk, and mount some of your equipment in racks, or on a side table, or under the desk. In fact, get the smallest desk you possibly can. Big desks cause lots of reflections, which is bad. Keep it small, and just put the minimum possible equipment on it: your laptop, the second screen, and the mixer. The rest will have to go elsewhere. Sorry! Your room is way too small to be able to set up the speakers away from the walls, so your only option is to put them tight up against the front wall. However, when you do that, the wall itself provides a "bass boost" that you need to compensate for, and the speaker you are thinking of does not provide compensation! I'd suggest switching to the Yamaha HS50M, which does have that feature, and only costs a couple of dollars more. And it's a much better speaker, in my opinion (others might not agree!). So you'd set the "room control" switch on the back to -4 dB, and that will compensate for having the speaker right against the wall. But how to put it there? Don't try to put it on your desk! Use some of your money to buy some hollow concrete building blocks, stack up a few of them to get to the right height, stuff the holes inside with some mineral wool, and set your speakers on top of those. If the concrete is too ugly, then wrap it with attractive cloth of your choice. You might need to stack one or more small concrete paving slab across the top, to get to the right height. You can also put a piece of Neoprene rubber under each speaker, to decouple it from the stand, acoustically. So, you'll set up those "concrete block stands" such that the speakers will be about 90 cm apart and 30 cm from the side walls. That's not ideal, but it's the best you can do in your size room. Now carefully aim the speakers so that they are both pointing at a position about 20cm BEHIND where your head will be. Set up a mic stand or something at that location, and aim both speakers right at it. That's it! That's the best possible basic layout (in my opinion) for your room. Now for treatment: Firstly, you need a large absorption panel directly between each speaker and the wall behind it. If you can afford it, look for "Owens Corning OC-703 Semi Rigid Fiberglass Insulation". That's the best stuff. Buy as many 2 inch panels as your budget allows (at least 10 of them), and buy some cheap wood to make frames for it, and whatever cloth you like to cover it. Make the frames the same size as the 703, staple the cloth across the front, and that's your panel. the 703 should come in sheets that measure 4 feet by 8 feet (122 cm x 244cm), so set up one of those horizontally across the front wall, about half way up, directly behind the speakers. You'll have to cut that panel down from the 244cm width to fit the size of your wall, but that's easy. Next, you need treatment on your "first reflection points". That's the location on the side walls where sound from the speakers will bounce off the wall straight back at your head. That's bad. So set up one full panel of 703 on each side, starting about 30 cm from the front wall. Yes, that means the window will be covered: too bad! Sorry! No choices here. That's the price you'll have to pay if you want good acoustics. Next, You also have a first reflection point on your ceiling, right above your desk, so that needs treating too. The panels are not very heavy, so you can hang one from the ceiling on wires or thin chains. Angle it a bit, so it is lower at the front wall and higher over your head. Next, you need to treat your rear wall. First the bass traps: Make some panels with TWO layers of 703 in them (4 inches thick, instead of 2 inches), and place one in each rear corner, vertically, and diagonally across the corner. Now for rear reflections: Make another two "extra thick" panels like that, and set them up against the rear wall, also vertically, and spaced away form the wall by about 10 cm. Just leave empty air behind them. Finally, make some more "single thickness" panels for the rear side walls, one on the left and one on the right, and one more for the diagonal wall. If you have any money left over, make a couple of "min bass traps" for the front wall corners, to go vertically up there, next to the speakers. That's about it. That should make your room as good as it can get on your tight budget, and considering the space. But once you get the chance, post those photos and dimensions, and the SketchUp diagram, so we can take a closer look and see if there is anything else that can be done. - Stuart -

That sounds very helpful. Thank you! Now, its a bit of a shame that the window will be covered. Do you think, that an insulation board on a Tripod would do, so that I can remove it quickly if necessary?

First the bass traps: Make some panels with TWO layers of 703 in them (4 inches thick, instead of 2 inches), and place one in each rear corner, vertically, and diagonally across the corner.

So, the way I understand it is, that they cut the corner off a bit, so that the room gets a bit smaller, right? Like on the drawing I attached. Also, how high up would they go?

Firstly, you need a large absorption panel directly between each speaker and the wall behind it.

So does that mean that the speakers don't touch the wall, but the insulation? I attached a sketch, to show the way I understood it. I see that the yamaha got the bass-reflex opening at the back - therefore the room control switch. Will i not be better off with a speaker that has it at the front? My final question: Would using a different mineral whool make a big difference? The house is getting re-insulated anyway and i might be able to get some of that mineral whool. Should I take it, or try get the one you mentioned, if I can get it here or it isnt too expensive to ship to Ireland. I will try to get proper measurements and pictures, and then come back with them. Thanks already! That was some great help!

Do you think, that an insulation board on a Tripod would do, so that I can remove it quickly if necessary?

If you build it in a simple frame wrapped with cloth, you can simply lift it out or slide it over as needed, then slide it back for critical listening.

So, the way I understand it is, that they cut the corner off a bit, so that the room gets a bit smaller, right? Like on the drawing I attached.

Exactly! That's exactly how they go.

Also, how high up would they go?

Floor to ceiling! Even then, it won't be enough. It's a small room, so it will need a huge amount of bass trapping. I'm just giving you a very basic set of treatment, that isn't really enough at all, but on your tight budget it's about all you can do. It will tame the worst problems in that room, but you still will need more. As you get more money, I'd suggest you invest that on more bass traps.

So does that mean that the speakers don't touch the wall, but the insulation? I attached a sketch, to show the way I understood it.

Yup, that's it! You got it perfect. Just drop the panels down a bit, so there is some of it below the speakers too. Maybe 70% above, 30% below, or something like that.

I see that the yamaha got the bass-reflex opening at the back -

darn! I'd forgotten that it's rear ported. OK, let me see what else might work for you.

I see that the yamaha got the bass-reflex opening at the back - therefore the room control switch.

Actually, no. The room control switch is totally unrelated to the rear port. The room control switch is to adjust the baffle step compensation circuit if the speaker is placed close to a wall or in a wall. If the speaker is far away from a wall (more than about 2m) then the bass is radiating into 4 pi space (full space) while the highs are radiating into 2 pi space (half space). So there is a large power imbalance between them. The transition point is set by the width of the front panel of the speaker (the "baffle"), and therefore this problem is known as the "baffle step" issue. So the manufacturer builds in a circuit that compensates for this by doubling the bass power (increasing it by 6 dB). They assume that normally you won't have the speaker up against a wall, so you will need the baffle step compensation turned on. But if you DO have it close to a wall, then you need to turn it off, since the wall is forcing the speaker to radiate the lows into half-space as well, so no compensation is needed. So that swtitch has nothing to do with the rear port. All good quality speakers have that control, regardless of whether or not they have a rear port (or any port!). It is called by different names, such as "bass roll-off" or "bass cut" or "high pass" or "room control" or "room EQ" or "low shelf" or "low trim", or a few others, but the concept is the same: it turns off or reduces the baffle step compensation (power balance) circuit, if the speaker is up against a wall. Anyway, let me think about alternative speakers. I'd recommend the Adam A5x, but it's probably out of your price range. Great little speaker, fantastic sound, but not cheap. Maybe Mackie, Samson or JBL has something in your price range that isn't rear ported. I'd suggest Genelec too, but I think all there small speakers are rear ported.

Would using a different mineral whool make a big difference? The house is getting re-insulated anyway and i might be able to get some of that mineral whool. Should I take it, or try get the one you mentioned,

The one I mentioned is actually semi-rigid fiberglass, not mineral wool, but you can use mineral wool as well. The reason I suggested the 703 is because it is easy to work with, and you can build great panels very fast. Mineral wool works great too, but isn't so easy to work with. If you want to use mineral wool, then make sure that the density is around 50 kg/m3, more or less. Don't get stuff that is a lot heavier or a lot lighter than that. Or if you prefer to use fiberglass (pink fluffy insulation) then you need stuff that has a density of around 30 kg/m3. - Stuart - Edited to add: I found the perfect speaker for you! The Adam F5. I should have thought of that! Front ported, huge response, great sound, low shelf control, in your price range (well, a bit more expensive, but a MUCH better speaker)... :) :!: :yahoo: http://www.adam-audio.com/en/pro-audio/ ... nical-data http://www.thomann.de/ie/adam_f5.htm - Stuart -

Ok, I think that's all I need to know for now. The speaker even looks sexy :) It's gonna come out in October, so that would be just about ok. The extra cost of 50€ per speaker should be acceptable, regarding that the sound will improve a lot. I can use my AV40 until then. I will get back to you if I have any further questions / details. Thanks a million already!

Great! Let us know how it goes once you have all that in place. It's always nice to hear how things turn out for people. And if you want to improve things more after you have done that, then we can explain how to do a simple acoustic test of your room, so we can see what acoustic problems it still has, and how to fix them. - Stuart -