Newbie who doesn't know where to start...

Hello! This would be my first post here. Great forum BTW! Before I start asking questions I have to say that my English is a bit rusty :oops: This forum has a lot of good information but for me it's a little bit overwhelming for me(so much new info). I was about to spend alot of money to upgrade my Pro Tools LE (MBOX DAW) system when I came across this forum. I didn't even realize how awful our living room sounded before taking time to listen. Now I've come to realize that I have to do something about it before spending all my money on new gear :? We have just rented a flat from an appartment building with my girlfriend. What I basically want to do is set up a "recording space" in our living room. I would like to track (vocals, guitars and bass) and mix my songs for my rock-band http://www.kingmuffin.com. Drums would be tracked in a proper studio. Now here's the problem. We have many elderly neighbours and I don't want to get many complaint from them :roll: so some kind of isolation would be needed. My biggest problem might still be the room sounding like a cave and of course the budget. Now here's the question: I've got about 1000 EUR to spare so what kind of thinks should I get so I could turn our living room into a studio when needed? Because we are renting this appartment I can't put anything on the walls so everything should have their own stands. This is starting to sound like mission impossible :oops: Here are some photos and measurements from our living room: Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Come to think of it, maybe I should start with positioning my equipment correctly. Where would place my desk and speakers (Yamaha MSP5 monitors)? I was also thinking about getting a Samson 120a subwoofer but it might not be a good idea until I get the room to sound even a little better. Thanks for your help! Jarkko

I've tried to do my homework as well as I can. It seems that the bedroom studio plan from SAE's site might be with in my budget. Now I'm trying to figure out if I should drop my idea about using our living-room and start thinking about setting up my studio where our bedroom is at the moment.

Jarrko - you won't be able to isolate that room from your neighbours unless you build a room within a room construction. The bedroom studio from SAE will give you acoustic treatment for the room but not isolation. So what size is the bedroom?? cheers john

John Sayers wrote:

Jarrko - you won't be able to isolate that room from your neighbours unless you build a room within a room construction.

First off all thank you John for taking the time to help me! Ok, so isolation is out of the picture. In that case I'll just focus on the acoustical treatment and try to warn our neighbors when I'm recording vocals.

John Sayers wrote:

So what size is the bedroom??

Our bedroom would be the room on the right just below the bathroom on the floorplan I made with SmartDraw (nice tool, never even heard of it before) The size of the bedroom would be 280cm wide (from the right side wall to our wardrobes), 480cm long and the height would be about 290cm. Would it be a good idea to place my desk and speakers on the wall that is just below the bathroom? Could I use movable gobos (one day I'll find out what these things are :)) function as a "vocal booth" for my little bedroom studio? Best Regards, Jarkko

Just one more question. What do you people think of the Auralex Max-Wall. Would it be an "answer" to my problems? What I basicly need is: 1) Something to quit down the echo while mixin 2) Good sounding space to track vocals (vocal booth?) 3) All this with a budget of 1000-2000 EUR

Jarkko, first - GOBO is one of those "evolved" words from working studio's, originally derived from "go between", it's just quicker to say gobo. :? The max wall system will work OK, but if you're into building your own stuff you can build similar panels for less. There's no real magic there, just a bit of Reflection Free Zone construction combined with some absorption. Plywood panels faced with rockwool or rigid fiberglass and cloth covered would do the same thing in the same place. If you're NOT into the DIY thing, then the Max wall will definitely work to improve your mix... Steve

knightfly wrote:

first - GOBO is ... "go between"

Thank you Steve!

knightfly wrote:

The max wall system will work OK, but if you're into building your own stuff you can build similar panels for less.

I like the way you think :lol:

knightfly wrote:

If you're NOT into the DIY thing, then the Max wall will definitely work to improve your mix

Until now I've tried to stay of the DIY path (to be honest, I barely know how to hold a hammer ;)) but as I look at the prices for Max-Wall and MiniTraps I've start to think if this would a good time for me to start learning. I'm a little bit scared that the price for these products is high for a good reason. Would two well placed DIY GOBOs be enough to create a Reflection Free Zone and do I need bass traps as my MSP-5 nearfields or a bit on the shy-side when it comes to bass? Thanks again Steve!

Puustinen wrote:

Would two well placed DIY GOBOs be enough to create a Reflection Free Zone

I think I just made a fool of myself... What I was supposed to ask was: Would two well placed SIDE WALL ABSORBERS from John's link http://www.johnlsayers.com/HR/index1.htm do the trick or would I still have problems with high frequencies? Cheers, Jarkko

Those units by themselves won't do the whole thing, but will help flutter between side walls as well as take the side walls out of the equation for early reflections - a complete RFZ, however, would require no early reflections from ceiling, front wall, side walls, etc - to do that, you need to put some geometry to work and see where reflection points will be for each speaker. Things like sloped ceilings and front walls, splayed side walls and rear absorption (in smaller rooms at least) are normally what's done. If you can't do that, the max-wall approach tries to do as much of it as possible without attached construction, as do John's complete set of portable treatments. John's are much more thorough, at the cost of time and effort. The "sawtooth" type side absorbers will be a good start, but you would still need corner traps, etc, as shown in the last pic on the absorber page... Steve