Hi. I built my detached garage into a one room studio about 6 years ago. It's worked out great so far. I've recorded tons of music in there and accumulated a quality pile of gear. Now I want to completely rethink my acoustic treatment to make it sound better for mixing.
The existing studio design is double thick drywall hung on "room within a room" type isolated framing. The floor is concrete and the ceiling is drywall and 1'x1' acoustic tiles like you would see in a school or at Motown Hitsville studio. I'll probably leave the tiles in, but I might put down a wood floor on the concrete. There is a bunch of acoustic treatment in there now but I want to gut it and start over. There's a vocal booth built into the rectangular room out of wood studs and drywall. Here's a sketchup pic...(I can attach the sketchup file later)
I have a 32 channel Yamaha PM2000 console thats pretty big. 12" Tannoy Monitors on stands and Adam A7 nearfields which I put on the meter bridge of the console. I usually set up a drumset in the back corner by the vocal booth, and I often am recording a full band in the room, so I want it to sound good for both mixing and tracking.
I'm planning on building absorption panels out of wood cloth and OC703 fiberglass insulation. Also maybe slot resonators or bass traps in the corners behind the console. And bass traps on the back? Maybe some DIY diffusers too but nothing too complicated. I want the back corner of the room to sound good for drums if possible. My budget is minimal so its all DIY.
My main questions are.
1. Where should I put the Tannoys, the console and the Adams?
2. Where should I put the acoustic treatment? i.e. absorption, diffusers, bass traps etc.
3. Should I put a cloud above the console/listening station?
3. What are some good DIY designs for the treatments I need? And the cloud?
4. Should I liven up the back corner for drum recording with diffusers or something?
Thanks so much for any help!!!!
Dan Horne
New Acoustic Treatment In Garage Studio
Originally posted at johnlsayers.com, topic 18573.
Hey Dan, it's hard to say from looking at that image.... because there is no image! :shock: :) You seem to have linked to something invisible? Perhaps a password-protected account?
That's one of the reasons why we ask members to always upload their images to the forum, so everyone can see them, always, instead of just linking to them.
So please upload your picture(s) directly here, then we can take a look at what you have and offer suggestions.
- Stuart -
Oh whoops. I figured it out. Sorry.
Heres a link to the sketchup file. I hope it works?
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jt900tuajrke2 ... Sketch.skp
Whoa! This thread nearly got missed completely! Just saw it again by luck...
Yup, it works. Great!Heres a link to the sketchup file. I hope it works?
Sound good for the walls and floor, but the ceiling might not be so good, depending on how that is done and what is above the "acoustic" tiles. In general, that type of tile is fine for low level acoustic treatment of offices, schools, shops, etc., but not much use for studios. Do you have details of how that ceiling was built? Photos?The existing studio design is double thick drywall hung on "room within a room" type isolated framing. The floor is concrete and the ceiling is drywall and 1'x1' acoustic tiles like you would see in a school or at Motown Hitsville studio.
As long as it is just plain wood laminate laid directly on the concrete (with underlay, of course), that's fine. But do not do anything that would create any type of air gap between the concrete and the wood! That would be a ad idea.but I might put down a wood floor on the concrete.
Is that really needed? Would it be possible to put that somewhere else, outside the control room? That is creating major asymmetry at the back of your room.There's a vocal booth built into the rectangular room out of wood studs and drywall.
It's not a good idea to put monitors in the meter bridge, despite what you see in so many studio photos. It creates multiple problems in different ways that mess up what you hear: it is no longer the same as the clean, clear direct sound that left the speakers. It would be beneficial to get the A7's of the console bridge and onto stands behind the desk. The stands should be as massive as possible (heavy).I have a 32 channel Yamaha PM2000 console thats pretty big. 12" Tannoy Monitors on stands and Adam A7 nearfields which I put on the meter bridge of the console.
Have you considered the possibility of flush-mounting your speakers? Since your room isn't big enough to get the speakers far enough away from the walls that SBIR and other artifacts are not too much of a problem, the very best you can do to eliminate those issues is to flush mount (a.k.a. "soffit mount") your speakers. Slot resonators should not go in corners: on walls, yes, but not in corners. You need the corners for bass trapping (or maybe for speaker soffits, in the case of the front vertical corners).I'm planning on building absorption panels out of wood cloth and OC703 fiberglass insulation. Also maybe slot resonators or bass traps in the corners behind the console.
Definitely! It's a small room, so it will need massive bass trapping.And bass traps on the back?
The room is on the borderline for applicability of diffusers: it's almost big enough that you could do that, but the shape (due to the booth in one corner) sort of plays against you for that. It still might not be a bad idea though: maybe a deep Skyline style diffuser (QRD) on the rear wall...Maybe some DIY diffusers too but nothing too complicated.
I think I partly answered that already, but not completely: The console should go centered across the room (side to side) and far enough from the front wall that your head ends up at rough 38% of the room depth (front wall to back wall). That 38% figure is NOT written in stone! It's a starting point, a theoretical good point. You might find that you prefer a bit further forwards or backwards. Just stay away from 25% and 50 %....1. Where should I put the Tannoys, the console and the Adams?
Which model? If they are front ported or un-ported, then the best possible thing you can do for them is to soffit mount them, but if they are rear ported or side ported, that's not so easy to do. Third best choice is to put them on massively heave stands right up against the front wall, with just enough gap to get the acoustic treatment in. They should be toed-in by 30°, and set far enough apart such that the are the same distance from each other as they are from your head. The A7s should go on stands, either inside or outside of the Tannoys, and angled suitably. They should also not interfere in the direct path from Tannoys to your ears.I have ... 12" Tannoy Monitors
Basic treatment for a small room: Bass trapping in as many corners as possible (there are 12 corners in a rectangular room...), and at the very least that should include superchunks in the two rear vertical corners, plus a couple of other corners. Thick absorption (4" of 703) on all first reflection points. Thick absorption between the speakers and the front wall. Thick absorption across the entire real wall, or perhaps some of the rear wall could have diffusion on it, if needed. You should also run the REW acoustic analysis program on that room before you do anything to it (empty room), then again after you install each piece of treatment, so you can see how things are changing, and how much more you need to do at each step.2. Where should I put the acoustic treatment? i.e. absorption, diffusers, bass traps etc.
Probably a good idea, yes! You have enough height to do that, so it makes sense. You could also consider another smaller cloud over the drums.3. Should I put a cloud above the console/listening station?
Search the forum! :) There's a lot of threads with numerous examples of how people have built their treatment, and how it has worked out for them. There is no one single "right way" to build things: all rooms are different, and each one needs the right type of treatment. Also, all studio builders have different DIY skill sets, different budgets, and different concepts of aesthetics: what I think looks great, you might think looks really ugly! So it's better to look around at what others have done, find something close to what you need, and adapt it to your own room and personal tastes.3. What are some good DIY designs for the treatments I need? And the cloud?
Since you want to use the room for both mixing (which needs a pretty dead rear wall) and tracking drums (which needs a liver sound), you might want to consider building a variable acoustic device, that can be opened or closed as needed to reveal either an absorptive surface, or a reflective surface, or perhaps even a diffusive surface. That way, you can adjust the room acoustics as needed for each session. - Stuart -4. Should I liven up the back corner for drum recording with diffusers or something?