Amateur converting a loft for recording/mixing

Hello all, first poster here. Hope I put this in the right forum and I included enough detail! I'm a bassist/vocalist looking to convert the loft in my new (rental) house into a place where I can record bass and vocals (nothing particularly loud), and a some amateur mixing. The house is newly built and very well-insulated - I've yet to hear any sound from the neighbours. I'm not completely new to the world of recording music and music studios, but this is the first time I get to have one in my own house. Consequently, I'm at a loss as to where to start - right now it's very much a blank slate. Here are the facts and figures. I've attached a larger Sketchup screenshot to this post.

• Loft on the second floor of a concrete house. Carpet on the floor right now (cheapo square carpet tiles)
• Room size: 6.75m long, 5.15m wide, 3.45m high. BUT! The roof slopes to 1.00m high in the corners.
• Washing machine will have to stay there, it's the only place I can put it.
• The big white block next to the washing machine is the combined HVAC/Solar panel installation. It's covered in plastic-wrapped acoustic blanket.
• There's an open staircase in the back.
• This is a rental property - I would prefer to not make any big permanent changes to the walls/floor/ceiling.

Right now I more or less randomly plonked the mixing position in the room and put 7 deep acoustic panels against the back wall (128cmx60cmx40cm, stuffed with 2x7cm Rockwool, shown in attached screenshot). For those interested, I can PM the Sketchup model - it's too big to attach to this post. As you can see the attic is oddly shaped due to build of the house – Not sure if this is a benefit (fewer parallel walls?) or drawback (angled roof creating two massive bass traps?!). So these are my most pressing questions at the moment:

• Given the room dimensions and (odd) shape, what would be the best mixing position?
• If suitable for mixing at all, what acoustic treatment would I ideally tackle first? As in - what acoustics definitely need fixing first before I do anything else.
• What should be my second priority?
• How big of a problem is the staircase in the back? Is it a problem at all?

Budget is between $500-$1000 for acoustic improvements, etc. I have no problem with DIY so happy to build anything needed. In time I'd add a small vocal booth, but acoustic treatment of the room itself is my first priority. Nearfields on stands at the moment are cheapo JBL LSR305s - I thought it would be useless to upgrade until the room has been treated. Any and all input is welcome! Robin

That's great that you have a space to use! You need to cover the rear wall (where the stairs are) with insulation. I've gotten away with putting some screws into studs and then just hanging panels on the screw ends. It's certainly not the most safe but a screw hole isn't very hard to patch up when you move. You just need 2 screws per panel. Also, of course, install as much bass trapping as you can (just stack super chunk style for ease). Take some acoustic measurements along the way to keep an eye on your improvements. You might want to fashion something to cover up the HVAC. . . I've used gobos with decent results in the past. Basically, you want to get an even time domain response and stop any first reflections from hitting you loud and early. Greg