A Classic small space.... Need Advice!!

In my new home I have been able to set aside 1 room to 'my thing' in... Recording, mixing, etc. (A all inclusive one room studio) Unfortunately, after just buying the home, I have little a budget to work on it with, and to me, it has major challenges. (Budget not more than 200 - 400 dollars) A few notes: Not concerned with noise problems (like being to loud for the family or the neighbors) All monitoring is done on Nearfields Have the ability to eventually put up new walls and close off doorway to kitchen, but would rather save those major changes for much later... Would like advice on smaller acoustical treatments, best locations for setting nearfields, maybe some recommendations one what treatment materials I can use and where with reference to the diagrams. The large opening to the room next to the hallway has a wall across the hallway... better off trying to treat hallway wall? or preferably due to astetics, would like to use a different option like curtain type closure, or some furniture at the entrance to the room (couch)... It's seems I may have to get real creative... but maybe with your help I could do a 'decent' job getting around all of this by treating the rest of the room??? Thanks for your time and patience and here are the diagrams!

Ok - how about this suggestion. turn your setup 90 degrees so you are facing the large window. Go and buy $290 worth of the most dense insulation you can find - spend the remaining $10 on two cans of colourful spray paint and a bag of large plastic garbage bags. Stuff the insulation neatly into the bags, spray them colourfully with spray cans and hang on the walls. there you go - $200 total budget :) cheers john

Ok... I suppose I priced myself right out of any real improvement... If I was to invest a bit more, what other steps might I be able to accomplish the would provide viable results...??? Where do I need to go next with this room to get going in the right direction? Thanks for your patience!!

That would depend on how much more your willing to invest.

Is there more progress and options still under say $750???? And I guess to ask a ? more specifically, if I were looking at the 'bedroom studio' on the SAE site.... and using it generally as a model... how do I deal with the openings in this room... what are my best, lowere price options? thanks again

I would think that you could at least get a halfway decent listening/mixing area with $2-300 worth of rigid fiberglass or mineral wool if applied in the right spots. If you rotate as John suggested (and as shown in the Bedroom Studio you picked off the SAE site), then you can begin to think about your treatments. First, you will need some bass trapping in the corners. This can be done effectively by just cutting and shaping the aforementioned insulation such that it bridges the vertical corners both by the large window and on the opposite wall by the kitchen. Some guys are completely filling the corners with rockwool and are pleased with the results. I would then recommend a decent sized cloud above the mixing position, hanging from the ceiling, and some absorption on the sidewalls. The treatment shown for the bedroom studio for the sidewalls would be great as well. Just trying to cut down on sidewall reflections. And don't think that John's suggestion of the garbage bagged insulation was just some kind of crazy ranting. Tightly packed insulation bundles (say R19 for instance) are pretty good low frequency absorbers. The garbage bags are there to keep the insulation fibers from becoming airborne. A stack of these in each corner does work. Good luck, Darryl.....

Now were cooking... and I really took John's Ideas seriously, just my wife would kill me for hanging bags on the wall.. just would like a cleaner look... so going for the last suggestion ... how will the larg openings and door at the back of the room (to the kitchen) affect the sound and acoustics of this scenario and are there any things I can do to help that out... maybe some type of curtain over the openings, or maybe even more silly (or not) a portable wall to cover the opening during sessions, etc. Any more ideas... ?? thanks

Hey DDev I'm originally from Wichita Ks and actually planning on moving back in the spring. Where in Wichita are you ( closest major intersection like Rock Road and Kellogg )

I don't have any good answers in regards to the openings. Personally, I'd probably just leave them alone and see how it works. Anything that will actually do any good will end up resembling a permanent wall anyway. The important thing is to get the mixing position as symmetrical as possible with as few reflections as possible at that spot. I have a tiny control room and I've found that my mixes work better if I have the door open (this creates a HUGE bass trap I suppose). It is not as convenient for my family with the door open, so I only do that when everyone else is gone, but in your case it sounds like it's not an issue. Good luck, Darryl.....

DreaminDrumBeats wrote:

Hey DDev I'm originally from Wichita Ks and actually planning on moving back in the spring. Where in Wichita are you ( closest major intersection like Rock Road and Kellogg )

Hey Doni, I live in west Wichita near Central and 119th. My studio isn't much but when you get back to town I'd love to show it off and talk studio stuff with someone else who's into it. What part of town were you from? You mentioned Rock and Kellogg so I'm guessing you were on the east side. I used to work at Raytheon over there so spent a lot of time there myself. My work now is primarily as a supplier to Learjet so our offices are closer to the airport right now. Good luck on your move and hope to meet ya someday. Darryl.....

Lets see I've lived in plainview, near Harry and Woodloawn, Lincoln and Woodlawn, Mt Vernon and Oliver, Oliver and Hillside, Mac Arthur and Broadway, Broadway and Hydralic ( went to southeast hight and east high schools) My dad used to work at raytheon worked there while mrs beech was still alive before she sold it to Raytheon when it was Beechcraft. He worked in the experimental dept. most famous plane he worked on was the Starship. was there for some 20 odd years I think I can't exactly remember. But I basically grew up on the east side, yes but as i got older I live in South Wichita and as far north as Park City. Hey man yeah I'll definately drop you a line once I get settled in after the move I need to record some songs I wrote anyways and then have them played back to me so I can play drums to them and then have them mixed together

Ok let's put this all together, I'm going to use dense absorbtion strategically placed on the walls, probably a cloud above the workstation and bass traps in the corners, and as far as symmetry, I would like a recomendation under 2 scenarios: thanks 1. workstation as in my pics above speakers facing the opening, because this seems to provide the most symmetrical stereo field.... Possible a heavy curtain or temporary wall to cover the opening, but then it seems more appropriate to follow John's guidance and face the window with the speakers facing away from the window....which is scenarior 2. 2. speakers facing away from window and a. treat room, but leave space open b...treat room, and use temp wall or heavy drapes to create a 'false' wall Please forgive my mess and thanks for your patience... Just trying to focus in on a decision...and truly appreciate all this advice!!! so whatcha think???

I'm treating my room with lots of rockwool. This far brought 8 packs of rocwool, 6 cut in triangles and placed in front corners of my room, rest are placed randomly next to walls. You can see waterfall graphs on how modal problems are softened in my thread here: http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4038 Original idea is based on studiotips superchunks. see design here: http://forum.studiotips.com/viewforum.php?f=8 But I wanted mobile units so I spent some nights on CAD latelly preparing cuting plans - going to lumbermill today to cut wooden parts. For my doorway (and back of room which I need as storage), I'm creating two moveable walls of 6" rockwool. Don't know how it will work - everything is on paper yet. One thing I can confirm that larger amounts ofrockwool (3pcf density) cut in triangles and placed in corner really make some difference. I have compared this to no other designs, so can't tell if this is the way to go. BTW. this solution is CHEAP!

Funk, I think option 2 will be the preferred way to go, which will have you firing your speakers down the longer dimension. As Tomas suggested, stuff the corners with rockwool (those superchunks are a great concept), including the corner closest to the kitchen. As far as your comment about a temporary wall or heavy curtains to even things out, I don't think the curtains will get you much. As mentioned earlier, the biggest thing to try to do is to get the left and right side walls to be as close to the same as possible as far back as your mixing position. So, if you place your desk on the 10 ft wall facing the large window, how far into the large opening will your chair be sitting while mixing? This will be the area of greatest concern. Let's say that, hypothetically, your chair sits 2 ft into that opening. To get an area that is symmetrical with the opposite wall you will need a wall surface that goes floor to ceiling covering that much of the opening (a little bit further back is actually better). Probably the easiest way to do this would be to build a large gobo that can attach to the wall and rest on the floor. The hallway side of the gobo can be a solid surface material like plywood or MDF (painted or otherwise finished to be attractive). The inside surface (studio side) could be either a slat resonator design or could be an absorptive material like fabric-covered mineral wool or rigid fiberglass. The key will be to have the same type of treatment applied to the opposite wall the same distance from the 10 ft wall. Now you've got a symmetrical mix position. The back of the room (nearest the kitchen) will need a little attention, but because your room dimensions fit pretty closely to a "proper" ratio you might be able to get by without too much treatment there. I would definitely do another of the corner bass traps in the one floor to ceiling corner you've got, and possibly fit out the rest of that wall with absorption just to deaden it. I hope this helps. I'm not an expert like some of these guys around here, but my advice is based on what I've seen recommended to others in similar situations. Good luck, Darryl.....

Thank you, at least I now understand what you meant by a symmetrical monitoring space... I will have to to something like you described because it is mostly open on that one side.