HELP! 12 squares studioroom in department building!

Greets from Finland! I'm moving to a department building flat 4. We have a nice 3 room plus kitchen department, and I would like to sacrifice one of the rooms to make it my own music suite. The whole building is made of concrete of course, but the middle walls. The building was built in 2001. http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/2745/uusiasunto1cy6.th.jpg As you see I have chosen the room in the middle. I wouldn't like to disturb the neighbours. We have only one neighbour next to us, but also one above and one below us. Here's the room: http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/4172/studio1dr2.th.jpg I'm not sure how to place the desks and other stuff in my room. What is the best way to do it? It's a rental department, so I can build up only something temporary. the equipment I have: Three boxes of acoustic panels. (18 pieces 1200mm x 600mm) !!!THE MOST I NEED HELP IN THESE THINGS: How to place my stuff to that room? Where to place the absorbing material? What kind of an affect does the window have? Is there any way to reduce the bass sound from the neighbours? Please help me guys! I would highly appreciate if someone could make a plan or something which would clear my plans even a little. Thanks a lot! - JMP

Aloha and welcome to the forum, JMP

I wouldn't like to disturb the neighbours. We have only one neighbour next to us, but also one above and one below us.

It appears that "isolation" is one of the goals you're after. Isolation usually equates to "mass-air-mass" construction, and is usually very heavy and not very "temporary." - How loud are you? - Are you on the ground floor? - What is the construction of your apartment? (concrete, brick, sheetrock?) - How tall are your ceilings?

I'm not sure how to place the desks and other stuff in my room.

Here's a list of bits of info I've collected along the way. Use as many of the points as applicable. Setting up the Mix Position • It is better to start with a longer front to back dimension than the side to side dimension because you don't want rear reflections to interfere • Soffits angled 30 deg. in from a flat wall result in speaker baffles being perpendicular to the two legs of equilateral triangle comprised of two speaker centers and a point about 10" behind your head • The baffle extension (the face of the soffit) should be as large as you can make it, up to about 45" in each direction from the woofer in a system with a LF cutoff of around 45 Hz - There's a formula based on LF cutoff that ensures full 2 pi response for the woofer if the baffle is at least the size obtained in the formula's solution - • Distance to wall behind speakers will change response drastically - there is a wall bounce calculator on the Acoustics forum that's fun to play with (needs Excel) • Moving either speakers or your head by as little as an inch or two can sometimes make drastic changes in response, due to modal peaks and dips. • Left/right room symmetry (at least within a foot or two of ear height) is important for good stereo imaging. • Roughly 38% of total room length from the front wall • Equilateral triangle formed by left, right mix position • Monitors should NOT sit on the console but behind, placed on heavy decoupled stands - console placement causes early reflection problems in most cases, unless the console is slanted down in front a LOT. • Monitor angles 60 degrees • Monitor height – woofer at ear level (avoid mid point of floor to ceiling measurement – either sit higher or lower if necessary) • Angled side absorption panels – left/right of mix position • Side walls 6-12 degrees • Ceiling 12 degree slope

the equipment I have: Three boxes of acoustic panels. (18 pieces 1200mm x 600mm)

If these are referring to what some are marketing as "acoustic foam," most of the designs and principles here on the forum call for absorber units using insulation types of: 2"-3" Owens Corning 703 @ 2.5 pcf, 2"-3" Roxul AFB Mineral wool @ 2.5 pcf or equivants. Here are some plans for wall units that may be helpful: http://www.johnlsayers.com/HR/index1.htm Hope this helps, Aloha 8)

kendale wrote:

- How loud are you? - Are you on the ground floor? - What is the construction of your apartment? (concrete, brick, sheetrock?) - How tall are your ceilings?

Thanks kendale! -Actually I'm not very loud. I do computer-based music so there's no need to record live instruments like drums. -I'm on the 4th floor. -The construction is concrete, but the walls between our bedroom, my "studio" and kitchen is made of chipboard I think. -Ceilings are 2.5 metres tall. I think I will try to change the shape of the room a little with plywall. I'm just not sure how. I would like to keep the doorway as it is. And I'm not sure what to do with the window, and room arrangement. Any advice?

Aloha, How about something like this? http://www.johnlsayers.com/HR/index1.htm Hope this helps, Aloha 8)