sandled's control room:design post

hey all, Overview: ok, i'm probably doing this backwards, but I'm just finishing up my tracking room, and starting to think about the control room design. Hindsight being 2020, i should have designed both the tracking and control room together and just built one at a time, instead building the tracking room then designing the control room .. but... specifically I have a few concerns. Background info: here is my main post, under the construction.. i'd keep this with it, but these questions are more of the design side than the build side ;) http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... sc&start=0 I also have a crude Sketchup of what I have so far. The tracking room is mostly built, I have not started any treatments in the control room side or tracking side, any suggestions would be great... , the room is 14' x 22’ (30’ including the step area. ) in the basement with 9'1" ceilings, block wall, cement floor, typical open wooden floor joists above, of course there is a metal duct system on the left side, along with an elec panel in the very rear of the room, and various pipes and wires throughout. The stairs lead into the basement along the back wall and enter into the room from along the right side wall. (the wall is there in the Sketchup, just not the steps). The stair wall is currently just open studs, but I plan on drywalling them. Everything in this room must be somewhat removable or temp. So I do not intend on studding out and drywalling the walls, or finishing the ceiling. The main isolation I want is between the control room (this room) and the tracking room. Noise bleed upstairs and outside is A-O-K; with me! I need a working control room for semi-professional results! I don’t really have a budget per say… but I will get whatever insulation and acoustical fixtures necessary to fit the room. (ok, maybe 1-2k just for acoustical treatments!!!) Front: Unfortunately, I didn't leave a very symmetrical friendly control room shape with the tracking room door installed to the front far right side of the wall. I was planning on adding 703 pads to just about all the open side walls in the front and create some bass traps in the corners (obviously limited on the front right side). Any suggestions for the front of the room? I didn’t think soffit mounting the speakers would be practical given the a-symmetry? Or could I get away with mounting them on either side of the window and just sit off centered in the room? Could I move the side wall absorber in to correct for the offset? what if i just track close to the window, and move back the mix station in a center position for the mix down? Sides: I’m planning on building four or six 4’x8’ closed back broad band slot resonators for the side walls, the front four saw tooth, the other flat or all saw tooth? Is this even a good idea? Or should I just use absorbers? Ceiling: again, open floor joists filled with R19, and then hang some 703 clouds on the ceiling (as much as I can cover and afford, starting with over the mix position). I also thought about putting a single4x8 sheet of drywall at an angle above the window… I don’t really know why, but I see it done in a lot of other studios on this site… any edumacation on why this is done would be greatly appreciated. Rear: I am also not sure if I should build a wall to the rear of the control room to get the room closer to the magic ratio and then treat it, or if i should add a false stud wall several feet beyond the steps and just filled with 703, covered in cloth and leave the back stairwell open… I thought about doing some hanging bass traps under the steps: now, I’ve read on here that the hangers only really work for very loud rooms, if so, then I don’t plan on doing them as I don’t listen that loud, and my event 8’s are great, but nothing to shake the house, on the other hand, if you think they would in fact help, I’ll add them. Along the same lines, if I cover that area In drywall (1 layer of 3/8”), does that in effect negate the bass traps, or will they still do their job? though i've been reading and almost think that I should add some diffusion on the back wall since the room is so long? As you can see, I’m really kind lost… any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for all the info so far, again… such an awesome forum. Thanks for the mods hard work! kevin

given its a decent length and ceiling height, you could stage the CR with a small visitor space in front of the window, a raised CR space with monitors on stands, and a (further) raised producer seating in front of the bass traps.

Aloha, Just a quick idea perhaps? M.M. Louden Height Width Length 1.00 1.40 1.90 9’ 1” x 12’7” x 17’2” - vox booth up front - sliding glass doors between control room/vox booth Needs a bit of tweaking, but I think you'll get the idea. Aloha 8)

Gentlemen, Thanks alot for the ideas, greatly appreciate the time. kendale, i did think of something similar of creating a room up front, in between the two walls/doors as an additional iso booth. I decided that if i do need a seperate booth, that I can construct one either under the steps or in front of the room. so, by both your designs, your closing the room in, I'm curious as to its construction, would you use drywall, (on the step side, and then filled on the interior with fabric wrapped 703? or just a standard stud and drywalled. i'm going to post some pictures this week to give a better understanding of the space. kevin

Kevin, Glad to see you're back at it and made it home safely Now strap on that belt and get to it Peace T

Aloha,

so, by both your designs, your closing the room in, I'm curious as to its construction, would you use drywall, (on the step side, and then filled on the interior with fabric wrapped 703? or just a standard stud and drywalled.

Depending on your isolation requirements, one approach would be to finish off the stair framing area with 2-3 layers drywall on each side of your stud framing and fill with insulation, and then the rear wall of the control room with 2-3 layers of drywall (step side) + stud frame filled with insulation + 2-3 layers drywall + insulation with cloth facing (studio side) or use John's "inside out" wall design for the rear wall. Aloha 8)

kendale, thanks, i guese i was wondering what the preferred or correct way of constructing the back wall. I was not sure if i hsoudl even add a wall, or just leave it as is... or was highly contemplating building an inside out wall (drywall facing the steps) and the intereiour a mix of soft cloth and dispersion panels. I do plan on finishing the dryywall around the stairs for aesthetic reasons, but again, isolation isn't my primary concern, as I am not planning on finishing the ceiling, so anything done to the stairs themselves would be a waste. any comments on the bass hangers under the steps idea? good or bad, ineffective or?? glenn, thanks for the designs, i don't think i'll be building a riser though, just not a high priority, but a great idea... as for the angled ceiling you have shown, what materials are you thinking, absorptive or reflective or a mixture? t - thanks for the push... though i haven't totally been wasting time... i've got the floor down and both doors in and stained... along with the outside tracking room wall, so... i've been making progress, just not showing it ;) i'll try and get some pix up tomorrow. thanks again, kevin

Aloha,

i guese i was wondering what the preferred or correct way of constructing the back wall. I was not sure if i hsoudl even add a wall, or just leave it as is... or was highly contemplating building an inside out wall (drywall facing the steps) and the intereiour a mix of soft cloth and dispersion panels. I do plan on finishing the dryywall around the stairs for aesthetic reasons, but again, isolation isn't my primary concern, as I am not planning on finishing the ceiling, so anything done to the stairs themselves would be a waste. any comments on the bass hangers under the steps idea? good or bad, ineffective or??

In that case, I would suggest John's inside out wall design. You may still want to insulate the walls of the stair area to eliminate any excessive resonating that might result of any bass freq buildup. As far as how effective the bass hangers under the steps would be, that's hard to say. That may depend on how loud/type of music you'll be working with. Most of us, however, can use all the bass trapping we can get. Aloha 8)

k, so pix as promised. unfortunately, i don't have any good shots that show the room as a whole, so theres a pix from pre-construction from the step, you can envision then the wall in it's place... the first is a "pre" shot that shows the full rooms before they were cut, but you can get a pretty good idea of the size of the control, since the tr/cr wall was put in at the end of the left wall, provides the natural break for the rooms. the second pix is the rear of the control, the pix is alittle decieving, so i added the measurement... you can see there is alot of room under the steps, and two large frameouts for doors the third pix is the wall in it's current state... and my building mess... the last is an earlier pix, (which has been since drywalled and painted)... i'm getting ready to start the final window... and really get to test out the isolation... so i'm excited for that. k