Geoff's Studio Build

Mostly the inside of the inside out walls. Some of the earlier pics will give a better idea. There's a "boxed out" pillar and beam, and some flexiduct, at the right; and I've attempted to match that surface area behind the left monitor. I plan to add more absorption behind the monitors, too. For now, trying to get something meaningful out of Room EQ Wizard on my Mac laptop... :roll:

So, still on the baffle issue... I've done some A/B tests, firstly using my ears (the best test equipment I have!), and a few selected tracks from my favourite CD's; with and without the timber surround panels, except for the centre one, which I left in place. There is added rockwool behind the monitors for both. "With" timber surrounds as in the photo below. "Without" timber surrounds as in the drawing below... I also sent a mate some A/B recordings taken from the mix position, from a single Rode NT5, Sound Devices Pre, and Powerbook G4 line in. He wasn't told which was "with" or "without". Note - this refers to my own particular (peculiar?) monitor set up only! And slats are not yet added to side walls. With the timber surrounds, the recordings were louder overall; all good; Without, low end was attenuated, but highs seemed to sit better in the mix - were more "crisp", my mate says. I felt there was more "air" in cymbals and reverbs; and I suspect the stereo image was wider, though a little weaker at the centre... not sure. My mate says the lows were "punchier". I felt they were slightly more "boomy" but that seemed to add to the mix... Then using a Radioshack analogue SPL meter at the mix position, and a test tone CD, I plotted a graph for each situation up to 300Hz (calibrated to 70dB using pink noise). This was very tedious, but RoomEQWizard wasn't working for me... btw have earplugs handy if you're trying this at home!!! See the graph below. The blue line is with the timber baffle; green without. If there's anyone here who's maybe strayed from the Acoustics forum, your thoughts are appreciated! :D At the end of the day, I'm thinking to put cloth panels around the monitors... Some questions about slat absorbers: Will slats on the side walls boost my centre phantom image? What frequencies should I aim to absorb? Many thanks! Geoff

I see that you decided to NOT angle the soffit panels to match the tilt of the speakers? Any reason for that? I still can't see that panel working well as an infinite baffle if it isn't in the same plane as the speaker. I'm wondering if that might have something to do with the deep dip at 68 Hz. Those dips at 100 and 200 Hz are room modes, I guess? That would make sense, since adding the soffit moves them to a slightly higher frequency.

Soundman2020 wrote:

I see that you decided to NOT angle the soffit panels to match the tilt of the speakers? Any reason for that?

Too much work for too little gain. What if I wasn't happy with the results of that? Anyway, I've gone for cloth panels, based largely on what my ears tell me. Not real sure what those numbers mean, sorry! Slats are up, too. Things are sounding even better! Much more focused towards the centre, I think. I'll run a pink noise test to see if I get a 3dB boost with both monitors on (I read somewhere)... though, there's plenty of building to do, too :lol: More pics to come! Geoff

Hello again, Well, it's been a couple of months - must be time for another update! So, lately... *Architraves around doors and windows *Filling, sanding, staining, painting - and still some more coats to go... *Built, covered, installed most of the cloth frames (more cloth on order :roll: ). *Built bench and shelves in the entry area - ready for a bar fridge and microwave. (was careful not to make a hard connection to the wall of the main room...) *Built a couple of 2 unit rack sleeves to sit on my desk, and other "odd jobs" Here are some pics (from my phone, sorry!) Getting closer! More pics to follow as I reach those milestones, like "finish painting" and "pick up tools and rubbish" :wink: Geoff

Hi JSRSDF! Haven't posted an update in awhile, though I still stop by regularly - the Construction Forum, at least, and the Wombat Hole. :D The studio is pretty much done, gear is moved in, furniture etc. Now the hard part - learning to use all this stuff properly! So glad to be finished #%$# building! As I said before, the room sounds fantastic. I think it's more on the lively side (than dead), which I like - without having flutter or anything nasty. Isolation-wise, a busy 4 lane city street just metres away is faintly audible when there is no music playing. Some LF is noticable, especially if a bus stops outside. The neighbouring office doesn't hear me, though I get considerable noise through the connected slab if/when they drop something heavy. Overall, I'm happy with the amount of isolation achieved - really feels like I can shut the world out - in a nice way. :lol: But - I need air! Ducting and vents were installed during the build - just waiting on my fans, due this week... So I haven't been able to close all the doors for long periods before it gets very uncomfortable! ok pictures: various views. I built the desk from layered plywood. The two cabinets below [one built to house a Mac Pro, which I now can't afford!], and small rack sleeves on top, are movable. I built-on the keyboard drawer last. More updates to come - maybe some pics of the booth after I move my tools out of there! Thanks for reading, Geoff

Wow! So you basicly went with hidden speakers stands rather than soffits? It won't help the bass but it's up to your ears. lil

So you basicly went with hidden speakers stands rather than soffits? It won't help the bass ...

I was thinking the same thing! Although it's not as bad as having those straight soffits with tilted speakers, as per the earlier design, it could have been so much better with proper soffits. I'd be interested in seeing how that response curve has changed, now that the room is finished.

me too - I designed it with soffits.

Thanks for your comments guys and gals, To go over what was mentioned previously in this thread, though it was some months ago: Yes, they are cloth surrounds on thin plywood frames. Due to various factors, starting with me trying to dig out the slab foundations with a jackhammer and spade, rather than a hiring a mini-backhoe for a day (That can go on my "what would you have done differently" list)... thusly having a higher slab than planned (and John recommended isolating the slab too, which I wish I'd done now)... I raised and tilted the monitors to avoid the midpoint between floor and ceiling. To quote myself, from a previous post:

SquarePants wrote:

Note - this refers to my own particular (peculiar?) monitor set up only!

I then chose monitors that I think didn't go well with my flush mounts. Fantastic monitors btw! but I noticed they were actually sounding better when I had the front panels off! And... as written about in the older posts, did measurements "with and without" and did a "blind test" with muso mates, and decided on cloth surrounds. To my ears the bass sat better in the mix, improving "air-iness" - like it was "pushing" the whole mix more from behind - that's probably B.S. but it's what I "pictured"... Anyway, again, I'm very happy with the way they (and the room) sound - to me they are transparent, uncoloured, like there are no monitors - just "the mix" in space :D . I'll also be interested to do another response curve. I suspect it'll be close to the green line on the graph above. I want to get/post some readings on the amount of isolation, too. Geoff

cool Geoff - when you get me some pics I'll put your studio up on the web. :)

Geoff's final pics are up on http://www.johnlsayers.com - first studio on the sequence.

Nice! Beautiful design. Any more pictures, besides that one? - Stuart -

Thanks John, and Stuart, Just click on the pics to get to the studio pages ;-) Geoff

Thanks Jeff! And congratulations! It looks REALLY nice. Excuse me while I turn green with envy for a few minutes.... :) If it sounds even half as good as it looks, then it must be fantastic! - Stuart -

SquarePants wrote:

Hi all, Update time: Added a layer of 16mm BGC Fire-Resistant plasterboard (12.4kg/m2) to existing walls. This is what I'll use for the whole studio. Stuffed 120mm CSR Bradford Soundscreen (30kg/m3) into existing ceiling, and covered with 10mm Gyprock FlamechekMR Plasterboard.

Hi, Does this count as a proper 2 leafs to have those 120mm CSR Bradford Soundscreen into existing ceiling and covered with 10mm plasterboard ? Or since it's outside/external to the box it does not count ? Because existing ceiling is already mass, 120mm soundscreen is considered as air and plasterboard is another mass, so that's an Mass/Air/Mass 2 leafs already, and adding the inner ceiling below letting air in between and then another flase ceiling below with insulatin like Geoff did adds up 2 layers of air/insulation, isn't it too much leafs ? best regards, stéphane