Monitoring Problems in Control Room

Hi to everyone! What a great site this is! I found this site looking for ideas and boy did I get some. I have been recording in my garage studio for about 2 years now and have always had control room problems as I don't have the best space for it. I have sent in pictures hoping you can help with building some acoustic materials and on advice where to locate them as I have a rectangular room. It is 7' 8"L x 14' W x 8'H. So basically retangular. The worst problem is the garage door still being there. I am contemplating to take it down and using soundboard and drywall to have a permanent wall. The live room has soundboard and drywall, along with normal type insulation. The control room just has insulation and some drywall in areas. Basically my mixes always come out bass heavy and I know about putting bass traps in the corners. I have some Auralex 2'x4' behind the bottom end of the monitors but I can't put any behind and above it especially since I have about 2" on one side next to the window. I don't have any issues with neighbors as far as being loud. I record my own material, classic rock, and other rock bands. I'm recording a hip hop artist right now. But like I said my mixes are bass heavy. Any suggestions? I'm open to moving stuff around if putting the mix position on the north end where it would I would be on one end of the rectangle instead of in the middle of it. What do you say?

can you turn your CR sideways? you could then install bass trapping in the (new) front corners (north and north-east)? plus the room is longer and put traps on that wall as well as side reflection points (hang an asborber over the window when mixing)

Gullfo, Thanks so much for your input and for the drawing. I fully appreciate it! I kind of figured that was my option. There is a slight problem I forgot to mention on my original post. There is a concrete slab going across where I would put the desk. The previous owner had installed the addtion and left the slab. The space is about 2' 6". But I can still put the desk before the slab. Would that make it worse when I put my cabinets and things in back of the desk and with the bass traps as you positioned or is that a concern? I also noticed you put traps where the garage door is. Is that what that is? Thanks again so much Gullfo.

you could put the desk in front of the slab and equipment on it. put your monitors on stands sitting on the slab. just slide the top and side absorbers back with it to control the first reflection points. yea, for now, just adding an absorber on each side (including the garage door). if you can remove the door and replace it with a framed wall (i'd add a door down near the end by the other door for ease of access and egress) that would be ideal but for now, try shifting things.

Gullfo gave me the drawing (thanks so much!!!) with the middle acoustic trap in a vertical position. If I put it in a horizontal position does that change the acoustics any or does it make a difference? Attached is a picture of the the two bass traps and the middle absorber I made after this post.

that looks fine. how does it sound?

Gullfo, Thanks for saying it looks good. I put two more up above the listening position (see attached) but not the same size as your drawing, since I didn't have enough width in the room to put up 2x6 panels. I have been listening to my mixes and man what a difference and I'm not even done. I still have 6 more to go! Thanks again for all you help.

As you can see I updated my look but I'm still concerned about the size of the traps above the monitors. In Gullfo's post he showed me where to place them and the size was basically the whole width, wall to wall. I mentioned I didn't have the enough width to fit two 2x6 panels but I had a brain fart because I could have made them 2x 5 instead. The size you see there is 2x4. Am I missing anything by having them smaller and having the gaps on the end?

Does anyone have a comment on my question? I'm not sure I had the words right since I didn't get a response. I'll try again. The panels above the desk area are 2x4. I was going to to put up 2x6, because that seems to be the standard size to make panels, but two of them wouldn't fit across the width of the room. So now that I have 2x4's up there I'm concerned I'm missing something (soundwise) because of the gaps on the corners not trapping that area. Is that something I should be worried about? It sounds fine, in fact sounds great since I put up the traps. Any comments on this?

jortiz wrote:

Does anyone have a comment on my question?

I'm sure what you have is fine, especially since you said it sounds good. With bass trapping, the more you have the better. But not trapping every last inch of corner is not the end of the world. --Ethan

yea, sorry for the delay, Ethan is right - you should be OK. i thought in my drawing it was all 2x4 absorbers (there's just something about copy and paste...)

Thank you Ethan and Gullfo for your responses. I appreciate it very much. I will just leave it like that then. Now I need to finish the sides and just behind and above me with the panels. Once again thank you for all the advice. I'm liking what I'm hearing and actually seeing also. Best regards, John

hey jortiz whats up... great looking room, trying to achieve the same, i see the creation station desk, i think, looks good congrats

Hey! Thanks for the compliments and congrats. That is a Creation Station desk that I use also. As you see I don't use the rack area on the desk. I have a Mackie Big Knob and a Mackie Onyx Satellite there. I put the hardware in a rack off to the side. Do you have garage area or do you mean you just want to get the same look? Thanks again for the compliments! John

hey man whats up i got the creation station too and filling up the racks bit by bit, i meant the look of the studio, in my room, right now i got the desk, a pair of studio monitors 9 not good enough to post.. some cheap brand) my midi keyboard and pc, you know little by little, keep it up