Control Room on 2nd Floor

Hello everyone. I just found this site and it looks like there is a wealth of information here. Let me say that I am building my first studio after a few years of recording at other places. I am moving into a 1000sqft 2 story building and using the downstairs 15x17 room as the main recording room and an upstairs 12x14 room as my control room. I'll be routing 16 pair snake through the walls to the downstairs for tracking drums. I have read a few varying opinions on acoustics and I guess my question is what type of sound dampening do I need for my control room? I plan on having my desk facing the 12' wall and using it longways. I also planned on using foam panels on the back wall and mixing between 2" and 3" panels to act as a diffusor of some sort and also including foam bass traps from ceiling to floor in both corners. The cost of that would be around $220. Cany anyone recommend a better and less expensive idea? Thanks, Peck

Peck, Your post raises some questions: Do you occupy the entire building? If so, what of the other ~580 ft²? If not, who does and could they potentially be irritated by the sounds their new neighbor (you) will be creating? You say you are "building," but only have questions about acoustical treatments for the control room. Have you already got your construction issues worked out, or are there any? Are you planning on including any treatments for the recording room? If not, why not? My own questions aside, an answer to yours (of sorts): If you wish to spend $220 or less on treating the control room, you should probably start a moving blanket collection. That, or you should start keeping an eye out for office close-out sales where you might be able to pick up things like ceiling tiles and office dividers on the cheap. These won't come close to many commercial (or even DIY) treatments, but they might be "almost free". You can also think about DIY, but the cost of materials and your own time (building your own treatments when you could be charging your hourly rate to record something :wink: ) is not likely to be able to compete with $220. If you go the DIY route, there are myriad threads here that should be able to help you.

Peck wrote:

Cany anyone recommend a better and less expensive idea?

I can recommend better, but probably not less expensive. Maybe you need to change your gear priorities. :) Besides all the great advice in these forums, also see my Acoustics FAQ which puts a lot of info in one place: http://www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html Then follow up here with any questions. --Ethan