Hey guys... need help in studio acoustics

Whats up people, well in new here, been wondering around for quite some time (congrats on the forum, a huge help) posted something about the studio design and didnt get much feedback, imma try it again. my name is Kalet and i live in Miami, FL... some what entertainment central... well i got a small room that i want to make into a production room, just to make beats, and some recording of acoustic guitars, some times, no vocal booth yet, the room measures 10'5"ft x 10'3"ft with 7'11" ceiling. Construction: normal sheetrock walls, ceramic floor tile, and that popcorn roof thing. in the room now there is a desk shown in the basic, not so talented sketch i made, to the left of the room is a huge wall, which cant be touched, full of clothing and junk. Right in front of the closet, on the bottom left corner, not so visible in the sketch is a window, facing the front of the house. The bottom right corner has a TV right now, changing to a wall mount soon. The door swings into the room, and juts for a note it cant be changed at all... i wish i could :( At the time i only have 2 panels from ATS ACOUSTICS which i just bought, they measure 24x24x2, but dont know where to place this first pair of panels more to come though, just starting with the whole panel, and sound absorption theory, if anything ill post the sketch up file just in case. Thanks for all the help and congrats to everyone on the forum, you guys are the best help online...

If you bought panels from ATS you should call them and ask for their advice. :) In the mean time, there's a lot of advice in past posts of this forum, as well as my Acoustics FAQ here: http://www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html --Ethan

hey ethan thanks for the response, wanted to see if some one else can give me a different idea, maybe help me a bit on the design, and all, but dont want to repost in the design forum... thanks ethan, very good source of info in the site

no other ideas, i know i can use some help :( not an actual studio, but i do need it to sound correct to get a good mix of what im doing, im actually mixing the productions with recordings, but not actually recording here, really need help. would appriciate it Thanks

Aloha and welcome to the forum! :D Congrats on your studio build! A couple of items first, if I may: #1 Any chance you could please:

Edit your profile to include your location. This is very important, because this is a worldwide resource, and as such, material costs and availability vary widely. For example, masonry is cheaper than gypsum in some parts of the globe, whereas it's the exact opposite in other regions.

#2 resize your pic down to 700 pixels wide to avoid having to scroll in order read your post/s? You'll probably get more of a response by doing so and this will really come in handy two or three posts down the road. It's also part of the forum guidelines. Thanks! :wink: For more info, check out both of these links - http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7572 http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3231 Looking forward to your build! Aloha 8)

aloha kendale, thanks for the info, was not aware of that... lol, hopefully it helps out to get some info, thanks Post Updated...

i have decided to load the skp file to see if anyone can give me a better idea of what i need

anyone :( any other responses... i missed the budget, i got $500 to start, after that little by little once i get the idea, any one?

Ensonix Studios wrote:

anyone :( any other responses... i missed the budget, i got $500 to start, after that little by little once i get the idea, any one?

I don't have sketchup so I can't see your drawing. Can't you render a plain GIF or JPG?

ethan heres the jpg file of the sketch, thats all i can get from the sketch up file

Im not an expert by any means, so take this suggestion at your own risk. I am about 85% complete with my own "no budget" studio build and there are few things that I noticed were common in almost every studio I read about or saw pictures of. No.1 Directly behind and left, right and above all mixing stations is some sort of sound absorbing material, whether it commercial stuff or DIY. 2. Corner bass traps 3. Some sort of diffuser on the rear wall or ceiling or both. This forum is huge and loaded with great suggestions. Make list of everything you want to do, from start to finish, and search each subject here or wherever. I can see your desperation, ive been there before -trying to get help from a well established forum. Its almost like the experts are aprehensive about starting a thread with a newbie with newbie questions--cant blame them I guess.

charlie thanks for your advice, im going to take it into consideration what you have explained, the acoustics of the room i got some sort of idea of how i needs to be, but the design, if i have everything placed correctly or not is my biggest concern, if i should move things around or what, thanks for your advice

Your sketch needs more detail. For example what is the quater round thing in the corner next to your workstation? Is there doors in the two openings to the left of your workstations? Is there a vocal booth?

if you follow Ethan's site on placement of the absorbers (or even the folks who sold it...) you would find that you want to treat the corners with heavy absorbers for bass trapping, use medium sized ones for clouds, and lighter ones on first reflection points of the wall. also, front and back wall - use the heavy absorbers. on the window - hang a drape you can pull over. on the closet side - block those openings with doors. obviously you can use a single size of absorbers all around if thats what you have or are inclined to build. otherwise, using different sizes lets you attack each problem area with the right amount to keep the room balanced. use stand offs on the wall and ceiling absorbers to increase their effectiveness. don't use the standoffs on the corner ones.

to everyone thanks for their tips, gullfo just a couple of questions and a couple of things i left out on my first post.... the 2 big openings on the left side of the room are closets which are full of clothes and stuff, with doors obviously (bi-fold doors to be exact) would it be better to put the desk on the right wall, facing back to the closet, maybe the doors can work as diffusors or some thing similar and the other question, if i leave the desk where it is right now, but still using the layout you have, putting a diffusor next to the window, would it still work out good, because thats how i have the desk now, i might be putting it like i said in the first question, but just wanted to know if it would be a big deal thanks to all again Kalet

given the room is square, you could turn the desk to the side and have the speakers fire towards the closet. since they're somewhat open they will help with bass trapping. just turn all the treatments - except the door will have to stay as it is unless you build something to let it hang across the corner when the door is shut without making escape difficult (in the event of a fire). the window isn't anything to worry about in the grand scheme of things...