New Studio Room - starting from square one

Hello everyone. I stumbled across the forum this morning in my search for studio designs. I recently moved into my new house I had built. I had an extra room built upstairs with the sole intent to use as a studio. I'm only a hobbyist producer, but I have so much fun doing it. Since I mainly use synthesizers and VSTs for electronic type music, I have no present need for a recording studio. This room will be mainly used for compositions and mixing. I would like to go no higher than $2000. It will be something I do over time. I plan on building/doing everything myself. I'm also going to be building my own desk, so if any of you have recommendations on that too, I would appreciate it. I have very little knowledge of acoustics so please bear that in mind. I've attached a drawing I did (really close to scale) of the room and a few pictures. If you have time, can you please look at these and make some general recommendations so I can go off to do more research and come back with better questions. Updated: Linked a .wmv file showing the studio in 3D for those without SketchUp. The SketchUp file is linked as well: Movie of Studio in 3D: http://www.davidadamsmusic.com/images/studio/studio.wmv SketchUp file: http://www.davidadamsmusic.com/images/studio/Adam_studio.skp Drawing SE Corner NE Corner NW Corner SW Corner I'm not sure which way to orient my desk and near field monitors given the room layout with doors and window. I'm also not sure what to do about that angled ceiling on the north and west side of the ceiling. Again, any recommendations you can give based on the presented information would be great. This will only prompt me to research and learn more about your recommendations. Regards, Adam[/url]

i'd face the desk to the north wall and center it. on the angled ceiling and on the east wall-ceiling i'd put up absorbers across the corners or angled ceiling. on the north vertical corners - put up absorbers across the corners for bass trapping. since you don't have rear corners because of the door and window, just put up a corner trap on the ceiling-wall corner across the room. then treat the first reflection points - front, side, ceiling, and back walls with smaller absorbers. that should be a good start and you can adjust from there if needed.

Thanks! There are a few points I need for clarification:

gullfo wrote:

i'd face the desk to the north wall and center it. on the angled ceiling and on the east wall-ceiling i'd put up absorbers across the corners or angled ceiling.

Are you suggesting I put up absorbers across the entire angled section on the west ceiling? Are you also recommending I put angled absorbers on the east side of the ceiling as well to provide symmetry for the absorbers on the west ceiling?

gullfo wrote:

on the north vertical corners - put up absorbers across the corners for bass trapping. since you don't have rear corners because of the door and window, just put up a corner trap on the ceiling-wall corner across the room.

Are you suggesting I put up angled absorbers across the entire south section of the room where the wall meets the ceiling? When you say absorbers, are you referring to bass traps or mid/high frequency absorption? Thanks in advance, Adam

yes - create symmetry. yes - south wall-ceiling corner trapping would be bass trapping. south wall absorbers would be mid-high to stop reflections.

With regards to the absorbers (I'm assuming bass traps) on the wall-ceiling of the east and west walls, I won't be able to provide the same air gap on both sides since the west side of the ceiling is angled. Is this an issue? Thanks, Adam

you could space the absorbers off the angled side by 4" by making them large enough to span the wall-ceiling distance. make the ones on the other wall match as best as possible. not perfect but better.

gullfo wrote:

you could space the absorbers off the angled side by 4" by making them large enough to span the wall-ceiling distance. make the ones on the other wall match as best as possible. not perfect but better.

Thanks! We are talking bass traps, right?

on the ceiling corners - bass traps. on the walls @ reflection points, thinner absorber.

on the ceiling corners - bass traps. on the walls @ reflection points, thinner absorber.

Thanks! I'm going to be drawing up a 3D version of my 'studio to be'. I'll post it once done. Regards, Adam

Is this more like it? Movie of Studio in 3D: http://www.davidadamsmusic.com/images/studio/studio.wmv SketchUp file: http://www.davidadamsmusic.com/images/studio/Adam_studio.skp The brown areas would be 4" 703 for mid-high frequency absorption. The green areas are the bass traps using 4" 705. Am I missing anything? Should I put in any diffusers or anything like that? Something not depicted is the cloud that will be suspended from the ceiling above the desk. Adam

that looks like its it, just use 1" or 2" for the reflection treatments on the side walls, 4" on the cloud and back wall.

Ok, thanks! For my situation, should there be a minimum square footage I use for the mid-high frequency panels? I was thinking about doing a checkerboard or some other pattern. Or, would it be best to stick with one big panel? Is one panel on the north, east, and west walls enough? If I put the cloud above the desk, should I remove the bass trap on the wall-ceiling above the desk? I'm concerned that one will get in the way (structurally) of the other. Adam

depends on how much reverberation you have as to how much additional absorption you need. once you have the reflection points treated, then measure the room. if you need more absorption to get the RT60 down to (say 0.35-0.45 seconds) then the small checkerboards will give you more edge absorption and diffusion.

Thanks, Glenn! I'll get it all up and then see where it is at that point. Adam