Mixing Room, Production Room, Slanted Ceiling

Dear fellow studio owners/acousticians, I'm moving in to a new room (top floor, 1900's european-style house). Pics&plan enclosed. The first unusual thing for me, is the slanted ceiling. Never worked in such an environment before, so I'd appreciate any advice on where to set the nearfields (firing towards the slanted side or away-from.) The window span (see pic) is 2meters, I'm working with JBL LSR 4328P nearfields, a triangle of say 2,2m equilateral would be too much for nearfields wouldn't it? That's why I'm considering firing towards the slanted side, in that case some heavy bass-treatment would be necessary I guess?! up until now I've only had to invest in side-walls acoustic foam since my old room had great specs and a good enough bass response. I'm not planing on recording anything in this room, neither mastering. Merely writing my stuff and mixing (nujazz/detroithouse). Thanks in advance for any advice/word of wisdom! :shot:

Aloha and welcome to the forum! :D Congrats on your studio build! 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.

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: That said, perhaps try starting with your monitors firing away from the slant. You may also want to consider some DIY wall units that can be found here - http://www.johnlsayers.com/HR/index1.htm I've found them to work much better than the typical foam treatment approach. 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 Hope this helps and looking forward to your build! Aloha 8)

Oh, thank you very much.. indeed I rushed in without saying hello :D Edited my profile, also according to the FAQ. Here are some additions to give you a clearer picture of my goals. 1. I monitor at approx. max. 83db SPL with my RME interface presets at succesive -6db stages realtive (to the speaker max output). I'll usually start somewhere in the middle (-6db rel.) to build an arrangement, go up (83db SPL) for Bass and Drums, go down for arrangement (-6db rel.), and way down (-12db rel.) for mixing with occasional ups to check the bass and "excitement". 2. Generally I prefer to not rely on my room and nerfields to give me truth in the below 80hz department. Most of the time I cut everything below 40hz. The sound I'm working on relies on thumpy 100-400hz elements. That area should be safe. Other than that, I'm rather happy with my JBL's. Also my tracks are professionally mastered at high-end studios, therefore I mix rather "dull" and safe at both ends of the spectrum. 3. My only goal for the new room is to have a nice working atmosphere not clouded by walls of racks or furniture. minimum possible bass reinforcement and a proper sweet spot inside my 140cm triangle. Not sure going wider is the smartest thing to do since it's 340 across and I'd rather have less bass"hype" bouncing off the side walls and corners.

i would fire away from the slant - i.e. put the console facing the wall with the nice skylights (I have a similar arrangement but the walls are 2,6m high and slopes up to 4,5m high). the JBL's should be OK for the 2,2m triangle. when you put up your clouds, I recommend using a couple of smaller ones to allow the nice skylight in but still enough to break up the reflections off the ceiling and windows. the only concern is the monitors practically sitting into the skylight cavity... its just that having the slope to your back is going to require a bunch more treatment... so i'd build mobile treatments aka John's wall units and this will allow you to switch positions in case the front-to-slope position doesn't work out well. in this example i have a 1/2 size slat resonator on each side of the desk, the 1/2 height wall unit bass traps on the low front wall, and 2 full size wall units in back. 2 clouds over the desk. a large side wall absorber w/ slats if needed... http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/1866/jazzymike1ap5.th.jpg

Thank you very much for the wonderful informative reply gullfo! This is a great design you have in that 3d rendering. I actually don't even have a console anymore, the JBL's are on stands, I mix ITB with 2 analog compressors on the DA/AD before anything goes into my mixing DAW. I'll post a current pic when I'm at the "studio". I'm really only concerned with the >2m triangle, since that would put me (unless the JBL's were tucked into the slant corners - and let me add that they're bass-reflex) more or less right in the middle, so much for 38%... The dimensions are 496x346x(100-3..) But perhaps I should invest in some kind of flush mount corners? The side to side reflections I can deal with creatively, I'm not too good with bass absorption though.. will look into that in depth.

Hey guys, so after some calculations and scheming - here's a preliminary plan for the setup and absolutely necessary treatment. Legend: Orange - Corner BASS traps (foam) or perhaps later DIY membrane-panels. Green - RFZ diffusors for hi-midHi reflections. Purpleish - IkeaBookshelf with randomly stacked books/records and custom perforated 37x33x33 cubes, perhaps I'll figure out a way for a new type of DIY mini membrane-panel-cubes Quick recap - RFZ sweetspot and bass management at sweet spot are main goals. Even bass response in entire room not necessary. The JBL's are spaced approx. 70cm from side walls, and about 2m from front wall. At the current position they will also avoid the lowest part of the slant and thus hopefully also immediate reflections from above. The slant goes to about 3,2m+ above my listening position - which should give me at least some wall-to-floor reflection break. Also I plan to foam-treat the ceiling slant immediately above the JBL's. I'll be sitting about 30-35% from the back wall with the Bookshelf right behind me. What do you think? Room dimensions: 496x346x(1-3.2+)

i think you'll need more than a few lenrds for trapping, maybe box out the font of the room and build a nice trap there. the foam should be staggered on the ceiling to break up the reflection and keep it from being too dead.