Need advice on home studio design, acoustics, ceiling tiles

[gingerbeets]

Hi everyone,

Long time lurker, first time poster here. Thanks to all of the helpful and knowledgeable members for making this forum such a great resource.

I am attempting to turn my fairly large living room into a multipurpose room to be used for mixing, a little recording of vocals, bass, and guitar, and for watching movies. Music is just a hobby for now, and I don't want to spend a ton of money, but I do want to do this as effectively as I can. Luckily I already have quite a bit of OC703 lying around (~60 2" 2'x4' pieces), and there is already a drop ceiling in place.

Attached is the layout of the room. I apologize for not using SketchUp. I will be installing a door opposite the windows. This is a necessary step, to fix the acoustics, right? As of now there is a significant echo, as to be expected from a large empty room with untreated parallel walls and a hardwood floor.  My two goals are to treat the room acoustically, and to reduce the street noise coming in from the two windows facing a fairly busy street. The kicker is that I am renting this apartment, and my girlfriend is picky about the appearance, so I have to make the changes both temporary and pretty.

The drop ceiling has 7 inches of space above the track. I was planning on stacking two 2" OC703 panels above each ceiling tile, for a dead ceiling opposite a live floor. I was going to cover the fiberglass neatly with white muslin and use those as the actual tiles, but some of my OC703 is a little beat up. I think it would be pretty difficult to make them all look nice (enough for the lady). Another problem is the white muslin is semi-transparent, and I'd need 2 layers on the visible side, adding to the cost.

I found a thread where Ethan Winer advised somebody to just buy cheap fiberglass ceiling tiles and put fluffy insulation above them. The current tiles are not fiberglass, just some particle board/sheet rock looking things. Should I just buy cheap fiberglass based tiles and put my OC703 above them, uncovered? This would be pretty messy to install, but would save money and time, and also not add any kind of fire hazard. Should I use 4" of OC703 across the whole ceiling? Or some other arrangement?

Which kind of tiles should I get? Would they be too reflective if they have that ubiquitous white surface?

I'm also planning on putting some bass traps in the corners and some OC703 panels framed with wood on the walls. I'm going to use felt to cover them, because it is polyester and I can sublimate artwork onto the fabric. I assume felt will be a suitable fabric. Where should I place my panels and bass traps for the most efficiency? What should I be doing to reduce high frequency reflections?

As for the street noise, the windows are obviously not very thick, and I can't replace them or permanently cover them. I am going to have thick curtains, but obviously those won't cut it alone. I was thinking of trying to build a temporary window cover out of sheetrock and plywood, to put up when I need to record. I'm not sure exactly how to construct this to make it work properly and seal. Should I put it inside the frame or around it? How should I seal it? I know that even with the window covered, there will still be some noise coming through, but at least it will be less. I also have an EV RE-20, which is supposedly good for imperfectly treated, noisier rooms.

Sorry for the lengthy post. Any input is greatly appreciated.

***EDIT: Forgot to include a budget and to group my questions at the end.

Budget: I've already spent around $600 on OC703 and I'm willing to spend maybe $500 more.

Questions:

Will cheap fiberglass ceiling tiles work? Does the white bottom make them too reflective?

Should I put 4 inches of OC703 above the tiles across the whole ceiling, or vary the thickness?

Where should I place my wall-mounted midrange absorbers and bass traps? What about high-frequency diffusers?

How should I seal my temporary sheetrock window cover?

Lastly, where should I place my mic for vocals? Bass?

Thanks.

***EDIT #2: Is it pointless to try to mix in an asymmetrical room?

[gingerbeets]

I'm sorry if I missed some important info in my post. Please let me know what other info I should supply before getting a response. Is my post too broad? Does it sound too much like, here's my room, design my studio for me?

The main question I need answered before starting my build is what type of ceiling tile to use. From there I can probably futz around with the other treatments on my own.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[ken_ardency]

Hi,

I don't think treating acoustic with 703 panels will reduce street noise coming in but it will reduce reflection and echoes.

temperately cover windows might help reduce street noise depends on how it's build. Use MDF or plywood 19mm

In my opinion 703 is the best choice for absorbent material. its sound absorption coefficient is almost even from 0.86 @250Hz and 1 @500Hz to 4000Hz

I don't know how good are acoustics tile in usa but acoustic tiles in my country they are so bad they absorb only speech range. I wouldn't recommend

It's ok. facing to corner is best symmetrical you can get in an asymmetrical room.

regards,

[Soundman2020]

Ken is right about the 703! Great stuff. But as he says, 703 by itself will not stop sound getting in or out. It does nothing to isolate your room, unless it is part of a proper tuned isolation system.

Ken is also very correct about "acoustic" tile. Not much use...

I'm going to use felt to cover them, because it is polyester and I can sublimate artwork onto the fabric.

As long as the covering is "breathable", that's fine. "Breathable" means that you can hold a piece of it over your mouth and nose, ans still breath through it without undue effort.

Where should I place my panels and bass traps for the most efficiency? What should I be doing to reduce high frequency reflections?

Bass traps always go in corners. That's where they are the most effective. Broadband panels on the walls in the correct coverage for that room will take care of the highs. Perhaps too much so. You might need to put plastic over the bass traps before you put the covers on, to help with that.

As for the street noise, the windows are obviously not very thick, and I can't replace them or permanently cover them.

Then I have some sad news for you... there's not much you can do about the street noise. You can only stop sound with mass. 703 and curtains don't have mass. Glass and drywall do have mass. The thicker the better.

I was thinking of trying to build a temporary window cover out of sheetrock and plywood, to put up when I need to record.

Yes, that can work. That's commonly referred to as a "window plug". IT can significantly reduce transmission, if built correctly.

Should I put it inside the frame or around it?

Put it around the frame, so that you have the maximum distance possible between the glass and the surface of the plywood. Actually, it would be better to use MDF rather than ply, as MDF is much heavier.

How should I seal it?

Soft rubber strips all around the perimeter. At least two separate strips. Use the type of soft rubber that you see around the edge of car doors.

I also have an EV RE-20, which is supposedly good for imperfectly treated, noisier rooms.

Welll.... I'd take that with a pinch of salt! It's a mic. It pics up sound. It's a large diameter dynamic mic with a cardioid pattern. It's a nice mic, but it's job is to pickup sound, and it does that rather well!

***EDIT #2: Is it pointless to try to mix in an asymmetrical room?

Yes. But your room is NOT asymmetrical! What matters most is the front half of the room, and you can easily get a symmetrical setup in your room by facing towards the right of the diagram you drew. Set up your speakers against the wall with the window in the middle, and move the couch to where you have your setup at present. Speakers would go 46" in from the side walls, on stands, with the acoustic axis 47.25" above the floor. The mix position (your head) would go about 74" from that front wall. The speakers would be angled inwards to aim at a point 82" from the front wall (in other words, 18" behind your head).

The main question I need answered before starting my build is what type of ceiling tile to use.

If that were my room, I would ditch the entire drop ceiling and hang clouds from the "real" ceiling above it.

- Stuart -