Treating the worst room possible: Small voice/mixing booth

How to use REW, What is a Bass Trap, a diffuser, the speed of sound, etc.

Moderators: Aaronw, sharward

Benno
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2021 7:24 am
Location: Germany

Treating the worst room possible: Small voice/mixing booth

Post by Benno »

Hi everyone! :)

I hope I'm not promising all too much, but I belive to have a bit of a challenge at hand.

We're in the process of renovating our small voice-recording and mixing room, which is currently still plastered with crubling (and probably slightly carcinogenic) pyramid foam.

The goal would be to have an adequately treated booth for voice recording/interviews and live mixing. The room is barely large enough to fit 3 or 4 people and other than office chairs, there's only a computer with two displays and near-field monitors and a small 19" rack inside.

I've added a rough sketch of the room's measurements and layout down below. As you can (hopefully) make out, the entrance is located on wall A, next to that weird recess with some panels inside. Walls B and C are solid concrete. Wall D has two huge windows that practically span the entire face. The whole room is around 9.5 feet tall.

While planning out the placement of everything, We've looked into acoustic treatment: Where to sit, where to place absorbers and diffusors, but we're a bit lost. Putting in bass traps alone is quite difficult, since at least the two corners to wall A need to stay almost completely free to enter.

I'm sure that the optimal solution would be to just use other rooms for different purposes, but unfortunately, this is the only choice we have, since the cables from the small stage in the next room terminate there and it's the only place to schedule any voice recordings. At least, the location is quiet by itself.

Where would you put the desk and what might be the most logical setup for placing any sound treatment, given the circumstances?

We'd be very happy to read some fresh throughts or even just a wacky idea. :wink:


Kind regards!
DanDan
Senior Member
Posts: 637
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2008 3:31 am
Location: Cork Ireland
Contact:

Re: Treating the worst room possible: Small voice/mixing boo

Post by DanDan »

Voice Recording and Mixing both require an absence of Early Reflections particularly, and a low level of later room tone if any. So create a great Zone Without Early Reflections for Mixing, and double bubble, perfect for recording vocals.
Benno
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2021 7:24 am
Location: Germany

Re: Treating the worst room possible: Small voice/mixing boo

Post by Benno »

Hi Dan, thank you!

Okay, so definitely focus on the areas toward the speakers, we're still unsure where best to position them. I'm thinking about kind of a top-down triangle on wall C, so that the first reflections could be absorbed as early as possible, but there's the huge double window to the right. I don't know if it makes sense to hang up a few layers of semi-translucent curtain or maybe rather get mobile absorber panels for that side.

Then again, maybe it would even be better to place the speakers at wall B, attach an absorbtion pad on the back of the door and just forget about the windows in the back.
Post Reply