New space - assistance with treatment & setup

Plans and things, layout, style, where do I put my near-fields etc.

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pearlsnap
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New space - assistance with treatment & setup

Post by pearlsnap »

Hello all. It's been a while since I have posted. I moved a few years ago and have a new space I would like to setup (finally). It's in the top of my 40'x60' barn at one end. I would like to leave it as open as possible up there, but if the smart folks here say do something...I will strongly consider it.

I plan to use the downstairs (outside the window in the skp file) - for drums or tracking (bare in mind that is a 40' x 40' space down there). I would like the upstairs more for mixing and/or tracking acoustic/vocals.

There is a hotel (through wall HVAC unit) I know will cause issues when running - I can mitigate that. The small room is a bathroom. I was thinking of using the outer walls as treatment if need be.

Looking forward to some of the expert guidance.
pearlsnap
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Re: New space - assistance with treatment & setup

Post by pearlsnap »

So - with this shape I am looking for the best position of the mixing desk, and treatment ideas. I did not show wall covering because I am up for whatever is needed.

Behind each narrow wall, is about 4' of space (think closet). I have about 10" of space within the ceiling. I was thinking I could utilize this for treatments built directly in the wall. (flush with the wall surface?)

I can also use the small room walls as treatments.....basically if you assist me, create the walls as if they are bare studs as shown in the .skp.

I am not worried about sound isolation to the outside, and might could utilize the "closets" mentioned above for amp cabinet or vocal booth moving forward.

I would like the room to be treated well enough for accurate listening/mixing as well as tracking acoustic guitar and vocals.

I know I am asking a lot, but I am confused by this shape room/ceiling. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
gullfo
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Re: New space - assistance with treatment & setup

Post by gullfo »

you could use one half of the upstairs for the control room (13'x17' roughly) and the other half for general live room. use all the closet space behind the lower walls for trapping.
Glenn
pearlsnap
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Re: New space - assistance with treatment & setup

Post by pearlsnap »

Thanks Glenn. I will start looking into that design. I appreciate the feedback.
DanDan
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Re: New space - assistance with treatment & setup

Post by DanDan »

Big is fabulous, but treating the whole area will take money and work. If resources are limited I suggest building a 'hut' around the mixing area. Say 4 or more inches of 6pcf rigid insulation suspended in a simple stud frame. This may well be enough to suppress the big room reverb when you are sitting close to speakers at Mix volume. Ditto a vocal area.
Untreated area may well sound fabulous for drums and various other instruments.
pearlsnap
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Re: New space - assistance with treatment & setup

Post by pearlsnap »

Should the ceiling treatment follow the pitch of the roof? The ceiling vaulted, and about 7’ on the low end. I was thinking build it flush with the rest of the ceiling which would leave about 6”-8” of space behind the “cloud”.

Sorry for being dumb at this after all these years of playing.
DanDan
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Re: New space - assistance with treatment & setup

Post by DanDan »

I am not very good at following verbal descriptions of build details. So I may be guessing here.
IMO height, a A roof is such a lovely thing compared to flat, that I would put up with it's directing reflections towards the centre below, deal with that , and take advantage of the extra space.

Let's assume a tiled or slated roof for the moment. This has gaps so we need a second layer, typically plasterboard. Ideally this should be isolated on hangars or some other good iso system. Then the mass layer, plasterboard. Then the treatment layer. This is quite a tricky sandwich and I will leave it to the experienced builders, Glenn, Paulus etc. to deal with vapour control.

Option- Simple flat ceiling, this provides great isolation due to the larger gap. It also provides lots of space for HVAC, a silent space for a noisy computer. One might even have a small electric guitar and bass cabs up there permanently miced.

Option- Best of both worlds. Have the ceiling follow the roof for a bit, then a horizontal ceiling. Is this called Dutch Style?

In all cases exposed beams would look great and provide hanging points for lights, screens, mic holders.
There are Acoustic Plaster systems available, albeit expensive, are acoustically transparent and can have any depth of fibre concealed behind or above. They look the same or better than regular plasterboard. They can be coloured and never need painting. The German STO is familiar to me and used here in Ireland.
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