John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Fine tune the listening position by moving it back or forward - always testing at each position. Also try moving the speakers forward and back. At each position you can reestablish your equilateral triangle, but don't be afraid to experiment - you can change the aspect of LP to Speakers from 60° up to 90°, many prefer the 90° configuration stating that it gives a wider sweet spot. (George Martin said in an interview that he would often stand right in between the speakers for a listen - an aspect of much greater than 90°. This of couse gives a very wide image similar to headphones, not recommended as a mix position per se, but useful nonetheless.)

Thanks.
I was wondering as a rule of thumb, is it better to have the speakers closer to the front wall or further back?
Same question for the side walls. Is there a starting place rule of thumb?

Is it better to have the speakers closer to the front wall or further back?

The answer is: YES!

Seriously, as with a lot of things in acoustics, it all depends. If the room is large, then get the speakers several meters away from the walls. But if it is small, then the best position is most likely right up against the front wall, and as far as possible form the side walls, but equidistant from them.

But the best of all, regardless of room size, is just to soffit mount (flush mount) the speakers. That way, there are no walls, as far as the speakers are concerned...


- Stuart -

Thanks Stuart,

That give me a better starting point.

Soffit mounting is an option that slipped off the plate a while back and is no longer possible due to design choices (mistakes I made)
Maybe a silly question, but would attaching a very large faceplate (bezel) to a stand mounted speaker improve performance. Psort of a pseudo psoffit or is that just a goofy idea?

Maybe a silly question, but would attaching a very large faceplate (bezel) to a stand mounted speaker improve performance. Psort of a pseudo psoffit or is that just a goofy idea?

Not convinced that would work too well, without the rest of the "box" attached. But if you have space to do that, then how come you don't have space to do the soffits?

- Stuart -

If you go back to page 8 and look at picture 056 you will see the ventilation duct up top and the very small side wall space between the door and the front wall.

best bet is to start out with them close to the wall and move them out a bit at a time - checking for seating effects - i.e does you're sitting position make a difference versus the monitor position? while modes and SBIR can be tricky to separate, the changing of your seating position and having the response change is usually indicative of the room modes whereas little change in the response might be SBIR. so moving the speakers relative to your listening position and having a response change usually indicates the boundary interference is the dominant factor. a couple of ways to approach this is lots of testing with REW or using subjective opinion to determine the best fit. since your ears are pretty good at detecting sound, start with a subjective placement, and once you think its close, take some measurements and make some smaller adjustments as well as changing your seating position to see how much room you have to move before the response if significantly changed. the treatments will definitely help and if you can put them into place, it will help in determining what other steps are needed. you might find a large trap up front and above the clouds can help.

Well, the clouds are up and to say they make a difference is an understatement.
WOW!
I'd be happy if I didn't do anything else. The rooms sounds better than any space I've ever had. So now I'm really pumped to see what a difference the fine tuning makes.
I've spent the last week putting the desk, equipment and wires back together. Also picked up an APC40 controller for Ableton, and another cheap motorized fader midi controller for Cubase which is added to the existing one. So I've been playing, I mean working with my new toys... I mean gear. Already have one of my musician helpers asking for the first recording session. He thinks the room looks great, like it was plucked out of a major city and stuck into my barn. Thank you again for all your help. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Yes, I have pictures and will post them.
(But today's project is rebuilding the woodshed. Backhoe is due any moment, then well be mixing cement.)

Finally had a minute to upload a photo. As you can see the clouds are up and the room sounds great.
I've spent some time modifying the desk, removed the keyboard slide and bought a wireless keyboard for the computer.
Already had one recording session in the room and the results were excellent. The people said it was the best sound they had ever heard on the finished product. The room sounded great while they were singing live in it too. Warm and natural. Which is encouraging because I yet to do the mirror test and hang the wall absorbers.

I'm looking forward to our 6 months of winter so I can focus on the studio again. (The project slowed down to a crawl during the summer because of outdoor construction priorities, and now I have 6 cord of wood to cut, split and stack)
But now that things are hooked up and I'm starting to use the room and equipment I can hear the need to finish the acoustic treatment to take care of some high frequency reflections.
Those clouds that Glenn designed are simply awesome. I haven't measured yet but difference is huge and the results are very pleasing. Thank you Glenn....AGAIN! And thank you John Sayers for this forum. To be continued.

Its been a few years but here are some pictures of the finished control room. This summer we finished the live room, the lobby, and the lounge.

More pics of the finished studio (and some in process pics) we now call Dreamery Productions.
It was a long project and a lot of work but well worth it. Enjoy!
John Heartson

Congratulations, John! That looks really nice.

So nice, in fact, that it made top of the list!

http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... 923#p40923

A lot of great workmanship went into that place, and it shows. Very neat!

- Stuart -

Thank you Stuart!
I am so grateful for this forum. I learned so much and continue to do so. (its a life long process)

I now have the studio I always dreamed about, thanks to all of the kind and generous people that donate so much time to share their knowledge and experience, and keep this forum going.

Thank you all!

John Heartson

http://www.DreameryProductions.com