John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

let's retrace - where do you think you need to add absorbers?

Ok, let's retrace

I don't know if I need to add absorbers. Right know I'm trying to finish the main idea we traced from here: Ending up with this idea: So, to recap, the room's front wall is made of slat walls (centre and sides) and speaker soffits. The rest of the room (remaining part of walls and complete ceiling) is framed insulation (50mm thick) covered with plastic and cloth.

AFAIK, what is left to be done is:

-ceiling panels
-laminate flooring.
-absorber to cover door.
-reflectant strips on rear wall.
-Put in the gear (I can't wait for this step......)

If this is NOT CORRECT or anything ELSE needs to be done, please let me know now, since I'm still working on the front panel (that, btw, is coming out nicely).

If this is correct, I need to solve the spacing/size question of the ceiling panels to be able to build them

I will try to post some pics tonight
Cheers
Sono

so it sounds like you don't need any additional absorbers... i was confused because i thought you were asking about spacing them... no worries then...

Great
What about the ceiling panels then?
Do I need any other than the front one if the ceiling is covered in framed insulation + plastic & cloth?
If so what size / spacing between them would you recommend?
Thanks for your time again, mate
Cheers
Sono

Bump...

i would add the ceiling ones you show as you will need absorption in the room for LF and they will help.

Great. Now the big question:
How big should they be and what spacing between them?

however big you have them shown and spaced looks like a good first start to me.

Ok. What you see is the room's length, though, and what looks as one panel will be more than one though, to cover the room width (4 meters)
I guess I should place them as close as possible as if it was a whole panel across the room's width, right?
Pics of the front panel soon!

close spacing should be OK, having a variety of angles to shape the overhead is useful - think of guiding the bass energy overhead through a path of least resistance from front to back where entering it or escaping it terminates in some other absorption.

Glenn,
thanks for your prompt reply.
As promised, some pics!!
Sorry for some of the pics taken with phone...

I finally finished and varnished the front woodwork
Painted the doors. The inner door (Red) still needs and absorber
I also finished the front cloud structure. I need to varnish it and then fill it with rockwool and cloth. This was a bloody nightmare. I wish I was less compulsive maniac sometimes...but I'm happy with the result
So now, next steps is to build the other panels. I finally decided to build the 1260x860x100. Wood thickness is 30mm. I've updated my sketchup with them:

The only doubt I have concerns the rear wall. As they are, if you look at the SU pics, you'll see that there's a small gap between the panels and the rear wall due to the shape of the rear wall, the AC machine, and the door. Aso, I can't angle the one over the door too much because of the door trajectory, so I placed them like in the pic. Does that look ok? I guess in the real world they'll end almost flat.
I guess symmetry should be kept between both angles (the door one and the opposite) even if there's the problem concerns only one angle, right?
I've added some pics of the rear wall sections for you to have an idea of the space.
Rear wall view. The red shadow on the right is actually the door. Top of the door details:
Cheers
Sono

very nice workmanship! i wouldn't worry too much about the back - as long as you're clearing the AC unit the gap shouldn't be an issue there. how's the room sounding so far?

The only sound I tried in the room so far (apart from the darn sander!!) is my humming and clapping. I find it sounds clear and tight at the mixing position. If you walk in the room slowly making the lowest growl you can (in freq), it begins deaf and dry and opens up and brightens up as you move into the sweet spot. I have the feeling it will sound awesome I still can't test for bass response with my voice or clapping. There is a TINY bit of flutter (like a phase effect), but VERY subtle in the woodwork nearby, but I reckon it will clean up with the clouds.

In any case, and so far, I am very happy and stinking proud of this room!!
Hahaha, when I think that when I started back in June, I calculated "mmmm, roughly 2 to 3 weeks, MAX a month and I'm ready to mix"..... right...

So on Monday I'm back there (I'm gigging all weekend) and I will finish varnishing the front cloud and filling it with wool, plastic, cloth, etc. Hopefully I'll hang it on Tuesday or Wednesday. By the end of the week I should have most of the remaining clouds

I'll keep you posted.
And Glenn, THANKS a lot for your guidance, without it I'd be lost and very frustrated...

Hello again everybody!!

I've been away from the forum for a while but I've been working hard at my studio. The ceiling is ALMOST done. I have only 3 panels left. I have completed 6 panels so far (besides the front big panel), which means to build the panel frame, varnish it, build the cloth frame, place the cloth on the cloth frame, place the cloth frame inside the panel frame, staple plastic sheet next to cloth, fill with wool, cover with stapled plastic, tape the plastic to the panel frame, and hang the damn thing...

BUT, it's looking AWESOME!!!!!

A little anecdote: while I was stapling the other day, I distractly dropped the stapler inside one of the speaker cavities. As I did so, I heard a "boing" that seemed to come from inside the cavity. Mesmerized I did it again, and there it was again, a deep "boing". WTF?
I couldn't tell where it was coming from but I suddenly began to sweat. "It can't be. This cavity is not touching the woodwork and the rear chamber is isolated from here....how can this resonate like this?" I suddenly recalled, like in a dream, that staplers use springs to keep the staples in place...so I grabbed something else and dropped it in the same place. No boing. My heart exploded with joy!!!
I took the stapler and dropped it on the floor. There he was, that little moth ker!
Boing!!

I'll post some pics this weekend. It also occurs to me that maybe I should post the Sketch Up file of my front cloud, as it describes in detail how I built it. Might be useful to others, right?

I finally decided I'm not going for the SmartAV Tango. Instead, I'll go for a Euphonix Artist Series MC Control v2 and two MC Mix units. That'll give me 20 faders and all the features of the Tango except the touch screen. But again, I've never used touch screens in my life, so I guess I won't miss it. Plus it won't be in the way of my HS80Ms I'll probably also build a desk to integrate my outboard and the Euphonix controllers. More on that later

Cheers
Sono

cool beans! if you have not, you want to add some absorption into that cavity if it's resonating (even if the boinging from the stapler is the culprit...) since you want no live resonant chambers...