Ready to build

[ollie]

[dead link]

Starting to build it tomorrow. Unless you guys see something wrong...

Flexible Post/Music/Mastering studio in Southern Ontario Canada.

Non-environment, semi-live, partially diffusive CR supporting tracking for electronic instruments, DI instruments and client playback.
Flexible tracking room with variable acoustics for instrument tracking, vocal isolation, ADR and foley.
Arrows denote reflective surfaces, T's denote absorbtive.
Rear CR wall are custom made diffsorbers that swing on hinges to let in the sunshine!
All bass trapping is 1/2 MDF hangers with 1" 703.
All aborbtive panels are 1" 703 covered in fabric.
Ceiling is 10' high and is covered with angled absorbtive panels.
Movable gobos in tracking rooms swing open and closed from the walls.
Reflective surfaces in tracking room are actually partial diffuse helmholtz walls.
Panel that covers CR entrance is removable from the inside.
I am building this studio with reclaimed construction materials.
Mostly from the Habitat for Humanity Restore which sells "used" materials and then uses the proceeds to build affordable housing for local families.
- the sliding glass doors are reclaimed from a retail store $100 Cdn.
- 3/4" dark oak prefinished hardwood flooring for tracking room is leftover from a local developer, 100 sqft - $80
- 36" x 84" fire door and metal frame $100
- helmholtz paneling in control room and paneling on inside wall of CR is made of reclaimed local barnboard, quite nice looking with deep rich patina.

Had to buy the 703 new though...

Hmm... the wings of my mixing desk are missing from my export from Acrobat weird...

I have been using this wonderful program for the Mac called Omnigraffle by Omnigroup.
I have built my own custom studio design and acoustics stencils.
If you are interested I can email them to you just drop me a line at:

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I will keep ya'll abreast of the progress somewhere on this site...

cheers,
ollie


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[tmix]

Ollie,
This is a really cool plan to me which gives me some needed ideas for my own studio ( a single throw room 33 long by 12 wide) I was trying to figure out how to have several different types of rooms without having to buy so many double hung doors or sliding glass.
I had also considered the fact that I never record serious vocals while recording rhythm section so a multi purpose room with dividers seems an excellent idea.
I hope you don't mind but I am going to watch your post as my own.

Tom

[knightfly]

Center channel speaker needs to be the same distance from the mix position as the others, or you'll need a delay for that channel that can handle tenths of milliseconds from 0-10 milliseconds -

the front glass will cause early reflection problems when mixing in surround - could be solved by gobos in front when mixing - general rule (if there ARE any rules for 5.1 yet) is that you want all speakers to fire into absoption. Most are putting ambience (lost with extra absorption) back with DSP.

Other than that, looks like a plan... Steve

[John Sayers]

Interesting design Ollie - nice drawing program

A couple of points:

1. you obviously realise that your 5:1 geometry will require you to delay the surround and center speakers.
2. I'm not sure that I'd have a diffusive rear wall in a control room that small - especially so parallel to the front glass door.
3. A single glass door on it's own won't give very good STC from the tracking room. Fine for Foley etc but not drums.
4. I doubt you could use a vocal recorded as you've drawn as the spill from the drums will be pretty loud despite your gobos. I'd have the singer in the control room with me.
5. The entrance door system seems a bit wierd and cumbersome - why not just two doors?

cheers
john

[ollie]

You guys are amazing, drilled into my problem areas instantly!

Center channel speaker needs to be the same distance from the mix position as the others, or you'll need a delay for that channel that can handle tenths of milliseconds from 0-10 milliseconds -

the front glass will cause early reflection problems when mixing in surround - could be solved by gobos in front when mixing - general rule (if there ARE any rules for 5.1 yet) is that you want all speakers to fire into absoption. Most are putting ambience (lost with extra absorption) back with DSP.

5.1 is still a dream for this studio, I just put in the center and rear speakers to test my geometry.

Ultimately the center channel will be mounted above the glass door.

It seems that the way to go for 5.1 is something like this:

http://www.tascam.com/product_info.php?pid=252&page=1

S-M7.1
Digital Surround Monitor Controller
Standard 8-channel TDIF, AES/EBU and ADAT connections for a stem recorder
Standard TDIF connections to console (AES/EBU and ADAT available on optional cards)
8 Input channels, 8 Output channels
44.1k, 48k, 88.2k, 96k operation; Pull up/down operation via external master clock
Flexible downmixing
Built in Pink Noise generator for monitor calibration
Individual channel Mute/Solo
LED SPL display
Individual channel delay compensation

About $1500 USD

2. I'm not sure that I'd have a diffusive rear wall in a control room that small - especially so parallel to the front glass door.

The rear wall is only partially diffusive, since I plan to do some tracking in the CR I don't want it to be deadsville.

3. A single glass door on it's own won't give very good STC from the tracking room. Fine for Foley etc but not drums.

I know, I could only get one used door, but I am keeping my eyes out for another...

4. I doubt you could use a vocal recorded as you've drawn as the spill from the drums will be pretty loud despite your gobos. I'd have the singer in the control room with me.

I would never do that, just wanted to show proportions in the room.

5. The entrance door system seems a bit wierd and cumbersome - why not just two doors?

You are correct but I am constrained by the geometry of the room and the electrical and HVAC that you can't see in the drawing. I think I have a nice design for the door though... I have done something similar in the past. I'll let you see how it turns out.

cheers,
ollie


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[John Sayers]

The rear wall is only partially diffusive, since I plan to do some tracking in the CR I don't want it to be deadsville.

then use your 10' ceiling to keep the top end up.

cheers
john

[ollie]

Good point John, I do have enough volume in the CR to have some ambience.

Plus it will save me some time and money by not building the diffusers.

cheers,
o



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