Garage Control room and Studio Treatment

[Tyler FJ Page]

So about a year ago I had 3 thousand dollars and an Idea to build a studio out of my garage. I stupidly began building with only a basic understanding of studio builds and made the following room. I am in a position where it is fully built meaning drywall is on the walls now, doors are hung, and window is in. I understand that this room is asymmetrical (I was stupidly operating off the idea that parallel walls were what I wanted to avoid at all cost) and when I have enough money in the far future I will probably end up using the rooms as studios and make a control room out of one of the existing house rooms. However, being that that is a couple years off and I would like to use this building as a control room and Vocal Booth/ Small studio (for guitars other smaller instruments) in the mean time, I have a few questions on how to proceed from where I am. Feel free to grill me more on the bad design, I deserve it and can take it, and it might point out problems I have yet to realize.

Some details on the room that may not be obvious in the picture and model are that the floors are concrete slab on earth, like a normal garage foundation.
The ceilings are 7' high due to the fact that there are storage units above the room that I was not allowed to remove (its my parents house now, but I may buy it in the future). The drywall is double layer 5/8" with green glue in between. The walls are 1.5' thick outside of stud to outside of stud, and it is wood frame 2X4 double frame construction. Also the 1.5' spring in between walls is filled with fluffy fiberglass.

Pics:




Sketchup File link

http://files.me.com/tallt33/8lz2is


I have about 16 Acoustical fiber bats of rockwool that measure 2' X 4' X 2" and a lot of fluffy fiberglass (about 5, 45 gallon trash bags full) left over. I also have about 300-400 dollars that I can spend on additional treatment supplies. I have just bought a SPL meter and downloaded REW (room testing Software) will begin testing, but could definitely use some help in testing the room, so if someone could direct me to a page on this forum or a search term that would help me understand what I need to do to test the room I would very much appreciate it.

Questions:

Given the materials I have and my budget what would you suggest I do to treat this room?

Given that the control room is asymmetrical what would you suggest for my speaker and desk placement, is what I have in the picture the best place or is there a better option I am not seeing?

Because of the short ceilings is the concrete floor going to be a problem?

Also if any one has experience using REW (Room EQ Wizard) how do you use it with an Mbox 2 on an apple computer, and will a tube condenser mic suffice for testing the higher frequencies?

I understand that this questions is not related to acoustics but how should I pass cables through the walls? I have tried looking on the forum but cant find how to seal the conduit and what material I should use for conduit. Also, I have purchased Rods book recently and bought the GM gasket for the doors, but how do I attach the gasket to the doors? Sorry if I missed that in my readings.

Thank you for any help in advance, and I again apologize for not doing the proper research before starting this project.
I have learned a lot from this mistake and will not make it again, I was younger,stupider, and an idiot with my money.
I anticipate I will get a lot of angry people from this post and I do not blame them, and your comments no matter how harsh will not be taken as offensive, if you could however also help me make progress from where I am I will appreciate it greatly, and I promise to not make a mistake even remotely similar to this again.

Sincerely,
Tyler Page

[gullfo]

turn the desk so it's square to the front wall. set it back about 18" or so. put your audio monitors on stands. treat the front wall with 4" or 6" cloth covered absorption and widely spaced slats - say 2 1/2" wide strips of 3/4" plywood or hardwood spaced about 6" apart. on the back wall - another 6" of absorption and widely spaced slats. on the door - a 4" absorber. on the ceiling - clouds - hard-backed - 3/4" ply + 3/4" MDF with 4" absorber on front and hung down and angled 15° over the desk and another less angled closer to the ceiling behind the desk. in the vox booth - span all corners with slat resonators or cloth covered absorbers. a cloud on the ceiling. REW for the Mac will work - please ensure you follow the installation and setup directions carefully and use it as described and not get creative on substituting wiring etc...
on the gasket material - how are the doors constructed?

[Tyler FJ Page]

Hello and thank you for once again helping me Glenn, you are awesome!

My doors are normal solid core doors. The jambs are 1 1/8" thick, and currently only have one stop on the jamb that is about 3/8". The space between framing and jamb has been filled with DAP spray foam sealer, which I found to be very pliable and not rigid like some other ones. The doors do not have the "Bank Vault" Layering. I put cabinet handles on the doors so as not to put a hole through the door, and I am getting some door closers to push the doors against the seals.

Questions:

I have 5 sheets of 5/8" drywall left over, would I be able to use that for the layering, and how important is the layering since I have a sound lock?

Do you have any suggestions on a type of adhesive or other material to attach the GM weather stripping to the jamb?

Just to confirm when you say front wall you are talking about the wall I have the desk placed at?

Also, wouldn't placing the desk square to that wall make my stereo imaging skewed slightly, vs angling the desk so that it forms equal angles with the two side walls and putting absorption so that it forms a false wall that creates an equal angle at the corners? (I trust that what you say is best, I just want to be able to understand why)

For the 15 degree angled clouds, should I put the part closest to the ceiling on the back wall side of the desk so that the cloud is angled toward the back of the room, or opposite? Also for the one behind the desk should it be angled in the direction of the speakers, and should this cloud be in the back of the room or directly behind the desk after the other cloud ends?

In the Vox booth given that the ceilings are so low and there will be a lot of standing in there, would it be possible to glue 4" or maybe 6" of absorption to the ceiling to maximize height, since hanging clouds on eye hooks would probably lower the ceiling to about 6'6" (my height)?

Also, would it be beneficial to hinge some sort of absorption panel to the door so that it could swing open to cut off the third corner at the door wall intersection in the Vox booth?

Finally, on the subject of the conduit, should I just use PVC Pipe through the CR/Booth wall and pass my wires through, fill with insulation, cap it and caulk it shut, or am I wrong here? (it seems like that would be a rather large weak spot in my wall) Also how would I be able to do this so that I could add future cables?

Thank you so very much for your all your help Glenn, both on this project and the mastering suit. You have been an amazing help and mentor in my journey through acoustics, sadly, I cannot thank you enough, but I will continue to try . I will be sure to get your name recognized by my School when the mastering Suit gets to be built (after we get past the bureaucracy of trying to get something done at a community college). If there is anything else I can do for either you and/or this site to get you/it further recognition, don't hesitate to say so, you and this sites members definitely deserve it.

Sincerely,
Tyler Page

[gullfo]

you might have to cut a bevel into the 1x (or 1/2") lumber so the tail of the GM seal sit in it. then the pressure on the tail should keep it in place. using screws so you can tension it correctly and unscrew if you need to replace it later. you are turning your desk to be square on the front wall (where your desk is and assuming your diagram is correct) to make the side wall symmetrical to your listening position. you could attach the cloud in the vox booth to the ceiling to save room. if you can have a hinged absorber on the door then go with that. on the cloud over the desk - low end to the front - check solobration thread for pic of clouds. you could use the conduit to route the cables then seal it. cut the conduit and use a rubber connector to decouple each side. route it so the penetrations are on separate portions of the walls so there is no direct path. cap and seal.

[Tyler FJ Page]

Hello again.

I was told that short of taking the jambs off, I would not be able to rout a bevel in the corners of the door stops. So to keep the Jambs attached I had an Idea to put the gasket on backwards so that the tail is on the face of the stop like in the picture below:

Will This Work?

[gullfo]

you would undercut the stop and put the tail (you have on top) under it.

[BriHar]

What about using D shaped rubber seal profile? This has a flat (usually sticky) side for gluing to the stop, and a round part which presses against the door (it deforms or flattens somewhat to give a good seal).

[Tyler FJ Page]

Thanks again Glenn.

So just a question, you are talking about using an undercutting saw to accomplish the "bevel" to squeeze the gasket tail in behind the door stop? Also would I be able to undercut the inside corners at the top of the door?

Brian:

Thank you for the suggestion! That seal I am not familiar with, but if it is a good seal I would consider it as an alternative to undercutting the stop depending on ease and cost. I am hesitant to just go that rout because I already purchased the GM gasket mentioned in Rod's Book so I would like to use this if possible to save money since I don't have too much much budget left.

[BriHar]

Don't know what the cost would be in your area but it's very easy to install.

dprofile_250x250.jpg

[Tyler FJ Page]

Thanks again Brian for the suggestion and further info.

I have another couple questions regarding the celling clouds that you suggested Glenn. could I make one large ceiling cloud IE 4'X4' over the mix position angled 15 degrees or would it be better to make two 2'X4' ceiling clouds and angle 15 degrees them over the mix position. Also for the one behind the desk (the less angled cloud you spoke of Glenn) could I put a single 2'X4' cloud for that one or would it have to be a double/double sized one? Finally, for the cloud in the vocal booth that will not be angled, do I have to back that one with 3/4 plywood + 3/4 MDF or can it be simply a frame attached to the ceiling? I ask this last question because from how I understand it the plywood serves its purpose only when its angled to make the sound (mostly lower frequencies) hitting it act as if it is hitting an angled ceiling, am I correct here?