John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Hi all

I am building out a new space and I have a few questions.

See the attached layouts to see what I am working with. Each space is around 10 x 12 with a 60 inch doorway between both rooms.

Questions:

1. Originally I was thinking of putting the mix position facing the window because that is technically the short wall of that space. But there is a 60 inch doorway to the left of the mix position and that seems like the short direction of the room would be the wall to the right of the mix position now.

What's the best place to put the mix position?

2. I do plan on using some first reflection hanging clouds and side wall absorption. I am mostly concerned with bass trapping. I am thinking of putting a couple of stacks of Safe 'n' Sound in as many corners as I can.

- If I get a bunch of 48 x 24 x 2 inch Safe 'n' Sound and cut them in half (24x24) is that the right way to go here if I stack them floor to ceiling in the corners?
- Or would I be better going with pink fluffy in the corners with the same size?
- Or, would it be better to just do angled traps in the corners with pink fluffy?

3. In the tracking room I have a cinder block wall (see attached photo). I am building a 2x4 stud wall in front of this cinder block wall with standard 16 inch centers. The stud wall would be up against the cinder block.

But because I don't have any sheetrock on it yet, does it make sense to do something else?

- Instead of sheetrock maybe I use all 705 or something with foil backing to retain some high end?
- Is it better to use pink fluffy behind the 705? (I don't think it is but I have the option to do that now)
- Is it better to intermix 705 (or whatever) and sheet rock with pink fluffy behind it in rows?
- I hate to lose the space but I could make the stud wall even deeper, would that help anything?

What is the best way to do this wall now that there isn't anything there at all?

Thanks in advance!

Mike

Oh and a few other points.

The cinder block wall in the photo above isn't wet, it was just repointed. Some of the mortar joints were pretty rough from the original construction (back in 1960) so I had them touched up. This is a basement but it's an upside down ranch so this is a very dry living area.

And our home is set back a fairly good distance from other homes and the street. And that part of the house is away from the living area upstairs. I will be tracking live drums but I am not extremely concerned with sound leakage into or out of that space, however I do plan on changing out the doors to the hallway from hollow to solid cores.

The ceiling height is 8 feet (forgot to mention that in my original post).

The flooring is going to be cork. Again, it's a basement so I am sort of limited on what I can do down there on the cement slab (and I really don't like the look or feel of stained concrete).

This isn't going to be a professional studio. I did professional work for a number of years but that was in a former life. This is just for me but I want to do it as right as I can without sinking a ton of money into the design and without changing the shape of the rooms too much (because I am limited on space more than anything).

Thanks in advance for any help you guys can provide!

hey Mike

not_so_new wrote:1. Originally I was thinking of putting the mix position facing the window because that is technically the short wall of that space. But there is a 60 inch doorway to the left of the mix position and that seems like the short direction of the room would be the wall to the right of the mix position now.

What's the best place to put the mix position?

Symmetry is the thing (amongst others) that you're looking for in a mix position. It looks like you're struggling for symmetry whichever spot you choose at the moment. Are you able lay out the room any differently?

not_so_new wrote:2. I do plan on using some first reflection hanging clouds and side wall absorption. I am mostly concerned with bass trapping. I am thinking of putting a couple of stacks of Safe 'n' Sound in as many corners as I can.

- If I get a bunch of 48 x 24 x 2 inch Safe 'n' Sound and cut them in half (24x24) is that the right way to go here if I stack them floor to ceiling in the corners?
- Or would I be better going with pink fluffy in the corners with the same size?
- Or, would it be better to just do angled traps in the corners with pink fluffy?

I'm not sure what safe'n'sound is. Have you got a density rating for it? and a density for 'pink fluffy' as well. Although it sounds like pink fluffy is going to be too light for what you need just from the way you're describing it.

not_so_new wrote:3. In the tracking room I have a cinder block wall (see attached photo). I am building a 2x4 stud wall in front of this cinder block wall with standard 16 inch centers. The stud wall would be up against the cinder block.

But because I don't have any sheetrock on it yet, does it make sense to do something else?

What is the point of the stud wall? Is it to increase isolation or is it playing a role in the acoustic treatment of the room?

not_so_new wrote: What is the best way to do this wall now that there isn't anything there at all?

Hard to say as it's not really clear what function you want that wall to play. Maybe some more photos of the space would help.

not_so_new wrote:And our home is set back a fairly good distance from other homes and the street. And that part of the house is away from the living area upstairs. I will be tracking live drums but I am not extremely concerned with sound leakage into or out of that space, however I do plan on changing out the doors to the hallway from hollow to solid cores.

I don't need to tell you that tracking drums is loud, so you probably need to be sure that anyone else in the house is going to dig what yout recording if you aren't concerned about sound transmission.

I'm getting the feeling that changing your doors won't make a whole heap of difference to the transmission loss if you aren't building a two leaf construction.

not_so_new wrote: This is just for me but I want to do it as right as I can without sinking a ton of money into the design and without changing the shape of the rooms too much (because I am limited on space more than anything).

have you got any idea on budget?