John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Hi guys, my first post here and I am looking for some advice on optimising my studio space. The room is a spare bedroom in a terraced house so it is not anything professional, although I would like to make the best of my space so that I can develop my freelancing.

The room is a square of 3.4m (2.4m tall), with the wardrobe in the top left. Currently I have my desk about 35cm from the back wall with the monitors on stands behind. I have my cab in the wardrobe with some towels to dampen it a bit for recording.

First question: Is all my gear in roughly the optimal positions? Mainly talking about the desk and speakers here. Any other positions to try?

Second question: There is a lot of reverberation in the room as there is no acoustic treatment, and additionally the floor is wooden instead of carpeted. I don't really know where to start with treating the room, or how much of an improvement it would actually make, and I wouldn't want to spend too much. Can anyone offer suggestions of where/how to dampen the room or would it be an exercise in futility?

I am able to mix to a decent standard and I often reference with my headphones (ATH-M50s) however I feel this could be improved by improving the room.

What are the reddish-brown things on the right wall in your drawing?

Square rooms are about the worst arrangement for a control room that there is. Best thing you could do is to just build a bunch of absorbers and hang them all over the walls, maybe get a rub for the floor to knock down the reflections from the wooden floor. Even though the room is square, I would turn your desk to face the right wall, so that the cut out with the wardrobe area and your amp is behind you, and not immediately to the left of your left speaker.

Also, if you haven't already, you should get and Read Rod Gervais's book, Home Recording Studio: Build It Like the Pros. Lots of great information there.

Cheers for the reply.

The red things were just to indicate where my guitars are kept on their stands.

I'll swing the room around and see if I can get a cheap rug, and I'll also look absorbers.