Critical listening room above garage

[Stone Cutter]

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Ok, I'm back again. My live room in a pole barn has worked well for me so far. I have had great results with tracking in that room but have had to "farm out" mixing and mastering since I still don't have a dedicated room for that. Recently I have been considering accoustily treating a room in my house for that purpose. It is the room above my 2 car garage. I have no need for isolation, just acoustic treatment. My initial question is orientation. The room is 23'-8" x 12'-8" x 8'. The vertical wall is 4'-7". The angled part of the wall is also 4'-7" and the flat part of the ceiling is 6'-6". my first thought was to use the length of the room and put the mix position in front of the window. I just wonder if the angled ceiling will cause a problem. Would it be better to rotate the mix position and have less front to back distance?

[Soundman2020]

I have no need for isolation,

Are you sure about that? It doesn't rain in Ohio? No thunder, hail, wind... no aircraft flying over... no street noise, neighbor mowing the lawn, dogs barking, birds singing... No noises from your own house, such as radio, TV, phones ringing, water running, doors closing, people walking, talking, toilet flushing, vacuum cleaner... etc... There are a large number of outside noises that can be very disturbing when you are trying to mix. It might be an idea to re-think that...

The room is 23'-8" x 12'-8" x 8'.

That0s a nice size, but the ratio is a bit disturbing! It's very long and narrow. Plus, there's a direct mathematical relationship between the dimensions. I would suggest building a wall across it about 17 or 18 feet back. That would improve the ratio greatly while still giving you a good size room. Use Bob Golds calculator to figure out a good set of dimensions: http://www.bobgolds.com/Mode/RoomModes.htm

my first thought was to use the length of the room and put the mix position in front of the window.

Yep!

I just wonder if the angled ceiling will cause a problem.

It's not ideal, and there is a risk of early reflections if your speakers are not properly placed, but it's better than the other option.

Would it be better to rotate the mix position and have less front to back distance?

Not really. That would place your head too close to the rear wall. The mix position would have to be about 4'10" from the front wall, implying less than 8 feet from the rear wall. The precludes you from using numeric sequence diffusers on the rear wall, and brings the reflections off the rear wall up to the edge of the Haas time (borderline). Plus you'd have steeply angled ceilings at both ends, so there would be some strange reflections going on...

It's better to lay it out lengthways, and build a wall to get a good ratio while still retaining good room volume. With good layout, good geometry, good treatment, and a good choice of speakers to math the room, it can be a very nice place, fairly accurate, and with good overall acoustics.

- Stuart -

[Stone Cutter]

Thank you Soundman2020 for your reply.

Ok I will proceed with all your suggestions in mind. I see what you mean about the room ratios. I'm gonna have to think about the wall idea though. That would put a wall ~5' inside the entrance to the room. (5' x 12' lounge?) Maybe. I wonder too how the geometry of the ceiling/walls affects the room modes?

The isolation really isn't an issue for me. The room will be used primarily for my own projects and if I have to wait for a storm to pass ect. I can. Other than that my home is in the middle of many acres of woods. My nearest neighbor is half a mile away as is the small dirt road that sees maybe a dozen cars a day. Pretty rural place.

Now I just need to bone up on my acoustics knowledge. It's been a while since I was last on here. I'm sure there have been some changes in ideas/techniques since then.
Thanks again,
Tim

[Soundman2020]

That would put a wall ~5' inside the entrance to the room. (5' x 12' lounge?)

Storage area? Vocal booth? Lots of possibilities...

I wonder too how the geometry of the ceiling/walls affects the room modes?

It does not affect your longitudinal axial modes at all: they will be the same. It does not affect the primary modes in the other two axial directions either, since there's still a large area of ceiling that is wide and flat, parallel to the floor, and large vertical areas of wall that are also parallel, so those will be prominent. The tangential modes associated with those surfaces will also not be affected. You will, however, have a new set of modes related to the angled sections, and they will all be either tangential or oblique modes. They might or might not be beneficial. It's hard to say, without doing some serious math. But at a guess, I wouldn't be to worried about them. A room mode calculator won't be totally accurate there, of course, but it will give you the correct answers for the primary axial modes, which are usually the worst offenders. So it will still be a useful too in deciding on where to put the wall.

Now I just need to bone up on my acoustics knowledge. It's been a while since I was last on here. I'm sure there have been some changes in ideas/techniques since then.

It's a never-ending story! The science of acoustics is still reasonably new, and things are still advancing. New treatments, new materials, new theories. The basics don't change, though, which is good!

- Stuart -