Taking Over An Existing Studio - Looking to Optimize Layout

[osososos]

Hi all,
I'm looking for advice on how to optimize an existing space. My partner and I are willing to do light modifications, but don't have the budget (or desire) to start knocking down walls. I am particularly concerned with the acoustics of the control room and vocal booth. The live room isn't a huge priority right now.

The studio currently has no bass traps. As you can see from the diagram, the control room currently has a few trouble spots. The front left corner and rear left corner have doors, and the front right corner is occupied by the wrap around desk. I would like to install floor to ceiling bass traps in every corner as well as wall treatments for early reflections and a possible cloud. The control room is approximately 17 ft 10 (Front wall) x 14 ft 6 inches with 13 ft ceilings.

I think we'll most certainly remove the portion of the desk that sits in the right corner, and then for the sake of symmetry and aesthetics I thought it might be smart to install a wall on the left side of the room, creating a hallway from the lounge to the live room with a door to the control room in a practical spot. I know I'd be making the room smaller, but it would allow us to put bass traps in each corner, and it would give us symmetry in the front of the room. We could even build the wall with acoustics in mind, effectively making it a treated wall (although it would have to be on the thin side. I was wondering how everyone feels about this tradeoff of making an already smallish room smaller vs. having unobstructed bass trap locations, symmetry, and aesthetics.

If YOU had this layout, what would you do with it? Look forward to hearing your responses. Thank you!

[osososos]

Here is my rudimentary sketch of the studio

[Soundman2020]

Hi there "osososos". Please read the forum rules for posting (click here). You seem to be missing a couple of things!

As you can see from the diagram, ...

Diagrams are useful, but photos of the actual room would be much, uch more useful! It's hard to see from just a diagram what the real situation is.

The control room is approximately 17 ft 10 (Front wall) x 14 ft 6 inches with 13 ft ceilings.

It's a nice size, but have you considered orienting it the other way, which would be better, acoustically? Rotate the orientation such that the front wall is the 14'6" wall, thus having your speakers fire down the longer axis of the room (rather than across the short axis). If you do that, you'd have both front corners available for bass trapping, or perhaps even soffit-mounting your speakers.

I think we'll most certainly remove the portion of the desk that sits in the right corner,

If that were my room, I would take out the entire desk! It makes no sense at all like it is, acoustically. In that room, the mix position should be about 5'9" from the front wall in the current orientation, or 6'10" from the front wall in the orientation I'm suggesting. Those are the acoustically correct spots. It would be rather silly to have a desk right up against the wall with those dimensions, That would put the mix position in a rather poor spot, acoustically. Very uneven response, with rather large artifacts, that it would not be possible to treat.

I was wondering how everyone feels about this tradeoff of making an already smallish room smaller vs. having unobstructed bass trap locations, symmetry, and aesthetics.

You have a floor area of about 260 ft2. The specs for control rooms suggest at least 220, so you are fine there. You could cut off about 40ft2 and still be "good".... But if you cut off that side, then the room would be almost square, which is bad. Square rooms have terrible modal response, which is really hard to deal with using treatment. You'd need even more treatment, which takes up even more room...

If YOU had this layout, what would you do with it?

Well, seeing that you asked!

1) I would take out the desk, and all existing treatment.
2) I would move both of the doors further into the room, such that there is space to put in decent sized superchunk bass traps, or perhaps hanger traps.
3) I would set up the room facing to the right of your picture (where one arm of the desk is right now).
4) I would build soffits for my speakers on that wall, with optimum geometric layout in relation to each other, to the room, and to the mix position. The soffits would include bass trapping above and below, and perhaps between them as well.
5) On the entire rear wall (the "left" wall of the current layout) I would build a full-width hanger section, about 18" deep in the middle and maybe 24" deep in the corners, with diffusers in the front (the room is big enough for that... just!).
6) I would put superchunk traps in some of the remaining 8 corners of the room.
7) I would build a hard-backed, angled cloud, hung at the front of the room, in the area between the speakers and the mix position.
I would put additional absorption panels on the rear parts of the side walls, and the rear part of the ceiling, as needed, to get the decay times within spec for that room, as well as to control flutter echo and dampen modes that involve the side walls.

Doing that would get you a pretty good room!



- Stuart -

[osososos]

Sorry, just realized how many rules I broke! Thanks for the thorough reply. I am moving in to the space tomorrow so I'll get a chance to take photos and get some more information. My partner officially does not want to build the wall for now, so the control room dimensions are accurate. I want to buy some bass trap materials on Day 1 to temporarily treat the space, but we're going to take a wait and see approach with the cosmetic changes so I don't want to go too crazy withe trap construction. If I put the packaged 703 in the corners/ early reflection areas would it be productive for mixing while we figure out a gameplan on the space? Do I need to be super picky about thickness or should I just go with 4'' pads considering the decent sized room?

[Soundman2020]

If I put the packaged 703 in the corners/ early reflection areas would it be productive for mixing while we figure out a gameplan on the space?

Provided that you orient the room correctly, get rid of that useless desk completely, set up the speakers and mix position correctly, and put the right amount/thickness of treatment in the correct locations, yes! It would make a substantial difference.

Do I need to be super picky about thickness or should I just go with 4'' pads considering the decent sized room?

You will need 4" for the panels that go between the speakers and the front wall, and for the first reflection points on the side walls and the ceiling, but the rear wall is going to need more that that. I would put 2 layers of 4" across the entire rear wall (8" total), but with strategically placed plastic of the correct thickness and correct coverage on most of it. I would also do superchunk traps in both front corners, floor to ceiling, and at least two of the remaining eight corners. You could use 4" 703 for that, no problem, since you'll just be stacking the triangles, flat, on top of each other, so the thickness is not an issue. With 4" 703, you'd need only half the number of triangles that you would need for 2" 703, but still 50% more than what you'd need for 6" 703. However, the end result would be the same in all cases, and you'd use the same total volume of 703.

- Stuart -