John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Hey guys! New to this forum, so thanks for helping me out!
I've been reading a lot about low-end treatment, but I'm having trouble figuring out what my best options are for the front corners of my room (behind my desk).

The rough layout for construction is attached.
The first picture shows the room. Some changes: the wall with the 4x3 window (where the desk will be facing), will probably have 90deg corners. The drawing shows angled side walls, but I'm thinking I'd be better off using that square footage for corner traps?
I'm also trying to move that closet door around the corner so it won't be at such an important reflection point.

The most cost effective option seems to be filling the corner with insulation then covering with fabric. I'm worried the basic 'superchunk' triangle style I see pictures of won't help me with frequencies below ~125hz. Should I try to make a big ol' triangle of pink fluff (like, 3 feet deep?) Am I better off with some sort of slot resonator?
I can build broadband panels all day, but what do you guys recommend for basic low-end treatment? Whatever I do will be DIY.

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

The drawing shows angled side walls, but I'm thinking I'd be better off using that square footage for corner traps?

Or better still, for proper soffits.

I'm also trying to move that closet door around the corner so it won't be at such an important reflection point.

It seems to be behind your first reflection area, so probably not an issue from that point of view, but it is also a major imbalance in room symmetry, so I'd urge you to just close it up and seal it off completely, with a solid wall, such that the left side of the room matches the right side, acoustically.

I'm worried the basic 'superchunk' triangle style I see pictures of won't help me with frequencies below ~125hz.

Why do you think that? Please explain.

Should I try to make a big ol' triangle of pink fluff (like, 3 feet deep?)

In what way is that different from a superchunk?

Am I better off with some sort of slot resonator?

Not at the front of the room, no.

I can build broadband panels all day, but what do you guys recommend for basic low-end treatment?

Either superchunk or hangers. That's what I use in most of my rooms. Thick, deep, porous absorption using suitable insulation is a pretty good way of doing it. You'll need that at both the front and back ends of the room.

However, there's a much bigger issue in your plans: You seem to have a bathroom opening directly into the control room???? Nope. Just nope. For so many reasons. That would be a bad, bad idea.



- Stuart -

Hey Stuart,

Thanks for the reply! I've done a bit more research since I posted that and I guess those super-chunks attenuate further down than I realized! I was just going by the 1/4 of the length of the soundwave rule.
Am I correct that a 34" face of the pink fluff, with a 42" front panel of 703 would be effective broadband attenuation for the front corners?

You're referring to speaker soffits? I haven't read an awful lot about them; what are the advantages of them over normal nearfields on stands with treatment behind them?

What's your concern with the bathroom opening on the control room?

One little detail question: what are the most effective methods for hanging panels diagonally across the ceiling-wall intersections? Seems a bit tricky.

Again, I appreciate your time!

Alden

Oh, and I read those forum rules. My bad!

I was just going by the 1/4 of the length of the soundwave rule.

It's a common misconception. It seems logical, but isn't. In fact, porous insulation that has a thickness equivalent to just 7% of the wavelength can be very effective fr normally incident sound, and 3.5% for randomly incident sound.

Am I correct that a 34" face of the pink fluff, with a 42" front panel of 703 would be effective broadband attenuation for the front corners?

That should work reasonably well, but a superchunk made completely of 703 would probably be better.

You're referring to speaker soffits? I haven't read an awful lot about them; what are the advantages of them over normal nearfields on stands with treatment behind them?

The advantages are numerous! It's a day and night difference.

Soffit-mounting your speakers does many things for you, but the biggest and most obvious is eliminating all of the artifacts associated with having the speaker inside the room. Since the soffit mount effectively removes the speaker from the room, there can be no more artifacts associated with that problem. The SBIR caused by the front wall is gone, and therefore the associated comb filtering is gone. There are no reflections from the front wall. There are no edge-diffraction artifacts. The power imbalance issue is solved. The bass is smoother, tighter, more even, better controlled. etc.

What's your concern with the bathroom opening on the control room?

Water, humidity, smells, isolation, and noise, to name just a few. You most certainly do not want water in your control room, nor do you want humidity. Your HVAC system will be controlling the humidity in the control room, of course, but it would not be able to deal with the fast swings in humidity every time you opened the door Smells: enough said! Isolation: You obviously need to have several penetrations of the walls to get the cold water supply pipe, hot water supply piped, sink drain pipe, toilet soil pipe, and the stand pipe through. Those will trash your isolation. Noise: DO you really want to try to mix accurately and with precision while you have the sound of the toilet flushing / tank refilling / water hammer / running water / gurgling drains / pipe noises going on in the background?



- Stuart -

Thanks for all the feedback Stuart, you've given me some great info to think about. I'll post here if I run into any more issues!