John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Hey all,

I like to work standing most of the time, so in my former work room I would have a tall, non-height-adjustable desk that would be at the right height for me when standing up and I would complement that with a stool I could sit on every now and then and still be at a correct height with my desk.

I'm now in my new studio and instead of building or buying a height adjustable desk, I thought I could use the same fixed desk/adjustable stool method.
Here's what stops me though: I'm 1,85m tall and the ceiling of my room is 3,40m. That means that even sitting in my chair would put my ears almost precisely half way between flor and ceiling which is clearly the worst spot to be in.

I have a rigid-back Cloud absorber on top of my head (2cm thick MDF covered with 17cm thick fiber glass on each side) and my question is: would that be enough to break my floor to ceiling room mode and allow for proper listening conditions, or do I simply have to give up the idea of a standing desk for critical listening and revert back to a normal, low chair?

I'd love to get your opinion on this.
Cheers!

I would say that your rigid backed cloud should help with the situation. Be sure to completely fill about the cloud with insulation.

Run some REW tests and see what it says!

Greg

Hey Gregor, I finally go around to setting up REW.
The difference in the room response between the sitting a standing listening position was too big to ignore.
I'm gonna have to give up the standing-only desk.
Thanks!

The difference in the room response between the sitting a standing listening position was too big to ignore.
I'm gonna have to give up the standing-only desk.

Yep! If you wanted good response at the standing location, then you would have had to design the entire room specifically for that, which includes mounting the speakers much higher than normally, and rearranging all of the treatment accordingly...

I've heard a few people before who have the same idea you did, and prefer to work standing, but I'm not aware of anybody who has actually built a room like that. It would be interesting to see how it works out. Maybe somebody will do that, some day...


- Stuart -

Yeah, I don’t like working standing all the time, but I absolutely love alternating a 40/60% between standing/sitting.
I’m gonna use a sit/stand desk so that I can stand during non-critical-listening work like editing, ccomposing, performing... It's so great, everybody should give it a shot.

but I absolutely love alternating a 40/60% between standing/sitting.

What speakers are you going to use here? If you have not decided yet, then I'd suggest something that has very good vertical dispersion, with good off-axis response in the vertical direction. That way, you can set the speakers a little higher than normal for a purely seated location, and still get decent response when standing. I'd also consider doing a larger cloud, or maybe a second cloud, that is located more over the actual mix position: make it hard backed, deep, and steeply angled, to help deal with any modal issues for your standing location. It won't solve the issue completely, but could help.


- Stuart -

I have a pair of JBL LSR2300. They will be replaced, but not soon.
I have a hard backed (2cm MDF) cloud that is about 2m wide by 1,2m long over the mix position. It has 17cm of 30kg/m3 glass wool on each surface. I followed mostly your guidelines from other threads.
I haven’t tested this extensively cause I don’t have a height adjustable desk yet, but I’m getting pretty good results at the standing position. Again, I’ll be either editing or playing the instruments I use to compose when standing, so the mixing choices will really all be made in he sitting position.
It would have been great to just keep everything at that height without having to readjust the desk and simply using a high stool when needing to sit, but what are you gonna do about it...

Right now the cloud is “open” at the top, meaning there’s nothing other than glass wool wrapped in plastic. I was thinking about covering it with a flat surface for ease of cleaning (there’s gonna be a loooot if dust collecting there).
Do you think adding another thick slab of MDF (thus making it two parallel slabs) would give any benefit? I know I can do it as to say that the whole system was over engineered would be an understatement. It can easily hold he weight.

I have a hard backed (2cm MDF) cloud ... Right now the cloud is “open” at the top, meaning there’s nothing other than glass wool wrapped in plastic.

I don't understand that at all. How can it be both "hard backed" and "open at the top"? That makes no sense. It's a contradiction. Either it is hard backed OR it is open on top. It can't be both.

Do you have photos of that? A SketchUp model of the design?


- Stuart -

Ah, what I meant is that it’s not a soft cloud made of glass wool only.
It is made of, top to bottom: 17cm glass wool; 2cm MDF slab; 17cm glass wool. It’s three layers. You could say it’s a hard backed cloud with the addition of an extra layer of wool on top.
I don’t have a 3D model. I could take a picture but you wouldn’t see the three layers as there are thin side wood panels to create a box shape and keep the wool from slipping as the cloud is tilted 15 degrees.

It is made of, top to bottom: 17cm glass wool; 2cm MDF slab; 17cm glass wool. It’s three layers.

Ahhhh! OK, now I get it. That's fine. And no, don't put anything else on there that would create an air cavity inside: you run the risk of making it into a resonant cavity, which likely won't be helping you! You could double-up the MDF, one layer directly on top of the other, with no air in between, but I don't think you'd need to do that. What I was suggesting was along the lines of ensuring that you have a good part of that cloud over the mix position itself, right above your head and extending a bit behind you, but it sounds like you already have that, so you should be fine.


- Stuart -

Hey! I also like working standing up. However, I think you'll need to give up your standing only desk to fit the configurations of your room and allow you to have a good listening response. I hope it works out!