Studio design layout and build
Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2018 8:07 pm
Hello,
longtime reader and learner here, thank you for sharing your knowledge, I´ve already learned a lot here. I´m willing to share not only my questions and problems, but also document and share the process of planning and building by providing pictures and REW measurements.
I want to set up a studio on the first floor of an apartment building, there is no basement beneath.
It´s mainly for audio book, dubbing and voiceover post production, but I´ll also mix music, all with a stereo speaker setup, probably Neumann KH120.
If it turns out to be practical and affordable, I´d also like to set up a vocal booth/small instrument recording booth. But for now, I want to keep the budget aside
Room 1 is not available for building.
Room 2 is what I tend to imagine as my mixing room, just because it´s the biggest one and got mathematically quite unrelated measurements. It does sounds better than the other rooms, all rooms being empty and untreated.
But where would I setup the listening position? I think only the walls a and b are to consider. As far as I understand, there a pros and cons:
• Facing wall a
+ Facing the small wall, having the room behind me
+ possibility to setup diffusors at/near wall c
- no left/right symmetry, due to the door to room 1, it´s even hard to treat early reflections, the door must stay usable.
EDIT: Turned out that I could get rid of the door if I want to. I could fill the gateway with mineral wool (width of the gangway: 70 cm/2,3 ft, depth = 58 cm/1,9 ft) and add broadband absorption on the whole angled surface (150 cm/4,9 ft). Does filling the gateway make any sense or is it worthless because the remaining surface is bigger that the gap, so there is no bass trap behaviour? I´m not sure how sound waves behave in this case.
- if I build that vocal booth in room 4, there won´t be a window
Idea: I could duplicate the door area and build a structure between wall a and b, using the same angle and measurements. See the green line. I could use this as a bass traps plus mirror the treatment I put on the door area. But it won´t be very broadband on the door. (see EDIT above)
• Facing wall b
+ better left/right symmetry, but there will be a simple, straight wall to the left (a) and a more complex wall with a window and a door to the right (c)
+ if I build that vocal booth in room 4, there can be a window. I like that.
- the wall behind me would come quite close
- diffusion behind me would not benefit (?)
- I have a door behind me, which I could only treat with glued foam, so it´s a reflective surface down from 1k. But I consider this only a small problem.
Idea: I could build an absorber panel that fits the window cavity and put it in if I do crucial mixing. This is an early reflection. But it still would be the last one, having the ceiling, the floor and the wall behind me closer than the boundaries left and right. so maybe symmetry is not that important anymore?
Do you think it´s worth doing measurements in the completely untreated room to find out what spot to use?
_ _ _ _ _ _
Room 3 and room 4 could be used as the vocal booth/recording room. Room 3 is bigger, but there won´t be an window. Do you think, i could build room-in-room in room 4 and still have a somewhat comfortable recording room? The loudest thing happening will be something like a (not cranked up) guitar amp, so 30db of isolation up from 500hz should be enough for both the neighbours and me sitting in the next room.
Of course, there are a lot of other things to consider and decide, but I want to figure out the room use first. Thanks a lot for your thoughts!
longtime reader and learner here, thank you for sharing your knowledge, I´ve already learned a lot here. I´m willing to share not only my questions and problems, but also document and share the process of planning and building by providing pictures and REW measurements.
I want to set up a studio on the first floor of an apartment building, there is no basement beneath.
It´s mainly for audio book, dubbing and voiceover post production, but I´ll also mix music, all with a stereo speaker setup, probably Neumann KH120.
If it turns out to be practical and affordable, I´d also like to set up a vocal booth/small instrument recording booth. But for now, I want to keep the budget aside
Room 1 is not available for building.
Room 2 is what I tend to imagine as my mixing room, just because it´s the biggest one and got mathematically quite unrelated measurements. It does sounds better than the other rooms, all rooms being empty and untreated.
But where would I setup the listening position? I think only the walls a and b are to consider. As far as I understand, there a pros and cons:
• Facing wall a
+ Facing the small wall, having the room behind me
+ possibility to setup diffusors at/near wall c
- no left/right symmetry, due to the door to room 1, it´s even hard to treat early reflections, the door must stay usable.
EDIT: Turned out that I could get rid of the door if I want to. I could fill the gateway with mineral wool (width of the gangway: 70 cm/2,3 ft, depth = 58 cm/1,9 ft) and add broadband absorption on the whole angled surface (150 cm/4,9 ft). Does filling the gateway make any sense or is it worthless because the remaining surface is bigger that the gap, so there is no bass trap behaviour? I´m not sure how sound waves behave in this case.
- if I build that vocal booth in room 4, there won´t be a window
Idea: I could duplicate the door area and build a structure between wall a and b, using the same angle and measurements. See the green line. I could use this as a bass traps plus mirror the treatment I put on the door area. But it won´t be very broadband on the door. (see EDIT above)
• Facing wall b
+ better left/right symmetry, but there will be a simple, straight wall to the left (a) and a more complex wall with a window and a door to the right (c)
+ if I build that vocal booth in room 4, there can be a window. I like that.
- the wall behind me would come quite close
- diffusion behind me would not benefit (?)
- I have a door behind me, which I could only treat with glued foam, so it´s a reflective surface down from 1k. But I consider this only a small problem.
Idea: I could build an absorber panel that fits the window cavity and put it in if I do crucial mixing. This is an early reflection. But it still would be the last one, having the ceiling, the floor and the wall behind me closer than the boundaries left and right. so maybe symmetry is not that important anymore?
Do you think it´s worth doing measurements in the completely untreated room to find out what spot to use?
_ _ _ _ _ _
Room 3 and room 4 could be used as the vocal booth/recording room. Room 3 is bigger, but there won´t be an window. Do you think, i could build room-in-room in room 4 and still have a somewhat comfortable recording room? The loudest thing happening will be something like a (not cranked up) guitar amp, so 30db of isolation up from 500hz should be enough for both the neighbours and me sitting in the next room.
Of course, there are a lot of other things to consider and decide, but I want to figure out the room use first. Thanks a lot for your thoughts!