John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Hi,
Looking for insight on BEST mix position for this odd space.

ISO booth is freestanding and covered with 11' acoustic panels from manufacturer.
Facility is remodeling and fresh 2nd layer of drywall and new paint are being applied.
New acoustic treatment will be applied.
Ceiling is 12'+.
Mix Desk will be adjustable height (i.e. standing capable).

Thanks for any insights.

Hi there "Omega287". Please read the forum rules for posting (click here). You seem to be missing a couple of things!

In that situation, would rotate the orientation of the room so that the front (where the speakers are) is at the bottom of the diagram, on the wall marked " 17'6 ".

New acoustic treatment will be applied.

What do you have in mind for that?

Mix Desk will be adjustable height (i.e. standing capable).

Careful with that: Unless your speaker stands are also adjustable in height, it would not be a good idea to change the height of the desk. Most control rooms are carefully designed for one very specific mix position, with a small "sweet spot" extending around that horizontally, but not much vertically. Most studio monitors also have good dispersion and smooth directivity in the horizontal plane, but not so much in the vertical plane. If you have fixed speakers and frequently change the listening position from sitting to standing, you would be changing the acoustics of what you hear. In other words, you would hear one thing while seated, but something different when standing. Not so good if you want to do good mixes that translate well!


- Stuart -

Thanks for the reply Stuart!
To answer your comments...

Acoustic treatment -
Broadband absorption panels hung on the walls (first reflection points, coverage to tighten room reflections etc.) and set off the wall with spacers to increase absorption. Bass trapping will be in the corners.
There are a few diffusion panels in the drop ceiling currently and can be re-positioned easily. Possibly a cloud above mix position.

Standing Media Desk -
The standing desk has an upper tier for the speakers, so they move with the desk and they would be decoupled from the desk.
Honestly , I'm planning on the standing position to be the default. And I'd make sure the acoustic treatment covers first reflection points for either position.

The room is mainly used for post-audio for video. Stereo only at this time.

Having my back to the door is a pet peeve, but beggars can't be choosers!
Mark

Having my back to the door is a pet peeve, but beggars can't be choosers!

Yup! And "mirror, mirror on the wall..."... That can give you a great view of what's behind you. Or a video camera and screen...

There are a few diffusion panels in the drop ceiling currently and can be re-positioned easily.

Numeric-sequence diffusers? Such as Schroeder or Skyline type? If so, watch out with those: your head needs to be at least ten feet away from those, to avoid the lobing artifacts, and possibly an even greater distance. Depending on tuning, you might need to be even further away. What frequencies are those tuned to?

Possibly a cloud above mix position.

DEFINITELY a cloud above the mix position! It's nearly impossible to get great acoustics at the mix position with no cloud.

The standing desk has an upper tier for the speakers, so they move with the desk and they would be decoupled from the desk.

Ooops! Bad idea. For oh-so-many reasons. Speakers should NEVER go on the desk (despite the hype you see from the desk manufacturers, and the "speaker decoupling pad" manufacturers.. pure myth). One issue is vibration, yes, but a far bigger issue is reflections form the desk surface, and comb filtering, not to mention being too close to the speakers, and the speakers being too far from the front wall. And all the other artifacts.

Reality check: in a small room, the speakers must go tight up against the front wall to avoid the nasty SBIR artifacts created by having speakers close to the wall. In a lager room (yours is not big enough), they can go far away from the front wall, but it has to be at least 11 feet. Which implies the room would need to be about 30 feet long to still be able to set up the mix position in the correct location. Your room is about 20 feet long, so the speakers have to go up against the front wall, and the listening position has to be about 86 inches from the front wall, with the desk in front of it. The desk must be low-profile, so that there is nothing in the direct path from the speakers to your ears, nor just below that path. Anything in that path would cause a change in the sound that reaches your ears, so you would not be hearing what is actually coming out of the speaker: the frequency response and phase response of the sound will be changed by anything in that path. You would then need 4" of insulation on the front wall, directly in between the rear corner of the speaker and the wall. The speakers need to be about 58" from the side walls, which means they would be 94" apart (acoustic axis to acoustic axis), and toed in such that they are both aiming at a spot directly behind the mix position, about 100" from the front wall. That's the correct theoretical layout for the best acoustics with the least artifacts.

- Stuart -