How long should my new bedroom studio be?

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warrenmusic
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Location: San Jose, CA
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How long should my new bedroom studio be?

Post by warrenmusic »

My wife and I have an old house we need to knock down. We’re currently in talks with an architect and we are now in the design phase where we are deciding on a layout. I’ve included a poorly drawn NOT TO SCALE sketch to give you an idea of where it will go (see bottom).

I'm looking for advice on the studio's dimensions. Hoping to start with a good (read: not overly problematic) room to mix in, and record acoustic guitar, vocals, occasionally live drums (yikes). I did some modal calculations using amroc and I'm confused by Bonello method and Bolt-area theory. How long should my room be if I'm looking to start with a maximally even distribution of modes? It looked like I had to go down to 7' long in order to get into the Bolt-area...

What we do know: ceilings will be decent height (10.5'), 14’ would be max width (including walls/insulation), and length is TBD, but I was initially thinking 10' x 14' x 10.5' (l x w x h). Metric is 3.048m x 4.2672m x 3.2004m (l x w x h)

Some detail, if it helps: we’re going with modular prefab construction, so the max any of our modules can be width-wise is 15’ (this is the max width of what can go on the truck that will carry our modules over, and walls/insulation will bring the max interior width down to 14'), and we should try to keep it within that footprint anyhow due to a number of factors: our lot is narrow but long, we have an old magnolia tree we don't want to cut down, we need to observe lot setbacks, we’re also building a detached ADU as a rental, and we are not building a second story.

I know from my amateur Google research that no room will be perfect, bass waves are too long and must be trapped in virtually every bedroom studio, and breaking up and absorbing other frequencies will be needed. It won’t have double walls or a suspended floor or soundproofing, or an iso booth, or anything that level of professional…. and I expect to be putting in sweat equity after it’s built to treat it and get it closer to its potential. But my hope is that it will at least have a pretty good starting off point because I have this unique opportunity to give my input right now on the dimensions of the room itself.

If this is still asking too much, I’m happy to take your recommendations on where I can learn more about acoustics ELI5 stile (for someone without a physics background). I’ve read a little bit about comb filtering, the benefit of angled walls, higher ceilings, and why square rooms are awful (I also know the last bit firsthand because I record/mix in a square room now, but I’ve managed!). I am aware of how important placement of studio monitors is, and that listening position needs to be dialed in when it’s time to move in, subwoofer should be out of the areas of highest pressure zones.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
37AC9BA3-661A-425B-876F-9F83E8654C43.jpeg
gullfo
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Re: How long should my new bedroom studio be?

Post by gullfo »

if you have the option 10.5'H x 14.5'W x 20'L
https://amcoustics.com/tools/amroc?l=20 ... ue&r60=0.6

if constrained: 8.5'H x 11.5'W x 14'L
https://amcoustics.com/tools/amroc?l=14 ... ue&r60=0.6
Glenn
warrenmusic
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Location: San Jose, CA
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Re: How long should my new bedroom studio be?

Post by warrenmusic »

gullfo wrote:if you have the option 10.5'H x 14.5'W x 20'L
https://amcoustics.com/tools/amroc?l=20 ... ue&r60=0.6

if constrained: 8.5'H x 11.5'W x 14'L
https://amcoustics.com/tools/amroc?l=14 ... ue&r60=0.6
If we assume the ceiling height will be a fixed 10.5" and the room can be no longer than it is wide, what would the next best option be for the length?

If we assume the constrained option ends up being the best one, could some planned treatment of the ceiling address the less than optimal height? With a 10.5' ceiling, what would some of the more feasible paths toward acoustic treatment look like?
DanDan
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Re: How long should my new bedroom studio be?

Post by DanDan »

I wouldn't sweat it. If the walls are not massive, e.g. concrete bricks, the modes will not be so strong. Also, fibre can slow down LF wavefronts quite a lot, so the acoustic dimensions of a treated room will be different to the visible. And those historic ratios are not scalable. This might help though. https://www.acoustic.ua/forms/rr.en.html Acoustic treatment will ideally take care of the modes etc. so allow plenty of space for such treatment.
Old pal Boggy, sadly RIP got fully pro results using 60cm treatment all round. Regarding modes/ratios he said 'what modes'
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