John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

I've been trying to treat my small studio lately. I was hoping to get some insight from this team of experts. Here are some details:

W= 12'
L = 15'
H = 8' on the left sloping to 9' on the right. Very odd.

Everything inside is wood, the floor is a layer of 3/4" plywood, covered with a 1/4" of pressed wood, covered with a thin layer of foam, and then lamenated wood flooring (armstrong stuff). The walls are all a layer of pressed wood, and then a thin layer of cedar panels. The ceiling is just a frame of pine with insulation, and cedar all over the frame. So all the walls and ceiling are cedar.

I took these large cabinet doors that I had found. They were around 7' tall, 1" thick and about 2 feet wide. I screwed them into the corners and filled them with that ground up paper insulation. That helped tons it seemed (back by the futon). Then on the front I put LENRD basstraps that I had bought a couple years back. The futon did some things to the sound too. Then over the window I installed an 8" shelf and different sized books, got some things out of the way in the studio. The monitors will be on large cinder block columns (this alone made things sound so much tighter). I haven't installed the front diffusor (I was inspired looking at Ethan Winers site). Should I diffuse behind the monitors or absorb? I also don't understand the fine details behind slot resonators.

Any suggestions would be appreciated greatly!

-Aaron

me again

I wanted to add that this is completely a mix station. No acoustic recording will be going on here. Just synths, direct recording, and perhaps the mixing of tracks recorded elsewhere. I'm doing film / electronic type stuff.

Thanks

Aaron, maybe a little more like the modification I did on your drawing - you want any surfaces up front that your speakers can "see" to be angled away from the mix position, in order to avoid early reflections. For the same reason, you should use absorption up front. For the rear, if there isn't at least 10-12 feet from your head to the rear wall it should be absorbed.

The futon is acting as a bass trap, which is a good thing. I moved the whole mix area forward, since you had it shown with your head centered front to back. That will put you right at peaks of some room modes and nulls of others. Not good.

I redrew the slat absorbers at an angle, that will cut flutter and keep early reflections away from the mix position as well.

I'm sure John will have other changes to recommend as well... Steve

Steve,

Thanks for taking the time to redo that plan. It seems like I knew the part about not being in the center, yet I'm always drawn towards it. Thanks for pointing that out. It's solid in my head now.

Would a 2' x 4' frame made out of 2x4's make a good slot resonator? I'm thinking about making the 4 of them and stick them angled like in the revamp design you made. So if I took 2x4's, created the 2'x4' frame, covered one side with an airtight layer of wood, then on the other side have a layer of wood with a thin layer of insulation underneath, and then seal that up?

So it would be like: | air || ?

Am I totally off my rocker on what I'm talking about?

BTW this forum is great. Everyone seems so civil and really wanting to help in all the posts I've read. A rare and refreshing selflessness is shown throughout.

oops...

Aaron, you're in the ballpark but you need to think taller - your entire room, top to bottom, will benefit from splayed surfaces.

As to construction, check out this page -

http://www.johnlsayers.com/HR/index1.htm

the Side Wall Absorbers are what you need to look at. BTW, the black cloth does more than just hide the interiors, so don't eliminate it. If anything, it could be pretty heavy cloth and would only even out the response of the absorbers... Steve

We have a simple way of keeping it civil here - anybody gets out of line, I just fire a "warning shot to the head"...:=)