John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

I'm about ready to purchase some materials for my studios makeover and am looking for any kind souls to give me the reassurance that I'm making the best of what I've decided to do. Any comments are most welcome! I actually paid for a consultation and the details that I'm posting come from their recommendations but as in the case with the "ceiling bass traps" I'm hoping for any mods to the plan that might improve effectiveness or simplify the task. I made a scale layout of my place with measurements so you can see the modest space I'm working with. I can't post the picture but I've made a link for downloading (its small, I promise). Its a converted garage that was turned into a studio by the previous owners of the property (I rented from them and now from the new owner). Unfortunately, I can't tear down walls or remodel, this will be entirely surface treatment.
I'm basically looking to make a live room/dry room out of the two iso booths (7'x8'). The room on the left has thin carpeting on the floor and I'm planning on covering the walls completely with alternating panels of 1" 703 and tectum. The room on the right is used for drums, perc, agtr, etc. and will have a faux hardwood floor. The recommendation I received was to cut tectum into 1' squares and buy 1' square saturn diffusors and make a checkerboard array on the side walls (opposing materials on each wall) starting at 32" up from the floor. The cielings in both rooms slope with the roof line and offer 4' of space at the peak. I was told to use this space as a bass trap by dropping the cieling to a standard 8' height. My consultation recommended a 2x4 frame with r-30 bats and a cloth cieling but I'm going to borrow the design from LaptopPop's studio which uses 4" 703 (without the bass hangers).
[url]http://www.johnlsayers.com/Studio/Mainp ... toppop.htm
The drum room will have added diffusor panels on the false ceiling to oppose the hard floor as well.

The consultation recommended that I turn the mix position around to face the wall, which is probably ideal. However, as my wiring will not reach without having to be redone, and for the sake of eye contact with the talent, I've decided to make the best of the situation. Going with this, they recommended basically deadening the walls (down to 32") and 8' ceiling (below the beam in the layout) with staggered 1" 703 and tectum. They also suggested a 4"-6" deep box divided into 8" wide sections filled with r-30 to go on the back wall for direct absorption of the monitors.

I have a few questions about the plan I would love feedback on:
- What are some opinions on keeping such a small area as the drum room "live". I get a very useable sound now (surprising to me!), but know a litle "air" in the sound would definately help. What I don't want is for it to sound like a small room. I'm wondering if any reflections will be a dead giveaway or if this plan will work. Is the hard flooring too much or will it help acheive the goal?
- Is it necessary to stagger 703 and tectum in either the dry/vocal booth or aroung the mix position? Would 703 all around be too dead? They gave me the analogy of the inside of a car (ugh!) as the goal for treating the mix position. While it doesn't sound attractive, I know it would help me hear localization cues and levels of ambience within a mix (something I have to listen carefully for now).
- I have a feeling there might be more effective solutions for the back wall behind the mix position. Here I'm a little tight on space but know i need to come out from the wall for an effective treatment. Does anyone know of an extremely efficient solution for this?
- Just a construction detal here: I'm planning on using impaling clips to hang the muslin covered 703 on the walls (not sure about the muslin covered tectum). What about the ceiling? Will the clips and some liquid nails do the trick? As I'm a renter, whatever does the job with the least permanenet damage to the surface of the walls and ceiling is what I'm after.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Ben

Ok - here's the pic
Now I'll read blurb :)

cheers
john

OK - well this is my intital reaction

cheers
john

Thanks for posting the picture, John. I didn't mention that the space above the couch in the original drawing has a custom drum rack hanging from the ceiling. The large brown object is a Wurlitzer organ and the yellow rectangle is a shelf unit that is bolted to the wall. The orange job in the corner is a restaurant style corner seat. In your layout you show a new door at the beam. Right now the space is entirely open from the back wall behind mix position up to the wall with the sliding glass doors to each of the iso rooms. The only difference from one side of the beam to the other is that the ceiling drops down to the beam to a standard 8' over mix position. The roof over the rest of the area (including the isos) is shaped like a four sided pyramid (if that makes any sense). I don't have leeway with my landlord to build a new wall. I know that given the ability and resources that certain changes to the layout would optimize the space even more, but for now I have to work with the original layout. I can't wait for the chance to start from scratch with a "blank canvas". Did you (or anyone) else get to the specific questions I have about the actual treatments? I'm hoping to get started next week and just want to make sure I'm doing whats best with that side of things. Thanks again!

Ben

Ah Ben - I'm now confused - so you are saying that the bottom 2/3 of the plan is one big room??

cheers
john

Right, I drew the ceiling contour to the left and the top of the picture (dotted line). The base of the triangles represents 8' height. If you can imagine folding them up towards the layout, you'll form the angles of the pyramidal ceiling over the top 2/3rds of the picture. The support beam in the picture is where the previous owners extended the garage with a 10' addition (now the mix position and bathroom) which is completely open to the rest of the room (except for the bathroom, of course), only it has a flat 8' ceiling instead of the angled ceilings of the other rooms. Sorry for the confusion.

bump

Ben,

I didn't work out all the details of the furniture layout and such, but here are my first thoughts on the direction you should go.

Thomas

Yeah - I agree with Thomas - You've got to get that console and your mix position out into the bigger area of the room as he illustrated.

cheers
john

I'm so sorry guys. Looking back at my original posts I realize I wasn't very clear. Unfortunately I don't have the option of re-doing my floor plan. Because of wiring limitations, I painted myself into a corner not leaving enough slack to move things around. The "plan" I was referring to at the beginning had to do with the plan for acoustically treating my space not so much the "floor plan". I posted the layout just so everyone could get a feel for what I'm working with. I agree with all of the advice everyone gave and like i said earlier, I can't wait to start over in a larger space that I can actually have my way with. This place is very much a stepping stone for me (hopefully!). I know layout changes would be optimal but I'm stuck for now. I'm really trying to make the best of what I've got. Thanks for your patience and helpful advice. I've learned a ton since I've found the site.