Recording area treatments, without reconstruction

[Martin_Taylor]

Greetings and Happy New Year.

My Mother died in March of this year, so the room addition that was built for her, I can now use as a studio.

The Photographs are of the room as it is now, and the base room, which is 24' x 32' x 8'. On the other side of the south wall is an 8' x 32' x 8' walk-in closet, the foor is a hollow core door. The interior and exterior walls are sheetrock over 4" x 6" studs (with pink insulation.)

The ceiling is sheetrock with 24" of blown insulation, The dutch door on the north-wall will be replaced with with a solid wood, or an insulated, smooth-surface, metal exterior door, because on the other side is the laundry room which separate the main living areas. The floor is padded, vinyl over concrete.

The windows are vinyl, double-hung, double-paned. There are two ceiling fans on the center-line of the room.

North Wall


West Wall


North West Corner


East Wall


South East Corner


Floor Plans


Section View of Corner Bass Reap


As the instruments that are to be played are acoustic-guitar and a Yamaha D3 Upright, for that am considering building an 8' x 8' "wood floor" (oak flooring over the vinyl floor.


Monitors are Truths B2031A near fields by Behringer and will be recording via Cubase. Monitoring will be via the monitors, not headphones. I have downloaded the Phil Cramer trap gif, and the 2 Channel, listening room diagram.

Right now, my main question is concerning the corner bass traps. In constucting the 24" inch wide, floor to ceiling bass traps.

1. What angle should I meet the ceiling to incorporate the wall-ceiling corner junction .

2. Do you vary each ceiling to corner angle?

3. Do you recommend separates above the corner traps?

Budget varies, as I will be doing one section at a time as spare change is available; Corner bass traps first, front and rear-wall next, side walls, and then cloud on the ceiling. I do have moderate carpentry skills and will be constucting traps my self.


Thanks,

Martin

[jwl]

Hi Martin,

If that were my space, I'd start with the following:

1. I'd move the speakers out from the wall a bit. I'd set the desk up so that the mixing chair is 38% back from the short wall, centered exactly between the 2 long walls. Put the speakers in an equilateral triangle from that point.

2. That will put your mix position pretty much under one of the ceiling fans. I'd remove that fan, and replace it with a cloud. Most likely, you already have power run, so you could install dimmable lights in your cloud, like Kendale's or something.

3. I'd put corner absorbers in as many corners as possible. If you have the budget go for superchunks, if not then fiberglass/rockwool/cotton panels 4-6" thick straddling the corners. Don't forget wall/ceiling corners.

4. I'd put a big absorber on the rear wall behind the mix position.

5. I'd put John's angled slot resonators on the side wall, to absorb some sound and reflect other sound to the back of the room, where it will be absorbed by the big absorber there.

Regarding angles, 45 degrees is probably fine. You could get creative, like say Paul Woodlock. If you're going for broadband absorption, I think it's more about mass of absorption material than angles of placement.

That's a decent sized room, you could easily build in a control room, a recording room, and a booth or two.

[kendale]

Aloha and welcome to the forum, Martin

I am very sorry to hear of your mom's passing.

Here are some useful links for you:

DIY Wall Units – John Sayers
http://www.johnlsayers.com/HR/index1.htm

SAE Institute Reference Material Center – John Sayers
http://www.saecollege.de/reference_material/index.html

Reference Area – Useful Links – Steve Knightfly
http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2125

Home Recording Studio: Build it Like the Pros (Paperback) by Rod Gervais
Shorter Link

Regarding your question about the bass trap, you can go straight up to the ceiling.

Hope this helps,

Aloha

[Martin_Taylor]

JWL replied:

1. I'd move the speakers out from the wall a bit. I'd set the desk up so that the mixing chair is 38% back from the short wall, centered exactly between the 2 long walls. Put the speakers in an equilateral triangle from that point.

As soon as my monitor stands and longer cables get here, that will be the first thing. One of the other ceiling fans, in my living room is going on the fritz, so I will use the one over where the recording desk will be.

Thanks for all of the replies; now to peruse.

Later
Martin