Advice needed on studio set up.

hkisam

New member
Hey everyone,

I would really really appreciate some advice on how to acoustically treat my small apartment i am moving into so that i can use my living space as a place to mix and record. the apartment itself was built quite irregularly which is why I'm looking for help. I have attached to this message an apartment floor plan plus a photo of the living space for reference. I have a Primacoustic London 12 (Primacoustic London 12 - Black | Sweetwater.com) room treatment kit but because of the rooms shape I don't know where to place the fiberglass panels and my monitors (yamaha hs7s). I understand the situation is seriously less than ideal but i just need to make the space i have decently useable with the gear that i have. any ideas on monitor / acoustic panel placement?
 

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Dimensions?
Guessing the whole living area/kitchen is about 16ft x 16 ft less than balcony part. Any other rooms, or do you need to fit a bed in there, too? The photo seems to be mirror-reversed from the floor plan.
 
no other rooms, the apartment is a single bed studio but will literally be empty outside of my recording equipment, desk (as pictured in photo), and bed. bed will most likely fit in the default area next to the balcony as pictured in the photo, though i can move the furniture/bed anywhere that makes the most sense. i haven't been given exact dimensions of each area but the whole apartment is about 425 sq feet so id say your estimate of 16 x 16 ft for the living/kitchen area is accurate.
 
1st thing do not buy the foam, for 800 bucks you will spend you can build a ton of panels. and the foam will work on high/mid freqs but will do little or nothing for the low end. and with the hard wood floors you will need some base traps as well as wall and ceiling traps. where are you thinking of putting your mix position? Where are you located? the reason I ask is wondering about the availability of materials. The DIY panels are the way to go, much cheaper and will work much better than the high dollar foam stuff.:D
 
The Primacoustic London 12 kit basically was given to me in perfect condition so I will be using that in addition to what i might need to build, though I've been told that the fiberglass panels in the London 12 work much better than traditional acoustic foam. the two broadband panels included in the London 12 are designed to work as base traps, though I might need to build more base traps if needed. as far as mixing position, I'm torn between setting up against the wall next to the bed (sort of where the desk is pictured in the photo i posted earlier), or on the opposite wall near the balcony and where the tv is pictured in the photo. that being said however, both positions leave me worried about acoustic issues without proper treatment.
 
For the best mixing purposes you want as symmetrical as possible the speakers-room-trapping. Unfortunately, your choices are limited.
I guess setting up the desk on the wall adjacent to the balcony in your diagram, so the balcony is to your right when sitting at the desk. Trap the whole wall in front of you, including the little ecorner between wall and balcomy slider - maybe heavy drapes covering the sliders. On the 'back' wall (the one opposite the desk), trap as much as possible, too.
 
Thank you so much to everyone for replies! do you mean putting my set up against the wall in which the bed/small window is located because that would give me more symmetry for mixing/acoustic treatment. i could move my bed easily in order to achieve that. that being said however, would that make recording (like vocals and guitar) sound less ideal due to being confined to a smaller section of the room. I record every instrument myself so its not like i would need a bunch of musicians taking up space and playing live at the same time to record. If you meant placing my set up / acoustic panels on the wall closest to the balcony (where the tv is located in my original photo), I would have much more of the living space to record and mix but where would I place my acoustic panels? on one side of me I would have the glass balcony and on the other side of me I would have the small entry hallway.
 
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