Music room layout/treatment advice

PThorne

New member
Hi there,

I am look to improve the layout of my music room which I use for home recording and mixing.
Here is a rough sketch of the room with dimensions:
music room.jpg

It is a carpeted room that also has a sofa in it, both of which seems to dampen/absorb sounds in the room.
I have 2 KRK speakers on the desk. You will see the room is slightly irregular as the left wall has a step in it and the upper left corner has a boiler cupboard. I would also note that I do not want to sit facing the wall at the top of the image as there is a radiator and window on this wall which I do not want to obscure.

At this stage I would like some advice on where best to place my desk, and what basic treatment would be beneficial to install and where. Having done some research I am thinking that facing the bottom wall of the image may be best, with speakers offset from the wall by about a foot and my chair roughly 38% into the room and putting up some rock wool panels on the left and right walls.

I'm just a bit unsure if there are any major pitfalls I will need to avoid.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated - please let me know if any further info is required.

Many thanks,

Paul
 
Looks like you have the right idea. You did not give dimensions for the size of the 'bump out' on the wall as you picture describes. Though I am not sure it will be a big issue as your desk in the drawing seems to be back from it anyway.

The basics of room treatment are what you need to do here. First step always is to place bass traps in corners and 'first' reflection points.

Sorry I don't have time to get into details of what works for myself (again), but the basic setup is the same for any room. It has already been discussed in this forum.

Welcome and take a read here Paul. :)
 
Many thanks for the reply.

Good to hear I'm thinking along the right lines. As you suggested I'll start with some early reflection absorbers and bass traps for corners and see how that goes.

Thanks,

Paul
 
Have a friend hold a mirror by the walls while you sit at your desk with your monitor speakers placed where you plan to have them.

Mark all the places on the wall where, when the mirror is held there, you can see the monitors reflected. Those are the first reflection points.

(If you know how to shoot pool, you can probably estimate this accurately enough. The angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection, and all that good stuff...)

But the mirror is sure-fire. Think about ceiling, furniture, and desk surfaces as you refine your treatment.

Put up 2'x2'x2" or 4'x2'x2" pieces of OC 703 at all those noted places. (Many threads on how to build these -- basically, make a frame out of 1x lumber, staple gun some relatively acoustically transparent fabric around them, and hang em up. You can tell fabric is transparent by blowing through it....) Make a cloud, too.

Then make some 4'x2'x4" double thick sound absorbing panels up and put them in all the corners to soak up bass and reduce nodes and weirdness in the room.

Presto. Can be done for something like $150...
 
Thanks a lot for the advice on acoustic treatment - just what I was after. Looks like it's time to do a bit of DIY!
 
Thanks a lot for the advice on acoustic treatment - just what I was after. Looks like it's time to do a bit of DIY!
Right on.

Here is an older photo dating back to when I first treated my room. Things have changed around quite a lot, but you get the idea....

 
Awesome, thanks for the photos - was interested to see how you fixed the treatment to the ceiling/walls. Looks like there's a lot of fun to be had in that room!
 
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