This is my recording space - thoughts and opinions?

S

Stuvenator

New member
So this is the area in which I record and mix in. It's not ideal, but it's what I have to work with. I am planning to get some Studio Monitors and was wondering what kind of things I can do to improve the acoustics of my space. The rough dimensions:

6 feet wide, 9 feet long, 7.5 feet tall (edited sorry, I usually use the metric system)

If there is no hope for this room, would an alternative be taking my laptop and audio interface and recording somewhere else in the house?

Thanks!

P.S. if I haven't given enough details/photos, just ask!
 

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Last edited:
6 FEET x 9 FEET x 7.5 FEET - unless this is a doll house!
Floor-o-ceiling bass traps/super chunk in the front corners. Habng a heavy drape over the window (you can remove it when not recording/mixing). Cloud and trap on the left wall. All trapping should be rockwool, not foam. It's probably going to sound boxy in such a small space, at least the end is open. Recording with mic might be better in the adjacent room, or at least facing out towards it.
 
What room does it open into? Maybe you can have your gear set up in the little room but do your recording in the room it opnes on to which seems to be somewhat bigger.
 
Welcome to HomeRecording!

I'm no expert, but that's a small room. and 6'x9' is divisible by 3 and I believe I read somewhere that you don't want easily divisible dimensions.

What instruments are you recording?
 
Well, every room can be treated to some extent. For this small room the basstraps are the must! Otherwise the bass response would be terrible.. Just put them in the corners. Also buy some acoustic absorbers for the mids and hights. The room is really small, so its gonna be only few of them.. For (recording) close-miking guitars, bass, vocals its gonna be good enough.. But the problem will be the monitoring/mixing.. But yeah, I heard many great sounding records made in a terrible rooms. So dont worry. Just make sure you put some acoustic treatment on the walls and specially corners.
 
Thanks for all the quick responses everyone and thanks for the welcoming words!

I am recording vocals and acoustic guitar as well as maybe some mandolin. The adjacent room is the lounge which is considerably larger and I can probably stretch out a couple of feet into it to record. So the best option would be to face towards that room when I record vocals and acoustic guitar? So what I have got from you guys so far is bass traps in the corners, drape over the windows and something on the opposite side of the windows. The first response mentioned cloud and trap, can you explain or direct me to an explanation of what you mean? Sorry acoustic treatment is a newish concept to me as you can probably tell.
 
For acoustical purposes, this room is significantly more than 9' long. How far away is the actual wall behind you mix position?

It may also be effectively bigger than 6' wide for lower frequencies. I'd imagine that right hand wall is fairly rigid, but sometimes we get "lucky" and those interior walls are actually pretty flimsy and let most of the bass just blow through rather than reflect back.

It's still going to be a huge fucking mess in the mid-high frequencies, but those can be a lot easier to deal with. Bass trapping is always a good idea, but there's so little space in there already! What's on the other side of that wall on the right? Is this your house? If you could at least rip the drywall or whatever off of (both sides) there, you'd be in a much better spot.

Next best would probably be to remove the wall boards (your side of the wall) all around, stuff the cavities between the studs with insulation and then conver them with fabric. If you could do that with the ceiling, too, it would be even better. This does kind of everything everybody's told you to do without taking up any extra floor space. Might compromise the actual thermal insulation on that outside wall, though.
 
Stuvenator said:
Thanks for all the quick responses everyone and thanks for the welcoming words!

I am recording vocals and acoustic guitar as well as maybe some mandolin. The adjacent room is the lounge which is considerably larger and I can probably stretch out a couple of feet into it to record. So the best option would be to face towards that room when I record vocals and acoustic guitar? So what I have got from you guys so far is bass traps in the corners, drape over the windows and something on the opposite side of the windows. The first response mentioned cloud and trap, can you explain or direct me to an explanation of what you mean? Sorry acoustic treatment is a newish concept to me as you can probably tell.
Click to expand...

Traps go on the walls and in the corners, clouds go on the ceiling such as above your mix position or vocal recording area. you can make your own fairly cheap. here are a few pics of mine, it made a huge difference in the room. :D
 

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The distance from the back wall to my mix position is roughly 6 feet. It's my parents house so unfortunately ripping out any walls is not possible. To my right is outside, I live in a rural area so no houses that close by.

This is a photo a bit farther back, I believe quite a few of the frequencies would escape into the next room, but I could be wrong.20160713_130938.jpg20160713_130938.jpg

I don't want to spend too much just yet, but I'm thinking two bass traps in the top back corners and some padding to my left, a drape to my right and MAYBE some padding above me? I can't afford those large panels and probably wouldn't be allowed to put them up.
 
I understand about limitations, I spent many months researching and planning my sound treatment, I found the wood at a local lumber yard for 3 bucks a board, I bought the burlap off of Ebay, I found the stain in a bargin at Lowes, I have about 30 bucks cost in each panel, you could make them portable and remove them when not in use.
 
It's important that you use rockwool for the insulation in the traps. If you can't find it locally, you can order from some place like ATS
 
Stuvenator said:
The distance from the back wall to my mix position is roughly 6 feet.
Click to expand...
Now I'm confused. That can't possibly be right, can it? I thought you said it was 6 x 9, and from the pictures that looks about right if it's 6ft from the window to the wall opposite it, and 9' from the doorway to the wall where the computer is. How far is it from the doorway to the wall in the bigger room? Is that the 6' you're talking about here, so it's a total of 15'? Or...???

More importantly, why the shit are you not mixing in that nice big room? Use the nice big TV as your computer screen, replace the home-theater speakers with your studio monitors, and hide the little bit of gear that needs to be out there inside that cabinet/stand thing.
 
Okay I remeasured everything so it's slightly more accurate:

Length: 8.5 feet
Width: 6 feet
Height: 7.5 feet
Mix position from back wall: 5 feet

I can't use any of that stuff because it's not mine. That's my Dad's music gear - his pride and joy. This area is pretty much the only place I can mix in so I have to work with what I got.
 
Your dad is mean! ;)

I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around the numbers your giving. Maybe it's just the camera angles skewing my perception of the relative proportions, but it just doesn't look like it can be right. Either way, though, that little closet is going to suck, and it's going to take quite a bit of treatment to make it more than passable for mixing on monitors.
 
ashcat_lt said:
Your dad is mean! ;)

I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around the numbers your giving. Maybe it's just the camera angles skewing my perception of the relative proportions, but it just doesn't look like it can be right. Either way, though, that little closet is going to suck, and it's going to take quite a bit of treatment to make it more than passable for mixing on monitors.
Click to expand...

lol, tell your dad he can sing on a few songs:guitar:
 
Atkron205 said:
I had to order it, it was my biggest expense, the shipping was as much as the material.:D
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Should have bought more rockwool! Yeah, the shipping was expensive for me, too, but I got enough to do my first 6 traps in one shipment, then made the frames myself (1x4 from Home Depot) and got burlap cheaply from Walmart, so the overall expense for 6 traps was anbout $260 - and well worth it!
 
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