Practicing and recording studio

OmarM

New member
Hi everyone,

I started playing guitar about year ago. I want to utilize a room in the basement to practice and record myself (audio/video) just for fun and to measure my progress in playing guitar. The room has a door and a window. It has too ceilings, false ceiling (height 195cm) made of fiberboard and a concrete one (height 230cm). The false ceiling covers around 70% of the room.

I have two guitars, acoustic and electric, a 2x150w guitar amplifier and a set of electric drums. Soon I'll complete my setup with two microphones (one vocal and one for acoustic guitar) and a USB audio device to connect both microphones and the amplifier for stereo recording.

Here is a very bad plan of the room, sorry for that :facepalm:

studio 3.png

I have read several articles and watched many videos of acoustic treatment. I plan to do everything on my own as I don't want to spend too much at this early stage.

The floor is covered with ceramic tiles so I started with covering it with laminated wood. Underneath the wood, I have placed a 2mm layer as an acoustic treatment. Next step is to build bass traps, absorbers and diffusers.

Bass traps and absorption panels will be more or less like the ones described here (Build a Better Bass Trap) Thanks to Ethan for this great article.

As for the diffusers, I really don't know how many I would need and which range of frequency I should be targeting. I found this Skyline Diffusor calculator, however, I fail to figure out target frequency. Also, I went through this link (Sound Diffusers 101: Free Designs for DIY Diffuser Panels) for a different type of diffusers.

My question is, what should I do to improve acoustics in the room. I'm new to this field; I'd appreciate any input in this regard.

Thank you in advance.
 
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I'm no professional in this area, but since you have hard flooring, I would suggest adding a few rugs. Rugs could help the dampen the room a bit by absorbing some of the sound that would've reflected off the hard flooring. And you can always take them off or add more if you wish.
 
Hi Boeing, thank you for your reply.

Yes, I am planning to place some rugs. I started building a skyline diffuser 150cm X 150cm to see how efficient it will be. I'll update this thread regularly.
 
Read through this thread about small rooms: https://homerecording.com/bbs/gener...oustic-treatment/small-room-acoustics-365127/
Its doubtful that diffusors are going to help much in this small a room.

Thank you! I read the article but not the replies. Diffuser isn't mentioned, it looks like I'll need to build many bass traps and absorbers.

Walls are going to be fine, but the ceiling the is going to be challenging and costly as I have no other choice than using foam panels.

Is it possible to use flat surface absorbers or they should have peaks (pyramids)?
 
Foam only absorbs highs, I would not spend any money on foam until you have put some proper bass traps in the room first and see what it's like.
 
Thank you again @mjbphotos.

I was planning to use this product for bass traps; its' density is around 40kg/m3.

I don't want to spend a lot on foam, however, I found this foam that has very high density, 80kg/m3.

Now I'm hesitant whether I should use second product for both traps and ceiling treatment. In the link you've provided me with, @jhbrandt recommended density is 60kg/m3 at most and that should allow air through it.
 
That page you linked isn't in English, so I can only look at the frequency curve on the spec page. Looks like its absorption falls right off below 400HZ, this is the area you want to tackle - its the low frequencies that make the sound muddy and trouble. John Brandt's info is for use with 'membrane traps', which are quite large/deep and unsuitable for your small room.
 
That page you linked isn't in English, so I can only look at the frequency curve on the spec page. Looks like its absorption falls right off below 400HZ, this is the area you want to tackle - its the low frequencies that make the sound muddy and trouble. John Brandt's info is for use with 'membrane traps', which are quite large/deep and unsuitable for your small room.

Once again, thanks :)

Sorry for the links, they're in Spanish from a local Home depot.

It looks like it's going to be a difficult job to target low frequency below 400Hz :(
 
Here is a recent photo of the mini studio. Nothing significant has been made for acoustic treatment yet.

mzbLMyt.jpg
 
Is there any way you could break into that ceiling void? See, fibreboard is virtually transparent at low frequencies so if you could get a significant amount of rockwool or GF into that space you would have a Big Mother bass trap that did not compromise the space in the room.

The other problem that I fear is that cavity will resonate and 'boom' at some low frequencies and 'suck out' at others.

Dave.
 
Doesn't look like anything for acoustic treatment yet!

A little acoustic treatment underneath the flooring ��

Is there any way you could break into that ceiling void? See, fibreboard is virtually transparent at low frequencies so if you could get a significant amount of rockwool or GF into that space you would have a Big Mother bass trap that did not compromise the space in the room.

The other problem that I fear is that cavity will resonate and 'boom' at some low frequencies and 'suck out' at others.

Dave.

Sounds like a great idea, Dave. I'm planning to change the spot lights with something better and cooler. So I'll make one opening in the middle so I can access the inner cavity and place rockwool all over the place.
 
A little acoustic treatment underneath the flooring ��



Sounds like a great idea, Dave. I'm planning to change the spot lights with something better and cooler. So I'll make one opening in the middle so I can access the inner cavity and place rockwool all over the place.

Aha! If you are doing that you might consider putting in a few XLR cables dropped to about 2+mtrs above the floor. Microphones can be attached directly or short cables used to mics on stands, keeps the floor clear of cable clutter. Saw a photo of a Nashville studio like that: V.V. cool!

Dave.
 
You guys think too damn much. As a matter of fact. you overthink stuff. Get in the room, start using it, play music. All problems in the room will present themselves. 'Treat' as you go. In the process you will learn as well, your ears will get trained and you'll really know the before and after. You'll be able to 'hear' it.

So many try to create that perfect environment based off of stuff they read on the internet. This is all 'theory' and 'book learning'.

Figuring it out in the real world gives one real reality on what different treatments do.

Plenty of people do shitty sounding music in perfectly treated rooms, and plenty do great sounding music in shitty rooms.

What's my point?

Just get in there and do some music.

:D
 
You guys think too damn much. As a matter of fact. you overthink stuff. Get in the room, start using it, play music. All problems in the room will present themselves. 'Treat' as you go. In the process you will learn as well, your ears will get trained and you'll really know the before and after. You'll be able to 'hear' it.

So many try to create that perfect environment based off of stuff they read on the internet. This is all 'theory' and 'book learning'.

Figuring it out in the real world gives one real reality on what different treatments do.

Plenty of people do shitty sounding music in perfectly treated rooms, and plenty do great sounding music in shitty rooms.

What's my point?

Just get in there and do some music.

:D

This is pretty much what I have learned over the years. Until you use the room, you are just guessing.

Yes there is some basic standard things that apply in almost every room, but each room is different.

Had a long talk with JH Brandt a while back. He builds high end studios for a living. He basically said the same thing. 'The reason you get great recordings/mixes in your room is because you are good at it. Fine tuning is just the icing on the cake to make it easier for you'.
 
Aha! If you are doing that you might consider putting in a few XLR cables dropped to about 2+mtrs above the floor. Microphones can be attached directly or short cables used to mics on stands, keeps the floor clear of cable clutter. Saw a photo of a Nashville studio like that: V.V. cool!
Dave.

I thought of something similar as to keep the floor clean. I would attach one or two extendable mic stands to the cieling, one for vocals and the other one to record acoustic guitar. But I never thought of hiding the cables inside the cieling. Nice idea, Dave, thank you!

If you mean the layer of thin foam that you put down before laying a floating laminate floor,, that doesn't do much of anything acoustically.

You're right, the layer is thin 2mm only. I couldn't spend more on flooring treatment. However, I'm happy with the look of the room.

You guys think too damn much. As a matter of fact. you overthink stuff. Get in the room, start using it, play music. All problems in the room will present themselves. 'Treat' as you go. In the process you will learn as well, your ears will get trained and you'll really know the before and after. You'll be able to 'hear' it.

So many try to create that perfect environment based off of stuff they read on the internet. This is all 'theory' and 'book learning'.

Figuring it out in the real world gives one real reality on what different treatments do.

Plenty of people do shitty sounding music in perfectly treated rooms, and plenty do great sounding music in shitty rooms.

What's my point?

Just get in there and do some music.

:D

Or shitty music in a shitty room :rolleyes:

Fast Car - Acoustic cover - YouTube

This is pretty much what I have learned over the years. Until you use the room, you are just guessing.

Yes there is some basic standard things that apply in almost every room, but each room is different.

Had a long talk with JH Brandt a while back. He builds high end studios for a living. He basically said the same thing. 'The reason you get great recordings/mixes in your room is because you are good at it. Fine tuning is just the icing on the cake to make it easier for you'.

I'm still exploring and learning; teaching my ears to recognize good tunes and catch noise projected from walls, cieling and floor. I'm recently saving up to buy a recording interface, microphone(s) as well as acoustic treatment materials.

Thank you all for your valuable input, I appreciate it :)
 
Umm, too bad didn't do some more reading here. 'Acoustic' foam is not what you need to use. It will absorb a little (very little) high frequency, leaving the mids and lows (the problem areas when recording in a small room) untreated.
People also use blankets and duvets to help tame flutter echo, and think all the problems are taken care of ...
 
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