Basic ideas to remember?

[Vintage]

Im starting designs on the room I got, not a studio just a room Id be able to record & be able to keep the sound out of considering the six other sets of ears in the house. But, I just need to know a couple of things to consider before I start coming up with a few rough drafts.

Is it bad to keep parrallel walls? ETC

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

Hello. What are the paticulars of the space you are starting with. That will enable someone to answer your question, in a way that makes sense.
Let me illustrate,

"not a studio just a room Id be able to record & be able to keep the sound out"

Ok, what is the space like, what sound are you trying to keep out? Dogs, airplanes, freeway noize, your sister? How loud? Like a jet plane? You mention six other ears. That implys you don't want sound getting out either. Keeping sound from transmitting from the outside in, is one thing. Keeping a rock band from vibrating an adjacent bedroom is another. What are you recording? And how loud do you monitor? What is the existing construction. Brick? Wood and sheetrock? Is it your home? Where in the building is the space? The basement? 3rd floor? Tell the forum what you have, so we know what your working with. Otherwise, no one can tell you what you must do, to achieve what it is your trying to achieve. At least as they can here. Does that make sense.
If I told you to build a floating room because you have a traintrack 20 ft. from the house, would it make sense? If its not your home, it would make no sense, as a rental, or property management probably would not allow it. Plus it is VERY expensive, time consuming etc. But it is one of the only ways possible to decouple the room from its environment,( for close trains) and thats IF it was in a concrete building. This most likely is not the case. Maybe you own the building. Thats an animal of a different color. These are just a few examples. There are many solutions to soundproofing. They all take careful analysis of what is "as built", and many other pieces of the info puzzle. Information is king here. If you want real help, it comes from quality information input, and information gathering on your part. You are also talking of 2 different aspects of a room where sound is concerned. Soundproofing and acoustics.

Is it bad to keep parallel walls? ETC

If you mean is it bad utilizing existing parallel walls? Vs. what? I would think not if they were brick, or concrete, or load bearing walls. especially if the alternative was moving them. If you mean building one wall, parallel to an existing wall, it depends. If your building 2 walls, that are generally parallel, it still depends. If your building an entire room. It still depends. Generaly, non parallel walls are used for 2 reasons. To defeat standing waves, and to direct reflections. If it required moving a brick wall to make 2 walls non parallel, would you do it? These are the types of questions to be considered. This was only an example. Parallel walls exist in many home studios. There are many types of acoustic treatments for small rooms with parallel walls. Remember, when you alter existing space, to do things such as build a wall, just to make it non parallel, you take up existing space by splaying it. Only you can decide if the end warrants the means. But fill us in and maybe someone can help you. I am not the expert here. Just trying to illicit info for those who are.
In the meantime, check this out
http://www.saecollege.de/reference_material/index.html
fitz

[John Sayers]

Sometimes your verbosity is delightful RICK

cheers
john

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

Thankyou sir, prolixity is my curse. If it delights you even once, I'm thrilled. I will economize in the future. ( Yeaaaaaaaa! John Sayer talked to me. Oh boyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboy!!! ) Hey, was he makin fun of me
fitz

[John Sayers]

Not at all - I started to read his post and thought - shit this will take hours to answer - but no! RICK was there like a white knight

cheers
JOhn

[knightfly]

OK, let's try this again, succinctly (yeah, Fitz, I know that's almost as hard for me as it is for you...)

What are your EXACT room dimensions, placement of doors/windows, type of door (hollow core or solid) type of wall panelling (sheet rock, plywood, etc) floor covering, rent or own, what's on the other side of each wall, ceiling material and treatment (sheet rock with texturing, ?) any oddities such as non-parallel anything, alcoves, closets, etc -

Vintage, got your PM, thanks for understanding. See, this way is better not only for more input, but more people get to lurk-n-learn. Much more efficient... Steve

[Vintage]

The room is roughly 13x11, about 8.5 height-wise. (feet units)



Im trying to keep out my sisters & brothers voices, household & a few cars (2 or 3) that occasionally go by. Im recording just a small setup w/ midi controllers, a synth & an acoustic guitar. I cant say how loud Ill be mixing because I dont have a setup, yet. But I wanna work out a good acoustic tuned room first.

[Vintage]

The room is roughly 13x11, 8.5 height-wise. Rectangular room, & all the walls are parallel.

Im trying to keep out my sisters & brothers voices, household & a few cars (2 or 3) that occasionally go by. Im recording just a small setup w/ midi controllers, a synth & an acoustic guitar. I cant say how loud Ill be mixing because I dont have a setup, yet. But I wanna work out a good acoustic tuned room first. The walls are built with no special concept, just regular walls. After thinking on it I dont need to keep sound out but I need to keep sound in if it is the case to get a good acoustic room. Its on the main floor, & about 6ft above ground.

[knightfly]

OK, you've answered SOME of the questions I posed - I'm assuming (love that word) from your comments that you are living with your parents? Do they OWN or RENT the place, and how far will they let you go with changes to the room? Adding an extra layer of sheet rock and caulking? Changing the (probably) hollow-core door to a solid core one with better threshhold? Or will you be lucky if they let you put a mattress up against the door and close the window to record/mix?

Re-read my earlier list, and try to answer ALL the questions as well as you can with what you know.

Proper mix levels with nearfields shouldn't get you into too much trouble if you can do a couple of basic changes. Sometimes you're better off waiting for quiet times to record acoustic guitar - If there aren't any, then you need more isolation. It would help to know fairly close what your budget is. (or isn't...)

You're right in not short-changing your acoustic environment - most people starting out (myself included) don't figure that out until they've invested $10k in gear and can't make a good recording with it... Steve

[Vintage]

Yes, I live with my parents & they DO own the house. They would probably let me do a little construction but nothing major, yes I know that they would let me change the hollow-core door. I hope that did it, lol.

[knightfly]

Hey Vintage - I just ran your room dimensions, and for a small rectangular room you couldn't ask for better ratios. There should be no unwanted resonances to deal with other than any room that size needs bass traps of some kind, and you'll need some absorption in strategic spots to tame flutter echoes. To hear what these are and do to your sound, go into the room, clap your hands sharply, and listen to what happens immediately AFTER the clap. This can be helped with stuff like Auralex foam (not real cheap) and to some extent with heavy curtains or blankets, though not nearly as well.

As far as sound proofing is concerned, I've never heard of one-way soundproofing, so whatever you do will work both ways. Replacing the door with a solid core one is a good first step - Exterior solid core doors are typically 1-3/4" thick, while interior hollow core ones are 1-3/8" thick. This means that they use different size hinges but I'm not sure if the hole spacing on the hinges is different or not. I would recommend re-routing the hinges into the frame in a slightly different location, so you can adjust the hinge position to allow for slightly compressed foam weatherstrip around the sides and top of the door. Bottom threshholds are a bitch if you're on a budget - Probably the easiest way to do this, if there is carpet on the floor, is to cut a 1" thick board exactly the same length as the width of the doorframe, apply some foam weatherstrip to one edge, pull the door shut from outside, (Assuming it swings IN...) and use 3 or 4 2" long decking screws (long and skinny so they won't leave holes in rug) - hold the board against the bottom of the door firmly with the door latched, and drive the screws thru the board into the floor.

If you need to move something into or out of the room that's heavy and on wheels, either put a small ramp over the board or temporarily remove it.

Window, if you have one, will need some kind of insert to bring it up to the wall STC rating. Build a mini-wall that is insulated with fiberglas, or (better) Rockwool - cover both sides with particle board (flakes off less than sheet rock, use 3/4" on one side, 5/8" on the other) and size it so it will just slide into the window sill, make it deep enough so the framing is flush with the INSIDE frame of the window, and use foam weatherstrip stuck to the surface of the inside panel, right where it contacts the existing frame or moulding. The tighter the fit the better, and if you can figure out a way to get TWO sealing surfaces going, even better. Most hardware stores should have Stanley hardware, they make a "barn door handle", just a beefy loop-type handle - get two of these, and mount them so you can use them to install/remove the window insert.

Do these steps first, buy a Radio shack Sound Pressure Level Meter (about $40, get the ANALOG one, cheaper and better for most purposes) set the meter on "c" weighting/fast response, and try to keep your levels when mixing as close to 85 dB as you can. The main thing is a constant level, so your ears get used to your speakers at that volume. If you have to mix at a lower level, don't put as much bass into the mix as you'd like - your ears will fool you.

If those steps don't give you enough isolation, you'll need to convince Dad that the walls need another layer of sheet rock - that should be easier to do once he's heard for himself. Remember, everything you do should be as air-tight as you can make it - sound doesn't behave ANYTHING like heat, small cracks DO matter... Steve

[Vintage]

Ill check out the clap tip tomorrow, and Ill head into town in the next few days to price out how much this'll cost me. Im glad that the room wont worry me about resonance, actually Im thrilled. I didnt expect this to be all of the work Id have to do, but I do appreciate the indepth help. Also, where would be the best place to buy some Auralex foam? Any idea on how much I would need or just enough to fix up the fluttered echoes I get from the clap?

Ill probably work on that door & window first, after that I would work on placing my foam. Would that give me more accurate tip on where I need to place foam if I inserted the door & window first? Also, on the bass trap tip. How would I figure out where to put in the traps? After the door & window work also, along with placement of foam? Do I buy "bass traps" or do I construct them?

If it would help more, Im into hiphop. R&B, soul & using decks. I love to remix, if all that genre esque info helps Im happy to oblige.