Help with acoustics in my room.

[earlwgreen]

Hi everyone,

I did post this on another thread, but it was really in the wrong place.

I have attached a gif that shows the room I use for my studio. I know it's small, but it's all I have at the present.

The room is 9'x10' and ceiling height is 8'. The room is carpeted and as you can see there is little room to move things around.

The only thing I will be recording is my voice, or perhaps 2 voices at a time. All of my other tracks will be created in Sonar with Soft Synths so I won't be tracking bass, drums, keyboards or guitars in this room. With the mic close to the keyboard it works out well to play and track scratch vocals at the same time and I can stop and start the recording myself. This is of course where I will also be mixing. There is a ceiling fan in the middle and being that it is very warm in this room, it is used all the time except when I'm recording vocals. Any treatment ideas on the ceiling must accomodate this. Also, the only outside noise is at the door and at the window. Presently I have only a nice tapestry hanging behind the speakers and would like to try to incorporate it somehow in the design.

I've been reading many articles on the web about acoustic treatments but I think this one by Ethan Winer is one of the best overall. But, even after reading it I still would like some input on how best to treat my small room.

I do understand how to make my own panels and have starting researching where to buy what. I just don't want to make any mistakes in where to put it!

Here are the ideas I've come up with.

1. place 1 bass trap in each corner opposit the closet

2. place 1 bass trap on left and right where ceiling and walls meet

3. place removable 1 acoustic panel over the window to help eliminate outside noise

4. place acoustic panels on left wall and right wall

5. place movable acoustic panels in front of closet doors.

6. use 2 panels joined in a "V" shape around the mic area

Those are my basic ideas. Any input?

Thanks again everyone for your help.

Earl Green

 

[pandamonk]

this is how i'd setup your room

 

[travelin travis]

What's the first priority in dealing with reflections? The side walls or the back wall? I remember reading some where that for a small room, it's better to set the monitors up firing down the short dimension of the room so that the side walls are further away.

 

[pandamonk]

What's the first priority in dealing with reflections? The side walls or the back wall? I remember reading some where that for a small room, it's better to set the monitors up firing down the short dimension of the room so that the side walls are further away.

I've always thought/been told that in any room the monitors should be set "firing down" the longer dimention.

 

[pandamonk]

I also though the way i suggested would be best, cause absorbers could be put in the first reflection points as I've shown, then the rest of the sound has further to go to and from the back of the room, where the bookcase will be to defuse high-mid and high frequencies, and bass traps for all, especailly low, frequencies.

 

[earlwgreen]

Thanks for the info so far. I've read both ideas as to where the speakers should be placed. This is one reason why I posted this thread. Maybe others out there can use this info. I'm sure I'm not the only one with a small room do record vocals! I arranged the room with the speakers facing the shorter side so I would not have to turn around to stop and start the recording, and so I could watch the meters. I suppose I could get another monitor and mouse/keyboard setup to place over where the mic is. But does it really make that much of a difference?

Also, I would not mind placing a small patch of wood flooring down on the carpet under the mic if that would give more room sound. I think I understand the "hard floor, soft ceiling" idea but it can't hurt to ask!

Please keep the ideas coming. I want to buy the materials by the 1st of Aug and be finished with the room by the 1st of Sep.

Thanks again guys!

Earl Green

 

[Rod Gervais]

Earl,

Yes - shooting into the length of the room really does help a bit more than you might expect - the layout you've been given is pretty decent.

You may well find that a ceiling cloud of 703 hung 2 inches or so below your ceiling helps a lot in the long run as well. This could be worked around your fan.

I'm not a huge fan of diffusion in small rooms - if I can't get your ears at least 10' away from the source then I don't recommend it - and I also am not a great believer in bookcases and books doing a whole lot of good (from that perspective) - but - you can leave the bookcase - and if you have problems - you can always put a removable treatment in front of it.

Remember - the problem in your space is not going to be recording (you mention that you only do vocals so tracking other instruments isn't an issue) - but you will be mixing down - and at that time you will have all those other instruments as if they were playing in the room - so you have to treat the room as if you were recording in there live anyway.

Vocal so-booths are one thing - multipurpose control/tracking rooms are another thing altogether.

I hope this helps,

Rod

 

[earlwgreen]

Thanks Rod for the input. I'll rework my drawing to make the changes you and pandamonk have suggested and post them tomorrow.

Thanks again!

Earl Green

 

[pandamonk]

Rod, the bookcase thing. I agree totally with you. It's just, he had it, and other things such a filing cabinets, in his pic, so i thought he must wanna keep them in that room, and that is the only place i could see that he could put it, after adding the necessary absorbtion. And I've read on here many times that bookcases do offer some degree of diffusion at high-mid and high frequencies, and i thought that although absorbtion is much better in small room than diffusion, it may be sufficient on the back wall(not first reflection points). But if it will do nothing good then yes, certainly put absorbtion panels infront of it.