Input please....

Jeff_D

Jeff_D

New member
Gentlemen-

Until recently, my band practiced in what I guess you would call the "parlor" in the house my girlfriend and I live in. It’s a 120-year-old farmhouse that we rent from my girlfriends father (so I have some leeway on construction- but not enough to gut the room or anything). About a month ago the band broke up, so now I've been tooling around with the idea of turning it into a "control room"/ home studio I guess you would call it. As of now my recording/ mixing room is in our totally untreated living room and I've always had a big problem getting my mixes to "translate" well to other systems. So now I have the space to move into- and treat properly and I have concocted a plan that I would love to get some input on.

A brief description:
- 13'-2 1/2" W
- 15'-2 3/4" L
- 8'-9 1/2" ceiling

- all existing walls are plaster over lathe (original the 1880's house)
- ceiling is acoustic 12"x12" tile over 1x furring strips attached to the original plaster and lathe ceiling
- the floor is pine over timber joist- basement underneath
- windows are original wood w/ 1950's alum storm windows
- existing door is raised panel solid wood.
- there is a large existing (inoperable) fireplace on one of the long walls.
- there is an existing "bump out" in one corner of the room where a vertical heating duct was added after the fact.

My Hopes
I would like a room properly treated for critical listening. I would also probably use the same space to setup and record guitars / bass / vocals / kazoo (ok not so much kazoo). On the occasion that I have drums to record they could be set up in the adjacent living room.

I already have a suitable (for my purposes) recording setup- computer- Delta 1010lt- S/C Spirit mixer- a few decent mics (nothing spectacular) a few guitars / basses amps / people to play em.

Points of Concern
- I’ve read that a solid mass (i.e. my fireplace) between the monitors results in a more clear stereo image. But, I’ve also read that for whatever reason, its best to orient the desk / monitors about the long access of the room. I am in a position to do one or the other- although I’ve drawn the first scenario. What would you suggest is more important?
- If I were to orient the desk / monitors about the long axis of the room, I would largely lose the ability treat the “back” wall due to an abundance of windows.
- The existing vertical heating duct chase breaks symmetry of the rear wall- Is this a big deal and what are my options for treating / ignoring it?
- I’ve used Ethan’s Modecalc program to calculate my room modes- but I’m not real sure what to do with the results. Would I use this info to design the traps / slot resonators etc. or is this just FYI stuff?

Budget
My budget is flexible but up front I’d say a few hundred bucks to get started. I wont rule out the option of phasing construction to possibly facilitate a larger budget.

Gentlemen (John, Ethan, Bear, Michael, Fitz, Fredrick, everyone else), I would greatly appreciate any guidance or input you can provide. Thanks for taking the time to read my long ass post and if I’ve left anything info out, please ask. Ive attached drawings- a floor plan, ceiling plan, typical elevations of existing door and windows and the results of the modecalc program.

Thanks!!
 

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and room modes.....

If anyone would like larger plans- I would gladly e-mail em to you. And if pictures would help, I can do that too.

Fellas- I really appreciate your help and look foward to hearing your replys!
 

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That all looks pretty cool Kremit.

2 things that i noticed:

The position of the monitors seem like they could induce an unwanted early reflection with the fireplace side. Consider moving them forward slightly.

The ceiling clouds are out of line with the monitors. Maybe look into a more direct position for those.

Other than that... Very Cool!!!
 
Michael -

Thanks for lookin- I got ya on movin the monitors forward- noted.

Im a bit unclear what you mean about the clouds lining up with the monitors. Do you mean rotate them so that they're on axis with the speakers? Maybe let them bow down in the middle a bit so they catch more of the primary sound wave?

Once i get some more feed make I'll put together a revised plan.

Thanks!
Jeff
 
You're gonna need a much bigger budget, or a lot of donated materials.

703 runs about $1.25/SQUARE FOOT. I put almost $350 of 1-1/2" & 2" Knauf into four 42"x 90" gobos with 3-1/2" of RFS in them.

Look into Rockwool. It's about half the cost of 703 or Knauf, and 4" is pretty easy to find, at least out here it is.

The fireplace looks kinda dodgy to me. Ideally you want the walls behind your monitors more dead than live, and the walls of each side treated at least out as far as your listening position. If you use heavy fabric for the curtains that will help some, but still be less than ideal.

From the node calc, it looks like you want to tune your slot resonator to work best between 200-500Hz. But get other opinions before you do that!:)

I'd use slot resonators in your corner bass traps too.

Looks real nice.

I wish I had such a nice space to work in!
 
Thanks C7-
On the budget thing- I kinda figured it would be a few hundred here- a few hundred there- like i said- this doesnt all have to happen at once- hell heavy curtains alone will be at least $100^. If i get out all said and done for between $500-$1000 over the course of this I'll be alright.

For the fireplace- Im not opposed to treating the wall behind the monitors- maybe something like the 703 cloth wraped clouds - but vertically on the wall?

I could do the same on the door on one side of the slot resonator and on the wall on the other side. I actually got the "slot resonator behind the mix position" idea from Blue Bears place. Maybe Im missing something? Hopefull someone can enlighten me :)

Im also open to alternate layout suggestions, if anyone has any. So please- dont be shy!

Thanks guys! Keep em comin
:)
 
When you mentioned slot resonators I figured you were familiar with John Sayer's site. Check out his control room designs. These are a great place to get started design-wise, and the Forums are frequented by John, Barefoot, and Knightfly a little more regularly than this one. Those guys know their stuff when it comes to control room design. AFAIK John did the design and consulatation work for Bear's studio.


Enjoy!

http://johnlsayers.com/index.html

And the designs:

http://johnlsayers.com/HR/index1.htm
 
Thanks C7-
- yeah Ive been through John Sayers site, the SAE site, and Ethans site through the course of my breif research. I havent spept much time at Johns forums- which maybe I should. I seem to be seeing some conflict regarding the dead rear wall? Maybe there are different approoaches that I need to be considering, or other circumstances that would warrant a deviant solution??

And, yeah, John did design Blue Bears place.

John, any thoughts if your out there??

Thanks again guys
 
kremitmusic said:
Michael -

Thanks for lookin- I got ya on movin the monitors forward- noted.

Im a bit unclear what you mean about the clouds lining up with the monitors. Do you mean rotate them so that they're on axis with the speakers? Maybe let them bow down in the middle a bit so they catch more of the primary sound wave?

Thanks!
Jeff
Click to expand...
Well, you know, I'm no expert. But from what I understand, is that any place a speaker fires into, should be absorbtive; absorptive? If you figure that a speaker fires up and down, as well as out sideways, I'd treat those areas in that direct path. At least out past the mix position, like C7 said.

I think you could do some nice treatment for a grand. Just... don't skimp! If you have to tear something out that cost you $200 bucks because it didn't work as well as you had hoped, (like curtians) thats $200 bucks down the drain! Even if you have to do it all over a long period of time, you'll come out ahead in the long run.
 
Thats damn cool, ehr: hot: the console in front of a fire place! I can imagine sitting there and looking at the warm light of the fire while tracking/mixing. Forget lava lamps! What a hot setup! *LOL
 
Kremit,

> I’ve used Ethan’s Modecalc program ... is this just FYI stuff? <

I'm not much of a construction guy, so I'll leave those questions to the others. As far as ModeCalc is concerned, unless you can move the walls it's all moot. Also, all rooms need broadband low frequency absorption. Especially small rooms like this. Large rooms sometimes benefit from bass traps that target specific frequencies. Your room does not need that.

--Ethan
 
In reverse order-....

Ethan- Thanks for checkin out my plan. These walls have been there for 120+ years and arent going anywhere soon. I kinda figured that broadband low / low-mid absorption was going to be my primary goal. I apreciate the resources that you provide to us acoustics newbs.

Giganova-
Unfortunatly the fireplace is inoperable. THe fire box was bricked up (presumably long before we moved in. So now its just a large mass in the room:(

Michael-
If been browsing Johns forum lately (I havent had a whole lot of free time). Either tonight or in the next few days I'll get signed up over there and post my plan over there. (I kinda dont feel like i have much to contribute over there :( (except for a bunch of questions)

Keep em comin- and thanks to all who've looked

/Jeff
 
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