Nightmare room help

[ghostred7]

Unfortunately, I'm financially and property challenged, so I have to deal with what I have....and THIS ugly mess is what I have:

Where I'm standing to take the pics are double-glass doors that open to the living room. The right side (picture facing) is shelves with a bunch of computer parts and mess on them and the left is a flat wall where our desks are (we also run video production). I'm forced to do stuff w/ headphones right now b/c honestly....having kick-ass monitors in that room as-is would be a waste IMO. I make do w/ what I have and I have NO OTHER rooms to do this in. So it's frustrating to say the least. I do have a mostly-raw audio sample from the room, but as it's a 1-take-so-we-can-test-mixing-and-sound thing, it's kinna ugly with pitchiness/timing/etc.

Anyhoo...based on the nightmare left above....any suggestions you can think of? I make sure the fan, vents, etc are closed/off when I do record and not getting any ambient from the living room. Unfortunately, we're also on carpet that cannot be removed.

As always, thx in advance.

 

[homestudioguy]

Nonetheless, place your set-up at the far wall that you show in the photo with monitors pointing towards the living room.
It may not be perfect but it would be a start.
You can purchase "Raw" compressed fiberglass panels fairly inexpensively and cover them yourself with low-cost tight weave breathable fabric.
Get some 4" thick 2'X4' panels behind the monitors initially and then to the sides of your listening "sweetspot" in the future.
You could check out some re-sale places and get some used heavy lined full-length drapes to cover that sliding door at the far right and then do the same treatment on the wall across from that sliding door.
Again, this is not the best solution BUT it is a start!
FYI-You CAN monitor with "kick-ass" monitors but at lower volume/gain.
Again, this is not the best solution BUT it is a start!
Don't let room acoustics stop you from playing and recording, HOWEVER, make it a primary goal to improve them as time and money allow!!!
Being a DIY Person, over time, I would build a fabric covered 8ft X 8ft X 6-inch framed (or two 4ft X 4ft) unit(s) filled with with 4" "OC-703" compressed fiberglass panels and hang it horizontally over the listening/mixing area to help with that ceiling.
Hope this helps!
B

 

[ghostred7]

Damn...where'd my reply go? Wonder if I never hit submit LOL....

Thx a bunch, B! This is good stuff. Ya...in now way will EVER let this get in the way of doing something I love.

I will get some monitors at some point. ANYTHING is better than the crap I use now.

Headphones: Sennheiser HD150
Speakers: Bose Companion 3 PC speakers (I hate Bose...frequency response on those are horrid. I steer all home theater advice/installs away from Bose as much as possible...but these were free)