Thoughts on this floor plan as a tracking room?

[maxmax77]

Hi everyone,

First post here! I am moving to my new apartment in a few months, and I’d love any thoughts on this floor plan. The ceilings are 12 feet.

I mix with headphones, so I’m mostly looking for thoughts on this as a tracking room!

Edit: forgot to mention that the floor is carpeted. Definitely up to build some various forms of acoustic treatment

 

[mjbphotos]

What are you tracking?
Bass traps (compressed fiberglass or rockwool) traps in the corners are pretty much standardly needed for small rooms. "As much trapping as you can fit" is a usual advice. Put some in, and see what it sounds like.

 

[maxmax77]

Thanks mjb,

I’ll mostly be tracking vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar (bedroom levels, if that matters. I’ve got an attenuator), and miscellaneous non-drum kit percussive instruments (shakers, tambourine, etc). Occasionally some other string instruments like mandolin and uke, too.

It would be nice to track bass guitar just for the feel of it, but I usually DI to keep my neighbors happy. I also understand that bass frequencies are usually the hardest to ‘treat’ a room for, since the wavelengths are so long?

I’m planning on building some bass traps for sure, and other stuff for higher frequencies if that is necessary. Is there any particular go-to place that I should put the bass traps, or does it just depend on the room? I‘ve read that the corners where 3 walls meet are culprits for a lot of unpleasant resonance/room mode issues.

Cheers!

 

[rob aylestone]

Perhaps not the place for this, but in my current studio, I needed a green screen, so covered two walls with a top surface of thin MDF sheet, and a curve over the corner. I’ve left it in because the bass response of the room improved with only one 90 degree corner at that end. There is a place I now must not place a mic, but that’s easy to live with.

 

[maxmax77]

Thanks Rob! I was hoping the fifth wall in this room might give it better acoustics than if it were a square room, since there is one less 90 degree edge and two fewer 90 degree corners. I bet that covering those other 90 degree edges and corners with homemade MDF treatment would help. From my initial Google it looks like different types of MDF boards absorb different frequencies based on the type of wood, so I’d imagine that dealing with the low end would be most important for the corners if I had to choose? (And I would probably use some treatment for higher frequencies on the flat faces of the walls, assuming that they are less needed in the corners than bass traps)