What can you tell me about my room?

S

savageblues

New member
Hello All,

I am seeking comments on how I should START improving my recording room.

Dimensions are 19' long, 14'4" wide, 7'2" height to unfinished floor joists on ceiling. What do these dimensions mean in terms of resonance?

Its on the basement level but we have a 'walk-out' basement, so it actually has three doors. One is a double door to outside (which is really nice for loading gear in and out of without stairs). Another is a man-door to outside on the opposite wall. The last is the entrance door to the room from the house.

What I think I want is a dead sounding single tracking / control room.

A drop ceiling would be nice to have - but from what I read I would be better off drywalling on resilient channel.

Floor is poured concrete - with multiple throw rugs layered on top.

Interior walls are drywalled and painted.

So where should I start?

i) ceiling?
ii) floors?
iii) bass traps, slot resonator, diffusers?
iv) with a cold one?

It seems like such a huge job so I only want to bite of what I can chew (so I can still have SOME fun in the meantime recording).

Sorry for the long post.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
 
Hello savageblues. Do you have hvac to the room already? How about a plan. Are you disappointed with sound transmission into the house or exterior? I think at this point, you have to define your goals, room wise.

ie, how and what are you going to record?
What kind of monitors do you plan on using. And where. Monitor/console location.
Digital or analog? Machines make noise. HVAC location. HVAC makes noise too.
In order for you to receive appropriate help, people need appropriate information.

Define your needs ie........105db iso to bedroom above:D A vocal booth? Drum booth? You have to break it down a bit.
I would start with a plan of the room. Illustration here saves a ton of guessing and time. Do you have access to a CAD program, or can you scan a sketch etc. Do you have a digital camera. Make a sketch and take a pic. These are a few suggestions.
Any help you can give in that regard will help the people here help you. Hang in there though. Sounds like there are simple solutions to your needs. Have you checked this yet? Great stuff. It'll answer most of your questions if you LOOK, LOOK, LOOK.
And here too. Do searchs. People get tired of answering FAQ's. Its up to you to really do your research here, and I'm sure you have already by your questions. Deliberate planning takes precedence though.

http://www.saecollege.de/reference_material/index.html
(you may have already seen this. if so, my apology.)

Great starting point. And finishing point too! Thanks to Mr. Sayers for the site.
with a cold one?
Click to expand...
Thats when you finish:D
 
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Thanks Rick, didn't mean to waste anyones time. I have read a great deal here already over the past year or so.

I couldn't find any program/tool that predicts what resonant frequencies to expect with my room geometry, thats why I asked. I do have an omni condenser that I can try to use at some point to 'ring' out the room.

There is HVAC into the room already that I dont want to screw with. I will shut this off if I need it to be quiet, and can live with transmission through the rest of the house. It isn't too bad right now because the room has three exterior walls. Sound seems to transfer into the house only through HVAC, ceiling, and one wall.

What I am really looking to improve are the acoustics of the room itself, so my tracks are not racked with bad room verb, dead spots, reflections etc.

As far as layout, dont have one either, but my goal is to keep as much of the space intact as I can. I jam with a 5 pc band, so we need most of the space (ie. don't want to build a booth or anything at this point that will take up a lot of this rooms space).

(Wish I had a digital camera and high speed internet access...sigh). Maybe I can scan a sketch and post it to the web.

Plan to record blues rock with the whole band (at times), while other times its just me and my wife noodling around. I would like to be able to track a drum kit (including overheads), mic'd amp electric guitars, and vocals.

I have Yorkville YSM-1p monitors. Korg D-1600 with lots of effects, verbs, delays. Dry tracks would be desirable.

I supose I should work on the closing in the ceiling first, followed with treatments like corner bass traps, diffusers on the ceiling.

Thanks again Rick.
 
SB,

> I couldn't find any program/tool that predicts what resonant frequencies to expect with my room geometry <

It doesn't really matter where the resonances are because the room is already built!

> What I am really looking to improve are the acoustics of the room itself, so my tracks are not racked with bad room verb, dead spots, reflections etc. <

Your best bet now is to apply broadband low frequency absorption (bass traps) to reduce the standing waves that are present in all rooms. Standing waves are what cause the severe peaks and dips throughout the low end. Real bass traps (not foam rubber blocks!) also reduce the reverb time at low frequencies, which reduces mud and makes playing in the room more satisfying.

--Ethan
 
Wow, see what I mean Sb, it never ceases to amaze me. Don't ya just love the net! Thanks from me too Ethan, your response at Prosound was TOOOOOOO good. I love it when I see the REAL stuff.
BTW, I went to your site....Whoaaaaaa! It'll take me.....years to digest!! Ha!
fitz
 
Thanks Ethan,

With your suggestion in mind I will start by looking at DIY corner bass traps. I just thought that some knowledge of what resonances to expect would lead me to building aborbers for these trouble freq. ranges.


Cheers!
 
SB,

> With your suggestion in mind I will start by looking at DIY corner bass traps. <

If you're not familiar with my plans for real wood panel bass traps, have a look at my article "Build a better bass trap" linked here:

www.ethanwiner.com/articles.html

> I just thought that some knowledge of what resonances to expect would lead me to building aborbers for these trouble freq. ranges. <

The real issue is you need effective absorption at all low frequencies, not just those that correspond to the dimensions of your room. Standing waves occur at every low frequency in every room, and you have to tame them all to avoid severe peaks and dips in the room's response. In larger rooms you also want to make sure the room's reverb is properly reduced at all low frequencies, which again requires broadband absorption.

--Ethan
 
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