38% Rule in Sqare Room?

K

Kertbert

New member
Hi,

I'm fixing the layout of my control/recording room now that I'm moving into the realm of proper studio monitoring. (I've been headphone monitoring for the last while).

I'm going to be acousitcally treating the room and I've picked the best wall to be facing that will minimize the symmetry issue.

Unfortunately my room is square and small (12'x12'). I've read that a good starting point for listening position is 38% from the front wall. But this always seems to be applied to bigger, rectangular rooms. Is it still valid in my case?
 
Kertbert said:
Hi,

I'm fixing the layout of my control/recording room now that I'm moving into the realm of proper studio monitoring. (I've been headphone monitoring for the last while).

I'm going to be acousitcally treating the room and I've picked the best wall to be facing that will minimize the symmetry issue.

Unfortunately my room is square and small (12'x12'). I've read that a good starting point for listening position is 38% from the front wall. But this always seems to be applied to bigger, rectangular rooms. Is it still valid in my case?
Click to expand...
Yes, but it's not a rule.
 
Kertbert said:
I'm going to be acousitcally treating the room and I've picked the best wall to be facing that will minimize the symmetry issue.

Unfortunately my room is square and small (12'x12'). I've read that a good starting point for listening position is 38% from the front wall. But this always seems to be applied to bigger, rectangular rooms. Is it still valid in my case?
Click to expand...

Acoustically treating the room is required, primarily corner trapping.

How do you 'fix' a symmetry issue? Is the square room non-symmetrical? I don't understand.

The 38% is a starting point to minimize modal interference at the mix position. It applies even stronger to a cube. If you truly have a cube, you are better off in headphones. If you are close to a cube, it might not be that bad. Only a 3-5% difference in dimensions can make a huge difference in the modal response.

Cheers,
John
 
I am planning on aggressively trapping the room.

It's not a cube thankfully. It's 12'x12'x7.8'.

By symmetry issues, I meant there is a window, a door, a closet, and ceiling accomodation for a heating vent. Putting the setup facing one particular wall will put all those things except the closet behind me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top