Advice on Layout and Treatment For Square Room with Closet/Window/Door

[Kertbert]

Hi,

I've been messing with recording off and on in a very amateurish way for a few years. I'm off work now for a while and decided I want to get more serious about recording and mixing. I have a ton of questions for you guys but for now, I just want to get the proper room setup to lay the foundation for my needs so I don't spend hundreds (or thousands) of dollars only to find out later I should have set things up different or bought different materials.

My room unfortunately is 12'x12'x7.7'. I've attached a pic. My thoughts initially are to place the desk against the center of the south wall with listening position 38% back. This puts the door, window, and ductwork/jutting out wall behind me. The closet would be beside me but something had to be...

I was considering the Primacoustic Broadway London 12A Room Kit. It's $700 here in Canada. It would give me two 4'x1'x2" boards on the south wall behind monitors; three of these on each side wall for first reflections; two broadband absorbers (4'x2'x2") for the two south wall to wall corners; and twelve scatter blocks (1'x1'x1") for the north wall. All panels are fiberglass.

The treatment issues I have are:
1) the closet is too close to the south wall for the corner absorber.
2) the closet is in the first reflection area so I need a way to put absorbers in front of it.

If i can get around the treatment issues, my questions are: Is this enough absorption or do I need proper bass traps and more of them? Do I need clouds even though I have carpet? Is there an alternative layout such as facing the SE corner. Primacoustic suggests this as an alternative but they stack the two broadband absorbers and put them in that corner. I have less than 8' ceilings though.

As for DIY suggestions, I know I may need to do some DIY since all rooms have some peculiarities that need custom adjustments but I'm cool with purchasing ready to go stuff for the majority since A) I'm not too handy and B) the time it would take me I could probably earn more with my side job.

I plan to get serious and study the art of mixing in this room but will also be recording/practicing live instruments here (acoustic guitar, e-guitar and bass, acoustic drums, hand percussion, vocals, trumpet).

Sorry for the long post. This is my first and I'm desperate to get off on the right foot for my studio.

 

[Weasel9992]

At 12x12 you're going to need all 4" and 6" panels or superchunks. The 3" panels are a waste of money. All you can really do is trap every corner you can get to, floor to ceiling if possible, get 4" panels on the front wall, the reflection points and the ceiling above your head and 6" panels on the back wall. In a room that small there's really no subtleties. Just trap the heck out of all the obvious places and don't worry about nuances.

Frank

 

[Kertbert]

Okay, now I'm worried. The reading I've done has suggested I don't need to do anything nearly as drastic as you've suggested. Most of what I have learned recently has come from Acoustic Design for the Home Studio by Mitch Gallagher. 4" to 6" thick panels seems like overkill for medium to high frequencies. Are we trying to remove every bit of bass? Will this be a place I'll enjoy strumming my guitar in?

And these Primacoustic room treatments in a box are meant for rooms my size. Is it the square dimensions that demand these crazy thicknesses?

Sorry for questioning your advice. It's just that if what you're saying is true, it's different than what I've read and it's very disappointing since I don't think I can pull off putting that much material in this room.

 

[Weasel9992]

Okay, now I'm worried. The reading I've done has suggested I don't need to do anything nearly as drastic as you've suggested. Most of what I have learned recently has come from Acoustic Design for the Home Studio by Mitch Gallagher. 4" to 6" thick panels seems like overkill for medium to high frequencies. Are we trying to remove every bit of bass? Will this be a place I'll enjoy strumming my guitar in?

Bass trapping doesn't "remove" bass at all. It simply evens it out, raising the valleys and lowering the peaks for a tighter, more accurate response. It's not physically possible to "remove" bass. Do you mean Mitch from Sweetwater, the EIC of EQ? Very, very nice guy and a great writer, but not an authority on room treatment. He would never claim to be.

And these Primacoustic room treatments in a box are meant for rooms my size. Is it the square dimensions that demand these crazy thicknesses?

No, they're MARKETED to rooms your size. That does not mean they're appropriate for rooms your size. They are typically marketed by price point and not by effectiveness. As a matter of fact, I would use that very kit in a room TWICE your size and not smaller. Why? Because the smaller the room is, the more bass trapping is actually necessary but in terms of need and quantity. The fact that your room is square makes the need even more urgent. You'll be reinforcing all of your modes along both the length and the width. In other words, the peaks will be twice as high and the valleys will be twice as low.

Sorry for questioning your advice. It's just that if what you're saying is true, it's different than what I've read and it's very disappointing since I don't think I can pull off putting that much material in this room.

That's because you've been reading the wrong sites. I'll leave GIK's Education page out of it to avoid the appearance of shilling. Go look at Ethan Winer's website(s), Gearslutz, John Sayers' forums, or just about any other acoustics site you can imagine. You'll hear the same advice repeated ad nauseum.

Nothin' personal man. I don't take offense at this kind of thing. The only stupid question is the one that goes unasked, right?

Frank

 

[Kertbert]

Thanks for taking the time to lay it out for me. I'll check out those resources as well as your site.

Mitch's book definitely comes across as being written by an authority on acoustics for the home studio. Not professional but good enough to make drastic improvements to an untreated small room.

Looks like I'm going to have a cost dilemma and a where-am-I-gonna-fit-all-that-material dilemma.

So if I follow your advice, will the room be live enough to practise in?

What do you think of the south facing layout I described?