flooring

[trijari]

Hi!
This is the first forum I use so I hope I will manage correctly.

I am building a home recording studio in my basement. I was wondering which type of flooring should I use in the control room?

Should I use hardwood for creating a room ambience and little reflection or is it preferable to muffle as much as possible when mixing?

Mixing is the most important use I will use that room as I plan to build an isolation booth to record the vocals or solo instrumentists.

 

[Dogbreath]

trijariDude

Welcome to the fold man.

As to the flooring, it seems to be pretty well accepted that wood flooring is better than concrete or carpet.

BUT...

Whatever flooring you have down isn't gonna be worth a turd in a blanket if you don't take care of the rest of the room.
That means ya need to do some reading about bass traps and diffusers, maybe an acoustic cloud. Stuff like that.

There's a couple of knowledgeable dudes here that know their stuff with acoustic treatment.

One of em is Weasel 9992. His name is Frank and he hangs out in here quite a bit. Helluva nice guy.

The other dude is Ethan Winer. Also knows his stuff and equally nice.

Here's a link to Franks goodz...
http://www.gikacoustics.com/room_setup.php

And here's one to Ethans goodz...
http://www.realtraps.com/art_room-setup.htm

I know you were just asking about the flooring but this is good stuff to know for ANY recording dudes. ESPECIALLY since mixing is important

 

[Ethan Winer]

I was wondering which type of flooring should I use in the control room?

Without knowing the size of the room it's impossible to guess. Generally, a control room should be more on the dead side with fewer reflections from nearby surfaces. More here about floor materials:

Surface Reflectivity

--Ethan

 

[trijari]

Thank you Dogbreath, I will certainly visit these links.

 

[trijari]

thanks dogbreath, I will certainly visit those links.

 

[trijari]

thanks dogbreath

Thank you, I certainly will visit those links

 

[trijari]

My control room will be something like 17' x 11'6''. I know this is quite small but that's what I have to go with. Thanks for the links, those will be helpful.

 

[soldierone]

Without knowing the size of the room it's impossible to guess. Generally, a control room should be more on the dead side with fewer reflections from nearby surfaces. More here about floor materials:

Surface Reflectivity

--Ethan

Ethan,

I'm curious why the surface reflectivity of carpet isn't reflected in your chart. Would it not be a good surface to list as it's a very common material used?