Help In Treating Unique Home Studio Space

nigelallistair

New member
Hello all,

I have what seems a bit of an unusual home studio space. I'm re-doing things a bit - new equipment, going uptown a bit - and want to treat the room for the best possible recording/mixing. The room itself is small, about 10 x 9 but it is technically an open den attached to the living room and so there is no back wall. And a very long way to the wall behind it. About 30 feet actually. So technically it's a very long room. Now I only use the studio room itself for recording, not the whole living area outside of it, it's just the odd layout I'm trying to account for. I think the layout helps me as there's no close back wall to work around but I'm not sure.

Because the room is so small I don't have the luxury of moving the desk and monitors away from the wall. They really have to stay there. So that has to be accounted for.

Also, the monitors will be slightly higher than they are now and so they will be above the level of the short wall at the back where the cables han so they have a straight shot 30' back.

A further concern is the ceiling. It is mostly flat except for the area directly above the desk where it has a small "cathedral" feature. There's a picture of it though it may be a bit hard to make out.

The pictures are attached and the diagram is of the post-redo as it see it. As the legend shows, the light green are the 4 traps (2 side wall and 2 corner) and a cloud up in the cathedral above the desk that I think might help.

Also, a general question about the effectiveness of traps in the corners. Since space is at a premium the 2' wide traps are awful wide. Would a 1' trap straddling the corner be ineffective?

The equipment you'll see here in the pictures is changing somewhat as so I've also done up diagram of the room with its new equipment. A new desk, board.

The piano is in a spot that was sort of by default as it doesn't fit well elsewhere in the apartment. I like that it's there but it's a huge space-waste. It's played for fun but not for recording. I will have two keyboards so I was thinking of just setting one of them atop the piano and building a sliding shelf under the piano keyboard for the other. It could then slide under when not in use. But that's aesthetic / space stuff, not acoustic.

I have a few other pic if needed but I reached the 4 attachment max.

Thanks sincerely for all your help.


Nigel
 

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A few more pics...

A few more pics.

Thanks much.
 

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Yo NigelDude:D

Welcome. ;)

I'm no acoustic guru but where I would start would be 4" thick bass traps straddling the corners to the left and right of your mixing station at 45 degree angles. I don't think 1" or 2" thick traps are gonna do much good.

I think I'd also put some gobos behind the monitors. Are the tweeters at ear level?

As to the area above the mixing desk that "V"'s , I dunno. Maybe another trap straddling that. Not sure.

Hopefully one of the more knowledgeable fellows :) will chime in for ya.

Peace
 
I'm not anymore knowledgeable than DogBreath... I think your diagram is a good start and as DB recommended, put something behind the monitors.

good luck and have fun!!
 
And get rid of the pics on the wall or any thing else that will rattle/vibrate or introduce noise that you don't want in the recordings.
 
Yes, I should have made a couple things more clear...one being that all the junk on the walls will be gone. Only whatever treatment goes up.
 
Diagram? :confused:

D'OH. :o

Yeah...that looks like a good start. :D

Still not sure what ta do about behind ya and the stairwell. :confused:
Start with what you're thinkin and see how that sounds.

Luck mang. ;)
 
The ceiling is fine. It slopes up behind you, and that's good. As for 1' traps in the corners, that won't work. 18"W is a rock-bottom minimum, and 24" is better still. I'm not sure I'd worry about the back wall since you've got 30' to work with, but I'd definitely do the side reflection points with 4" panels and get a single 4" panel up above your head as well. From that point it'd have to be spot treatment...hard to say what the issues will be. The length is helping you a lot as is the high ceiling.

Frank
 
Holy shit... Do you live in a colonial grand apartment. This place looks exactly like my place except... not a shit hole.

Early reflections off the side walls will be the biggest problem besides the neighbors below.
 
If that is an apartment, you need to think twice about having a drum kit. That could serisously perturb the folks next door. :eek:
Without the drum kit you'd have much more room.:rolleyes:
 
Thanks for all the responses. I appreciate the input and yes, I'm fortunate for the length of the room behind me and the tall sloping ceiling behind. I could be in a broom closet, as some folks are.

I'm going to start with what I had in my diagram (with the 24" corner traps) and go from there.

As far as the drums...well, if you look close you'll see a couple things. There are electronic cymbals and the triggers. They have Pearl mesh heads which offer incredible response and feel, Ddrum triggers and those electronic cymbals, which are great, all triggering an Alesis DM5. So I get primo recordings of drums and the mesh heads are seriously quiet. It's probably the piece of my setup I'm most proud of and happy with because I get to actually "play drums" and not program them or play them on a keyboard. It rocks.

Also, there's a further good feature of my room. That room actually hangs out from the building by about 1/2. So half the room is over open air below and not the neighbor's actual apartment. Thaat severely lessens any noise bugging them.

Zeppe - It's Cypress Grand, Tampa. Where are you?

Thanks all....
 
So half the room is over open air below and not the neighbor's actual apartment. Thaat severely lessens any noise bugging them.

Zeppe - It's Cypress Grand, Tampa. Where are you?

Thanks all....

I live in Austin but I used to live in Naples, FL. The apartment is here though.

Half the room being over open air doesn't make much of a difference in reducing low frequencies being transferred. Your floor is still coupled to the neighbors walls below. But if its not a problem its not a problem. I'm just jealous.

Live drumming at my apartment lasted exactly 11 minutes.
 
I live in Austin but I used to live in Naples, FL. The apartment is here though.

Half the room being over open air doesn't make much of a difference in reducing low frequencies being transferred. Your floor is still coupled to the neighbors walls below. But if its not a problem its not a problem. I'm just jealous.

Live drumming at my apartment lasted exactly 11 minutes.

Hmm, I used to live in Riverview, just outside Tampa. Now I'm up the road from you about 5 minutes or so.... p'ville.

Yeah, I thought the drums had some kind of pads on them. What about the kick?? Is that pretty quiet too, with the pad?
 
Small world...I work in east Tampa, just up the way from Riverview a bit.

The kick, too, has a Pearl Muffle Head mesh head on it. Plays with a regular pedal, is very quiet and triggers and tracks well with the Ddrum trigger.

Being a drummer first and missing "drumming" for a good long while being an apt. dweller - and wanting to record - this was a great solution that makes me seriously happy. Wail away, get the great feel of playing "real" drums (no hard plastic, no unrealistic bounce). Even the cymbals sway, track well and aren't a terrible compromise. As a drummer, I'm really glad to have settled on this particular setup.
 
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