How to do a temporary acoustic treatment of a living room with kitchen extensions

Exhale8

New member
Hi all sound design wizards, hope you are keeping safe wherever you are!

I am music producer outside my other regular job, and I make instrumentals, record vocals mix and master in my living room. My living room has this irregular shape (images below) and has an extension kitchen and windows. I am looking into suggestions on how to do some minimal but decently effective acoustic treatment (not isolation),to improve my experience with the stuff I mention above. Importantly, I will be living here potentially for two more years only, so ideally I want a temporary solution that can be reused elsewhere whenever I move, and I also can't damage the current place in any way.

Here is what my room looks like: On the window side
IMG_20200521_135435.jpgIMG_20200521_135336.jpgIMG_20200521_135408.jpgIMG_20200521_135424.jpgIMG_20200521_141051-min 2.jpg

the roof is slightly tilted (Triangular shape) and has some spacings created with wood. enter image description here

My biggest difficulty from my research so far is how to deal with the window, I can't block it as it has to be able to open, but on the other side there is the kitchen, which I assume the lack of a contiguous wall on the kitchen side in one side would create unwanted noise

are acoustic foams, bass traps in specific places worth it?

Any suggestions are very much appreciated
 
You should set up your desk in front of the end window - the one at the bottom of the drawing - in the center of that wall. Your current position is so asymmetrical in the room that any treatment is going to be lopsided and make things worse.
 
Thanks Mike, after setting up like you suggested, would it make any sense setting up any bass trap or acoustic foam in any of the walls?
 
Also, head over to Sound On Sound | The World's Premier Music Recording Technology Magazine forum and ask there. They have run a "Studio SOS' feature for many years where they visit reader sites and help get them up to sonic scratch.

You can also get a free online subscription to the magazine 'for the duration'.

Do I understand there is a void in the roofspace? If so that can be stuffed with bass trap material. Rockwool or GF. Leave it in the poly bags. The wood you see will be fairly 'transparent ' to bass frequencies.

Dave.
 
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Bass traps in corners will help. Acoustic foam, by itself, won't help. Hard to tell what you have for monitors, but they look small, so probably don't have any low end response. If this is indeed temporary, you may do better investing in a good set of headphones for mixing.
 
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