New Studio / Music Room

Buggaluggs

New member
I have a room in the basement that I am planning on turning into a music room / studio. I will use it for playing the guitar and giving the rest of the house some peace. Recording, mixing and what I call mastering and others call ruining a decent mix.

Dimension are hardly ideal. 14'x14'x7½' (4.27m x 4.27m x 2.29m). Room is poured concrete walls and ceiling with a plank floor. No windows, one door. I plan to pull up the floor and (possibly) excavate 6" or more extra depth, to avoid brainers on the conc beam. I need to drop a dry sump too in case water gets in. Walls are rough framed with nasty wood paneling which will all come off. I may leave some of the wood framing (2x4s) if I can re-use them. Final floor will probably be poured conc, perhaps with exercise matting to be soft under foot.

I have layout drawings, 03 is my thought for laying out my desk and stuff, the circle is where Adele will perform. There will also be a few guitar amps, and guitars in the corners and on the walls. I'm thinking Argosy Halo desk and the other oblongs are existing and planned rack units. (20"x16" x ~30" high)

I have money set aside for this, but hardy unlimited and I know I'm going to burn through it quickly. I fair amount will go towards sound treatment. I already have decent recording equipment, so I'm not planning on spending there.

I'm looking for help with, well, pretty much everything. Do I keep the room square and use base traps in the corners? Do I drywall frame the room into a different shape? How much and where do I put absorption panels? (I like the look of Acoustimac panels, but I'm open to suggestions). Diffusers? Lighting? Ventilation? Electric circuits? And the Donald Rumsfelds - the things I don't even know yet that I should be asking. Thanks.

MusicRoom-01.jpgMusicRoom-02.jpgMusicRoom-03.jpg
 
i would seriously rething abuot digging up the floor

if you cant leave that idea alone then at least consult with a building engineer to make sure you dont cause big problems
 
Man...that's a tough space.
Regardless of the size/shape...I wouldn't set up my mixing position facing or firing into a corner. Also, put the desk at some 3/4 point...not like that, in the center...but TBH, it's a small space, so not a lot of options for "optimal" positioning.

With your 14'x14' square, it's going to need a LOT of trapping, both broadband and low-end specific if you're looking to end up with something that's useable. You're best option is to just go for a "dead" room...especially with all the concrete all around you.
It will shrink the room by the time you put in a decent amount of treatment to get there's...but there's not a lot of other options.

How low does that concrete beam come down?
 
i would seriously rething abuot digging up the floor

if you cant leave that idea alone then at least consult with a building engineer to make sure you dont cause big problems

Yeah...that too.
Busting up the floor just to gain 6" seems a bit pointless, and may cause more issues than the benefit you think you will gain.
 
The floor's not too big a deal. The previous owners had, I think, a train set down there. The platforms for that are part of the 2x4s that hold on the paneling and, when they come out the floors coming too. Its not a fancy floor, just ply sheets nailed down. It might be poured concrete underneath, in which case its staying, but it might be compacted dirt that used to be a crawl space before the house was extended. Given how the room was paneled, its hard to see how the paneling could come out and NOT take the ply floor with it.

I bigger issue seems to be the general shape of the room. I knew it wasn't great, there's really not a lot of love here for it! Miroslav, when you say ¾ point - do you mean with my back ¼ from wall behind, or my face ¼ from wall in front?
 
Miroslav, when you say ¾ point - do you mean with my back ¼ from wall behind, or my face ¼ from wall in front?

Your face 1/4 from the front wall....3/4 behind you....but again, with that size/shape of a room, I think it will be more about treatment and comfort, because talking about ideal positions and all that, is kinda moot...though no matter what, avoid sitting in or facing a corner. It will mess with thing that much more.
So...do the floor as you can, after you rip out whatever needs to go...and then aim for a pretty dead room, that will be your safest bet, IMO.
 
Also, if I'm facing the wall ¼ of the way, that's 3½ ft. My desk and monitors will be flush against that wall. Is that right?
 
In a room that small, I would not try to set the desk facing into the room, you just don't have the space to position it accurately. Put the desk facing the wall - put a mirror on the wall if you need to see the singer all the time, but really, once you have hit the 'record' button, you dont' have to be riding the controls, just turn around on your chair!.
You can build your own rockwool or compressed fiberglass traps. Corners - floor to ceiling, ceiling cloud, other walls (or, if you have 2x4s open, add the rockwool between them and put a cloth covering on.
 
mjbphotos, is it worth re-shaping the room to make it less square? Like the last two pics I added on page 1. Or should I keep it square and spend the money on absorption panels? I've read that approx 20-25% coverage with sound absorption is a decent target. Would that hold true here? How much of the remaining space should I aim to have filled with diffusers?
 
A couple of general points. In order to establish a decent sounding room for mixing, you will have to put in a substantial number of bass traps. Once that is done, the room is likely to sound very dead and would not be great for a "live room" for performers. Besides, once it is fully trapped, they might be sitting in your lap.:D Keep in mind that in order to be effective, most traps would need to be fairly thick. Four inches is sort of a minimum, and the corners would probably have to be more like 24-36" to be effective. I have my doubts about 4-6" of rock wool across the corners, especially in a square room. You will also need a ceiling cloud trap which would also start at about 4" with a gap of about the same dimension. So you can see how quickly things will fill in.

The luddites around here will scorn me for this, but you should consider looking at a room mode calculator or using measurement to learn more about the problems you face. I would also get some input from a retailer (like GIK). DIY trapping is cheaper, but you may need to hit this space with some well designed traps, including soffit traps.

None of this means you can't have fun or can't eventually produce some nice music. It's just that square rooms are notoriously tough to treat. In the end, you may have to accept some compromises, and you may have to rely on a combination of monitors and headphones.
 
mjbphotos, is it worth re-shaping the room to make it less square? Like the last two pics I added on page 1. Or should I keep it square and spend the money on absorption panels? I've read that approx 20-25% coverage with sound absorption is a decent target. Would that hold true here? How much of the remaining space should I aim to have filled with diffusers?


I'd avoid diffusion for know. Most of the diffusion literature suggests that you need at least 8 ft. behind the mixing position to place diffusion. And ceiling mounted diffusers are thought to be more successful with taller ceilings-12 to 14 ft. You have enough issues right now without trying to add diffusers. Besides, they are very expensive unless you go with EPS diffusors (styrofoam) or build your own.
 
mjbphotos, is it worth re-shaping the room to make it less square? Like the last two pics I added on page 1. Or should I keep it square and spend the money on absorption panels? I've read that approx 20-25% coverage with sound absorption is a decent target. Would that hold true here? How much of the remaining space should I aim to have filled with diffusers?

Reshaping the room to make it non-square would mean a pretty substantial reduction in volume. You are already working on a small space. Making it smaller could make things less ergonomic when all the trapping is installed. Plus, the question is how far in do you build the wall? You could look at a room mode calculator, but it could come down to an educated guess. And that's a tough decision when you are talking about studs, multiple layers of drywall, insulation, etc. It's not something you just move around. :D

In thinking about this, you might also look at ideal room ratios. See if there is anything closing matching a 14x room (e.g., 14x12, 14x10, etc.). There are a bunch of ratios out there so you might be able to use one to get insight into the wall decision. Again, it's making the room smaller, so choose wisely. :D
 
Well........I have to admit that it's a good question. Shutters. Obviously there would be "some" diffusion....and to some degree......they would be adjustable based on measurements. But in reality.......probably not useful.
 
Also, if I'm facing the wall ¼ of the way, that's 3½ ft. My desk and monitors will be flush against that wall. Is that right?

You will read all kinds of opinions on this. Just go over to gearsluts. :D I can summarize the differences pretty simply by saying that 38 percent is the rule (roughly 1/3) but it's not really a rule. It's only a place to start. The revisionists argue, based on a lot of measurement and personal experience, that flush with the wall works better. Just look at a pro studio. The monitors will be flush mounted inside the front wall. But, unless you're planning this strategy, the best you can do is place your speakers as close to the wall as possible. They have to be angled (toed in) so it's impossible to go closer than about 3-4."

The reality of placement is that you will never know which spot is best unless you have trained ears, know exactly what to listen for, use test tones, or measure using something like REW (Room EQ Wizzard).
 
Well........I have to admit that it's a good question. Shutters. Obviously there would be "some" diffusion....and to some degree......they would be adjustable based on measurements. But in reality.......probably not useful.


I shutter to think of what would happen if all those were installed on the real wall.:D

(Somebody had to say it)
 
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