Newbie Designing a Small Control/Tracking Room

[jaygriz]

I’ve got a room in my basement I wanna use as a control + solo tracking room. It’s:

89" x 122” 78H
a.k.a
7' 5" x 10' 2" x 6'6" H

The ceiling is “acoustic.” The floor is carpet. The walls are stucco on cement blocks (they’ll need some treatment, I’m sure). Is there a big difference between putting my monitors on the short wall or the long wall?

I’m partial to this room vs. the rest of my finished basement because it has no ventilation – hence, no HVAC noise. I can keep the heat or cooling rolling in the rest of the house.

What kind of wall panels will I need at a minimum??

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

I’ve got a room in my basement I wanna use as a control + solo tracking room. It’s:7' 5" x 10' 2" x 6'6" H

What kind of wall panels will I need at a minimum?

Kind? Rigid fiberglass...Owens Corning 703. However, by the time you treat it for Low frequency, you won't have very much "room" left.

big difference between putting my monitors on the short wall or the long wall?

Typically, you want the monitors facing the long axis.

I’m partial to this room vs. the rest of my finished basement because it has no ventilation – hence, no HVAC noise.

Or air.
hmmm, all the musicians I know need oxygen.

 

[Dogbreath]

JayDude!

Welcome man....

and yeah...your room is a tad small. What that means is bass traps (DIY 703 maybe??)

With a room that small, the bass waves are gonna crush your efforts at mixing and tracking because bass waves are stronger. It can be done but you'll need quite a bit of bass trapping.

And usually, you'll want the length of the room to your back when placing monitors.

Luck man...........Kel

 

[jaygriz]

1 decision down: I'm gonna put the monitors on the short wall! How close can they actually be to the wall - i mean how much room "behind" them?

So you guys think I'll need bass traps in the 2 corners opposite the monitors, or all 4? I guess 2'x4' (x4") traps would do it since the room is only 6.5' tall. Should I center them between the floor & ceiling? Is there a big diff between 2" vs 4" thick traps? I ask, cause the room is, yes, quite small.

Which walls will need the most treatment? ex: the monitor wall, back wall, 2 side walls.

I'll either DIY with 703's, or maybe use this site:
http://www.atsacoustics.com/cat--ATS-Acoustic-Panels--100.html
Thier prices are somewhat south of ridiculous.

Ventilation - Yeah, I plan to keep the door open except for critical times. Is spend a lot of my "studio time" transcribing and practicing - not just tracking and mixing. Maybe my lungs will strengthen, and I can be a Navy Seal.

 

[Dogbreath]

Hey dude...(got your note, btw )

The general rule is to have your mixing station at a little over 1/3 of the way into the room. Basically, getting your monitors off the walls. Mine didn't work out that way very well but you get to the point where you know your room and monitors and how they'll translate. It's not perfect but do-able.

So...as much as ya can...bring your desk out from the walls and start with a large bass trap in each corner to the left and right of your desk. Bass freqs and corners wreak havoc.

Check out Ethan Winers "how to set up a room".....I'd do it but I'm a lazy bastard.

Let us know how it goes......
and PICS! We Need Pics mister!


Peace mang.........
Kel

 

[Dogbreath]

oh yeah...4" traps will work better.

and I would think in all 4 corners......to start.

 

[jaygriz]

Allright,

You guys prolly thought I disappeared! Things a moving along. I've got 8 panels up. All are 4" thick panels from www.atsacoustics.com

(4) 2'x4' - one on each wall.

(3) bass traps (open back) 16"(W) x62"(H)

(1) bass trap (open back) 24(W) x 62"(H)

Given that space is at a premium, I reduced the width of my corner traps to 16". I haven't tested any tunes in there yet (to check the bass reduction), but the "flutter" sound is way gone.

The reason one of the corner traps is sized different is cosmetic - it's covering my electric panel.

DESK WALL (above)

BACK WALL (above)

SIDE 1 (above)

SIDE 2 (above)

 

[jaygriz]

Next matter ...

I wanna run some cable outta this room before my handyman closes up the ceiling. I may wanna make a recording booth outta this little room on the other side of the basement (down the road) ... trying to future-proof a bit. what should I run over there??? Maybe a couple of XLR runs (in-wall, bulk cable). What about headphones, balanced audio cable??? I can't seem to find the right stuff. Should it be sheilded? Let a brother know if anyone had experience in this. I'm running a bunch of CAT6 outta the room too, just because it seems to be increasingly useful.

Thanks for your help guys!

 

[jhbrandt]

Jay,

If you plan on doing a vocal booth in the future run at least a 4 pair snake out there. You can use one shielded pair for headphone sends for line level. If you plan on sending a headphone level signal, put 100 ohm, 1 watt resistors on each line of the shielded pair (only one or two of em, because at least 2 lines should be allocated to microphones).

I hope I am not confusing you.

Run all your cables as direct as possible. Yes, all shielded... you might want to use them for guitar cable extensions... you never know.

Cheers,
John

 

[88fingers]

Hey, that's pretty cool dude. Half the people that come in here claiming to be "about to start building a studio" are just yanking chains (for some weird reason), so good to see you're pulling through. Looks to be a bit cozy in there for my tastes, but you gotta work with what you have.