Panel placement advice...

F

fearfeasog

Member
Hi all, i have a small (~15 x 13') room that i plan on making a studio. well it'll be multi-use, as you will see. but my main concern is getting the sound controlled in there. the room is an 'L' shape, as a shallow closet impinges on the space a bit. I'm attaching a few photos and a floor plan (with proposed panel locations) as a reference.

My plan is to construct my own panels using OC 703. i can afford 12 sheets of 2", so i thought i'd make 4 panels @ 4" and 4 panels @ 2". I'm also thinking it might be necessary to think more flexibly and consider making 2' x 2' panels if needed, or possibly narrower panels to fit into tighter spaces.

i really need some advice on placement--both of the workstation and the panels. the workstation could go at either end of the room. (in the photos it's on the west end, but in the plan it's on the east end) panels at reflection points are a given, left, right and above, as well as behind the monitors, and the inside corner of the "L" might need some treatment too, especially if the monitors face into it. but after that, given what i have to work with, i wonder what you all would advise?

this is one possible location for the workstation: it would go wnere the bookcase and the stuffed person are...

left side of that wall:
IMG_8190.jpg

right side:
IMG_8191.jpg

this is looking back from there into the inside of the "L":
IMG_8192.jpg

and this is the other end of the room:
IMG_8189.jpg

Here's the overall plan, with a proposed setup for the panels, in red:
studioAplan.jpg


if you need more info, please let me know. i really appreciate your help! :p

mark
 
Mark,

Not bad, but you are probably going to need quite a few more panels.

Desk placement on either north, south or east wall is ok depending on your comfort and preference. Facing the east wall bill put the back wall very close and is usually not recommended.

Never let untreated surfaces face each other. This doesn't mean the you must use absorption panels.. just treat them. Polys, diffusors, splayed panels, etc. use your imagination. :)

Trap as many corners as possible so that you get a uniform LF decay. Also remember that a rectangular room has 12 corners. Yours actually has 15. :D

Cheers,
John
 
thanks, John. i 'll be adding absorption as i can afford it, probably where the ceiling meets the walls primarily--i can't afford to take up floor space as the space is multi-use. the big painting in the first photo actually has insulation stuffed into it so i hope that might do SOMEthing. i can move that to the wall just to the right of the back wall, across from the closet. eventually we are going to remove the two bi-fold doors from the closet and put up a curtain, so that will help a little i think. that's a pretty big span across that section of wall.

thanks for your advice! mark:D
 
Here's the same pic I've posted before, of Berry Gordy's place, the most successful home studio of all time:
studioa_l.jpg

Notice all the sound treatment... er.... where?

There's lots of people, given the chance, who would wreck that room! Just use your ears - maybe you don't need any sound treatment! Maybe you do.

But just don't start adding stuff to an already-too-small room because it's "what you're supposed to do". Just listen, and then listen some more and your common sense will tell you what to do.

Most rooms, IMO, need far less treatment than many people will suggest... there seems to be a mania about this, I sense it's based on the fact that seeing how to make all these panels is easier than understanding what makes a song work.
 
well i DO know one thing--the room sounds muddy. so i'm going to do what i can now and see how it goes. at least get the early reflection points taken care of.

true that every room should be assessed individually. the room in the pic there is quite a bit different than mine. point taken though!--mark
 
Just trust your ears and you'll be fine, and avoid overkilling it.
 
dintymoore said:
Notice all the sound treatment... er.... where?
Click to expand...

Look again. It's all over the walls and ceiling. It's not particularly great treatment because it's ceiling tile stuff that won't help the bass range. But it certainly affects the mids and highs. Did you ever see the movie Standing in the Shadows of Motown?

Also, Motown's Studio A is a lot bigger than the bedrooms most home recordists use, and that makes a big difference in how much treatment is needed. The smaller the room, the worse it sounds untreated.

--Ethan
 
Ethan Winer said:
Also, Motown's Studio A is a lot bigger than the bedrooms most home recordists use, and that makes a big difference in how much treatment is needed. The smaller the room, the worse it sounds untreated./QUOTE]
(emphasis added)

Just focus your trapping where it is really needed - the Low End (mud).
Click to expand...
 
Personally I'd face the plan north wall and go from there. It looks to me like there are more opportunities for treatment that way.

Hey John! Welcome...great to have you here.

Frank
 
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