small room, small budget, fiberglass madness

jdragoun

New member
Hey everyone,

I'm very new to this, but at least I've put in some research! Please have mercy on a studio beginner...

I've heard so many different things about Johns Manville and Owens-Corning rigid fiberglass, and I need some final verification before I make a purchase for my home project studio; My room is basically 10'x10'x8'high, with a vaulted ceiling (up to about 10' in the middle). 4 side walls are drywall, cieling is that cottage-cheese looking stuff, and floor is carpeted. I understand this is much to small to make a good recording or get a decent mix, but it is ALL I have to work with (for control room and studio combined). Thank goodness I won't be recording drums. Here's the plan:

I've bought some 8' bi-fold doors (the kind you might see covering your wardrobe closet) to use as room dividers for some isolation during tracking (one side insulated for dryer sounds, one side bare for wetter sounds), and to double as cheap diffusers while mixing (placed like triangles against the back wall). I haven't read of anyone doing this sort of thing, but it makes sense to me.

I have some 2'x2' ceiling acoustical tiles that I plan on hanging with wires from the ceiling to break up some of the echoes up there. I plan on purchasing rigid fiberglass for the rest of my acoustical treatment, and building cheap wooden frames and fabric to house it. How 'bout this: OC 705 (or JM equivalent) forming triangles in each vertical corner, all the way up the wall (works out good with the pre-cut 2x4 dimensions) to work as bass traps; OC 703 around the rest of the walls as needed to eliminate the high-mids and flutter echoes????

If my design sounds on-the-right-track, then my real questions come down to the thickness of the fiberglass. What thickness should I get for the corner bass-traps, and what thickness should I get for the other high-mid wall-absorbers? Also, should I set the high-mid absorbers away from the wall an inch or so, or do I need to just use trial-and-error ears? Also, what is the advantage/disadvatage to buying the OC FRK? Is there a Johns Mansville equivalent? Where can I buy this in the Nashville area?

Lastly, I have a small closet in the room that will become a vocal iso booth. Will 1" OC 703 on every wall/ceiling covered with fabric do the trick to give me a dry room?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Jared
 
Since you might have to get a minimum order I would get the one inch stuff and then layer it up to get the 2, 3, and 4 inch panels. You can also skip the plywood frames if you wish and just wrap the panels in fabric and hang them using picture wire or impaling clips. How many people are going to be recording at once? If it is just you or you and one other then I would treat the room as a combined room and maybe put the noisy CPU in the closet. I am presuming that if the room is only 10 by 10 the closet is even smaller.
 
Innovations -
Yes, the majority of my work will be just me and one other person. I'm not too concerned about CPU noise, but I could use the closet space. Anyone else have thoughts on scratching the closet iso. booth? Is it pointless? It's very tiny, definitely only barely big enough for a vocalist to use. Does a decent room for mixing usually mean a decent room for tracking vocals, or will I have to make major adjustments to switch between the two? The reason I want to make plywood frames for the fiberglass is so I can easily move them around the room for different acoustic conditions. I'll just have nails in different places on the wall, and use as many/as few wherever I want. Good idea?
 
I work in an 8.5x10 room, tracking (even drums) and mixing. I have the walls covered with fiberglass, and a drop ceiling at 8' with acoustic tile and about 12" of fiberglass insulation above that. When I feel like it's too dead, I add some framed posters to the walls. But basically I live with the fact that I'll never have a room sound. I've not had a problem with standing waves, partially because my monitors don't do much below 100Hz, and partially because the ceiling acts as a bass trap, and the walls do absorb some bass, just not all of it. Once my subwoofer is done (when oh when will that inductor come), I'll redo the analysis.

In your room I'd go for a wood floor with a throw rug if you need it, fiberglass on the walls, and fill the high vaulted portion with insulation to act as a bass trap, covered with acoustic tile. I understand that cubes are a big acoustic problem, so I'd think lowering the ceiling would help. Another way to go would be to make fiberglass baffles to hang up in the vaulted ceiling. Maybe suspend upward lights above horizontally mounted baffles. That would look cool.

I'd use the closet for storage and/or the PC; you should be able to treat the room enough for tracking. Don't discount PC noise, it's a big problem if left untreated.

Try to get the smallest desk possible and get all of the gear in a rack, and mount your monitors in the walls. You need to conserve floor space as much as possible.
 
what about mouse noise?

Okay, so if I use my one-room wonder for tracking something soft, like vocals, without an isolation booth (closet), will I have a problem with hearing the click of the mouse everytime I "punch out"?
 
well you might have to edit out the mouse click at the end, but consider what you have to edit out at the end if you are just recording yourself using the iso booth...walking, opening doors, etc.
 
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