Small Rooms -- Which is Better?

Nola

Well-known member
Hey all,

I purchased a house. Unfortunately I live in a super expensive area so it's a very small house. The master bedroom isn't an option. So there are two spare rooms, so these are my options. My options for a music room are:

1. 12.6 x 9
2. 11.5 x 9.6

Which of these rooms do you think would make a better music room? It's a ranch so the ceilings are pretty low. I realize it won't be ideal no matter what. I just want to know which would be best with these two options.

I plan to have a small drum kit, amps, and guitars in the room in addition to a small digital recording setup.

Thanks!
 
Wow, cool site. Thanks!

What are your dimensions? Have you had difficulty recording in your room?
My room is square (12x12x8), which is about the worst, though I suppose a cube would be even worse!

I've treated it quite a bit so it works for what I do. If I was recording instruments with content where the most problematic modes were, I'd probably have to treat more, but close micing keeps the room at bay.

I do more mixing of things I've recorded elsewhere, though whether home recorded or not, most of my mixing is small, acoustic stuff, and I'm starting to feel like I'm starting to understand the monitors, room, and my hearing reasonably for that now. (One reason I have not considered a monitor upgrade!)
 
My control room is approx 16 long x 11 wide x 9.5 high. The room sounds great and the mixes translate well outside the studio. I have Ceiling clouds to counteract the low ceiling height, Bass traps on the front wall (short wall, the wall you face) a diffuser on the rear wall. The floor is a hard floor. I was worried about the room being too small to mix in, but it works fine (except I have too much gear in there LOL).

I have a bigger recording room 28 long x 11 wide x 9.5 high, as I often record bands with then all or most of them playing together. I have recorded in the control room but usually only my own vocals, and the acoustics work fine.

By the way when I designed the studio I ran the room calculations and the sizes were the best I could obtain within the building restraints. You should be able to make your available rooms function with the right treatment. You are already in front of Keith's cube in terms of acoustics. Cube rooms should be banned in home construction, funny how builders make a big cube room and call it an entertainment / home theatre room in modern house design LOL.

Cheers
Alan.
 
Hey all,

I purchased a house. Unfortunately I live in a super expensive area so it's a very small house. The master bedroom isn't an option. So there are two spare rooms, so these are my options. My options for a music room are:

1. 12.6 x 9
2. 11.5 x 9.6

Which of these rooms do you think would make a better music room? It's a ranch so the ceilings are pretty low. I realize it won't be ideal no matter what. I just want to know which would be best with these two options.

I plan to have a small drum kit, amps, and guitars in the room in addition to a small digital recording setup.

Thanks!

Whichever provides the comforts and ergonomics of day to day life.

G
 
Cube rooms should be banned in home construction, funny how builders make a big cube room and call it an entertainment / home theatre room in modern house design LOL.

Cheers
Alan.

horrors, I hadn't thought of that. When i toured the mansions of Newport RI, there was one place, The Breakers, that had a 50'x50'x50' (15m x 15m x15m) Great Room, that I instantly fantasized about making a recording studio out of. You know, if I win one of those 1.5B dollar lottery jackpots. :D Damn, why did it have to be a cube?:mad:
 
Whichever provides the comforts and ergonomics of day to day life.

G

Right.

With those sizes...TBH, both are too small for any kind of stellar acoustics...so then pick the one that works best for everything else...and then just make do the best you can with the acoustics, which I would suggest you just treat the crap out of it.
Go for "dead"...that is your only salvation with any small room.
 
horrors, I hadn't thought of that. When i toured the mansions of Newport RI, there was one place, The Breakers, that had a 50'x50'x50' (15m x 15m x15m) Great Room, that I instantly fantasized about making a recording studio out of. You know, if I win one of those 1.5B dollar lottery jackpots. :D Damn, why did it have to be a cube?:mad:

Here's the thing though...it's not just about proportions...it's also about room volume, and after a certain point with volume, proportions are less important.
Yeah, in a perfect world you avoid things like cubes and square rooms...but you could certainly do a LOT worse than a 50'x50'x50' room! :D
 
Right.

With those sizes...TBH, both are too small for any kind of stellar acoustics...so then pick the one that works best for everything else...and then just make do the best you can with the acoustics, which I would suggest you just treat the crap out of it.
Go for "dead"...that is your only salvation with any small room.

Yeah. We bought the house for other reasons, and I didn't even think of music when buying. I just get the luxury of picking one room for my music stuff (because my lady is pretty awesome), which is a big luxury these days, even in the 1st world.
 
Yeah. We bought the house for other reasons, and I didn't even think of music when buying. I just get the luxury of picking one room for my music stuff (because my lady is pretty awesome), which is a big luxury these days, even in the 1st world.

I assume no basement.Yes?

G
 
There is a very informative article in the current, October issue of Sound on Sound. The room is 14.4x14.1x7.87 feet and thus a big problem in being very nearly square.

Yes, much of the solution was a rather expensive installation of 12 membrane LF absorbers which the writer had made commercially but given the right dimensions, tools and a modicum of skill do not seem beyond the DIYer?

Worth a read in any event.

Dave.
 
Unless I have this wrong. You only have 11" and 6" on the difference in sizes? By the time you have insulated it and interior walled these rooms. They could in fact end up any size you wish them to be........under what you started with. You will lose at least 12" off the length and width for starters when you insulate and build interior walls.

With such a small difference in size I would just pick the one which suits 'other' requirements.
 
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Don't forget that spaces external to the studio space can be treated if floors and ceilings are wooden or plasterboard since LF sound will pass through. E.G. you might be able to put some rockwool in that crawl space?

Dave.
 
Don't forget that spaces external to the studio space can be treated if floors and ceilings are wooden or plasterboard since LF sound will pass through. E.G. you might be able to put some rockwool in that crawl space?

Dave.

Just to elaborate.
Room ratios and modes are based on HARD boundaries(concrete,triple layer drywall etc..)
Domestically bass absorption(damping) is built in being mostly single layer drywall on studs.
Work on the 250Hz and up.
Better to be done than perfect.

G
Screenshot_2019-04-15 Sound Reproduction.png
 
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