Studio construction

C

Chance90

New member
I recently purchased a house and finally have enough room for a small studio. Since moving in I have slowly been doing things to get my studio together, but have been doing so with caution and a lot of research. I am posting this because I'm looking for any type of help I can get. I want to make sure that I cover every angle before I start throwing money into this and then later find out that I should of done it differently. I would also like to mention that I do not have a huge budget for this and that I will be doing most, if not all of the construction myself. So here we go....

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My room is 11x15 with my speakers facing the longer part of the room. Directly behind me is a closet that is 3x6 that I really want to turn the into a recording booth. My plan for this would be too bring the closet out another 2 ft and extend the closet to the right wall. This would make my booth 5x11 and my control room 11x13. I was thinking about adding a window into the booth, but I am concerned about doing this because of the fact that the wall is directly behind me and I don't want any direct reflections. I have done some research on this and read many things about angling the wall and the window. The problem with this is that I have probably read just as many saying that doing that doesn't help and that it is simply a myth. I find this strange since they say sound and light are comparable in the way that they reflect. So if light hits the window on an angle reducing glare, wouldn't it do the same to the sound? If i were to angle the back wall and window, would I have to angle the other walls for it work more effectively? I plan on removing the door and walling it up and having the entrance to the booth outside through a closet, as shown below.

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The door would be right where the light is to get into the booth. I figured this would be better for leakage issues between the booth and the control room. I also plan on having a love seat in the control room and I am not entirely sure where I should place that (suggestions). The sound panels that are up are the only acoustic treatment panels that are in there. I made them at home with rockwool, wood and used burlap to cover the front. The ones on the walls are 2.5 inches out and the one above my seat hangs down about 5 inches from the ceiling. I want do build more and do something with the corners as well but would appreciate some advice on that. Also, considering the small room, should I be worried about diffusion or just stick with the broadband Absorbers? If so, how many panels would be too many? I have also looked into buying something like genie clips, more rockwool and doubling the drywall for the ceilings in both rooms and the dividing wall.


I'm sure I have more questions to ask, but just cant think of them at the moment. Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you,

Chance
 
1) Why do you want the 'booth'? Is it noisy in the main room and you need a quieter space? I think you'd do better with an 18' x 11' room and use some movable gobos to 'isolate' when needed.
2) Corner bass traps are needed - something similar to the wall absorbers you have (assuming you have rock wool, OC703 or similar in them), just smaller and angled into the corners.
3) What's under the carpet? Hardwood floor would be better than all carpet, or even half hardwood.
4) Put the loveseat opposite your mixing desk, assuming you go with one big open room.
 
Well I plan on adding a smaller, probably 11x10 drum room, later down the road. I just wanted to be prepared for that and I was also worried about recording guitars and such in my control room. I'm not really sure how that would effect the mixes. I do plan on making the floors hard wood but that will probably be one of the last things i do.
 
Yes, your ideas for drum booths and vocal booths are not the best way to go. I would seriously wait before tearing anything down or building new small rooms in there. You certainly don't want a "drum booth", there's no good reason for it. Do as much recording as you can in the one big room. I know it sounds like a cool thing to have a "vocal booth" and a "drum room", but not with those dimensions. Most "booths" in real commercial studios are bigger than your (and my) complete studios.

Like MJB said, small rooms sound like small rooms, and have all kinds of reflection problems. I would suggest staying out of a small room and coming out of the closet for good. :)
 
hahaha okay thank you. I'm currently in school at sheffield and we can use their studio at a cheaper rate once we graduate, so I'll probably use their studio for drum recordings and do the rest at my place. Just out of curiosity, what does making my floors hardwood in the control room do? make it sound less dead?
 
Carpets absorb highs but not mids/low, so can end up making the sound muddy. Same problem as using nothing but foam for treatment.
 
Oh okay thank you! And for having a bigger control room that's just so the lower frequencies are a little easier to control?
 
Not control, but recording room. Unless you NEED a separate control room to keep the 'noisy' equipment away from the mics, it's all one room.
 
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