Studio Setup

  • Thread starter Thread starter BeniRose
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BeniRose

BeniRose

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I was hoping to get some advice on how to arrange my basement for my studio. I've been using it the way I set it up when I moved in for a while now and it's ok, but I think it's not very acoustically sound. You can see a Virtual Tour of it at www.benrosenbach.com/studio.mov. I've since moved a few things and sold the drums.

So I'd be totally open to completely moving everything around, but there's some things that are in the way and some things that have to stay down here. For one, I have a giant heating unit, a water heater, a utility sink, and a washer and dryer that can't really move. Also, my DJ gear and the blue storage boxes have to stay down here. Here's the floor plan with estimated (using a 6' measuring tape!!) sizes of the walls. It's not really drawn to proportion, but you can get the idea. The black objects are things that won't move.

studio-floor.png


And here's some pictures from various locations in the basement to get a better perspective of the place. Sorry it's a bit messy, I've been holding off cleaning until I know how I want to arrange the place.

This is from the 14' wall, which is the outside wall (front of the house). It points to the stairs and my current desk set up.

from-outsidewall.JPG


This is from the 10' wall where my desk is, there's a giant Smooth Jazz banner covering the window, that came free with the house. :p You can also see how the ceiling goes from "finished" to "not so much" at the stairs.

from-stairswall.JPG


This is a shot of all the junk in the corner by the front wall that I can't move.

appliances.JPG


And lastly, this is the wall of the stairs themselves, there's some shelves I can use for stuff, or my original idea was to use it as a makeshift iso section.

stairs.JPG


So that's pretty much it. A few very important pieces of information. It's a row home, and it's a rental, so that needs to be kept in mind. Nothing permanent. All the walls are concrete, but I can probably hang stuff from the ceiling if I can find the beams. I'd like to start with suggestions for room arrangements that will help me hear my monitors better (I have a pair of M-Audio BX5as and an Altec Lansing computer speaker subwoofer that I don't always have on). Then the other thing would be any acoustic treatments. I don't have a lot of money but I'm willing to put in the labour to build it myself, but I have no idea what any of it is, so the more detailed explanation the better.

Hey, thanks in advance guys. I always have these complex questions about "what should I do next" and you guys are never hesitant on giving very wise and well thought out answers!! I really appreciate all the feedback I've gotten from everyone on this forum so far, and I'm really looking forward to reading what you have to say for this as well. Thanks!
 
I think the first step is to clean that room out. Looks like a lot of junk! Remove anything you don't need and try to carpet the floor as much as possible. If you don't want to buy rugs you could just throw some fabrics on the floor.

Once it's all clean and organized, you should set up your desk against the 10' wall, so that the center between the monitors is 7' from the left wall (not the stairs). This will mean your monitors are centered on the adjacent 14' wall and you'll get a relatively good stereo image. This way the 8' by 10' area will be your 'control room' and the 18' by 14' area will be the 'performance room.' Don't worry about those utility appliances, they don't take up too much space. Just make sure you don't block access to them.

Then... That's up to you. Fill the room with gear. Don't let those turntables go to waste either!
 
Face the 14' wall if you can and center yourself pretty much side to side. Where you are now is not a good place - lots of corner builup, area under the stairs ringing, etc.

If you have to stay at that end of the room - wall off or trap the crap out of the area under the stairs. The stone walls definitely need some reflection panels on them too. That'll get you a decent start.

Bryan
 
:eek::eek::eek:OMG Well, I'll give you a 5 for trying. Unfortunately, the mess gives you a -10, which leaves you -5 in the hole. Clean it up and you'll have a good starting point at 0, which at that point maybe we can make heads or tails of the damn room.:rolleyes:
fitZ
 
Hey BeniRose--

Betcha didn't expect a bunch of gearhead music geeks to turn into a chorus of mom's did you:

"You clean that room right now, or else!"

Don't take it personally--but do take it seriously. Getting your room squared away is one of the best things you can do for your music and you've already got two of the most knowledgeable members on that topic right here in your thread (bpape & Rick Fitz).

So clean it up and post some new pics--I'm sure there'll be lots of help for 'ya.
 
Just to show that I "intended" to help you in your studio layout, I started this Sketchup drawing....UNTILL, I looked at All the pics and saw the....washer/dryer and the HVAC. AND realized this is a rental:( Unless you have permission to do some modifications, and or have the inclination to do more than reposition your gear, I won't go any further with this. Anyway...
I'll still try to help you....but its Fathers day and i have to mow the lawn, set up barbques etc. Be back tomorrow.
fitZ
is.php
 
I think the first step is to clean that room out. Looks like a lot of junk! Remove anything you don't need and try to carpet the floor as much as possible. If you don't want to buy rugs you could just throw some fabrics on the floor.

+1 :eek::D...
 
Hey BeniRose--

Betcha didn't expect a bunch of gearhead music geeks to turn into a chorus of mom's did you:

"You clean that room right now, or else!"

Don't take it personally--but do take it seriously. Getting your room squared away is one of the best things you can do for your music and you've already got two of the most knowledgeable members on that topic right here in your thread (bpape & Rick Fitz).

So clean it up and post some new pics--I'm sure there'll be lots of help for 'ya.

Haha, yeah. You guys are classic! I haven't cleaned it in so long because I haven't had anyone in the record, so I've let it get messy while doing song ideas, playing aroudn wtih stuff, etc. I always keep it clean when I am using it, this is probably the worst it's ever been. I wanted to hold off cleaning it until I figured out my arrangement, but I actually have someone coming by tomorrow, so I'm cleaning it now and I'll take pictures when I'm done and repost them, and we'll just pretend the original ones never happened! :D

Rick, thanks for the effort, but yeah, I don't think I could put up a wall like that. It's only a rental and I can't really modify the room much other than hanging stuff and drilling holes I can Spackle back up.

And I have rugs on most of the exposed floor, but I do need to get another for the end. Maybe I'll go to ikea tomorrow and get that and repost pics when it's together
 
Just to show that I "intended" to help you in your studio layout, I started this Sketchup drawing....UNTILL, I looked at All the pics and saw the....washer/dryer and the HVAC. AND realized this is a rental:( Unless you have permission to do some modifications, and or have the inclination to do more than reposition your gear, I won't go any further with this. Anyway...
I'll still try to help you....but its Fathers day and i have to mow the lawn, set up barbques etc. Be back tomorrow.
fitZ
is.php

Man I hate people that jump in and hijack a thread, that must be why self hatred is rank in brian, so here it goes... ahem, fitzy baby what software are you using? Looks fab! Can you use it to draw up plans for things like isolation booths etc?

PS what a shithole :rolleyes: once you clear it up you'll get a better idea *yourself* on how to build a studio in there. Don't mean to be harsh but speaking for myself, my productivity would be 0 if I had to work in that. Having a clean & tidy place will reduce the amount of little annoyances which mount up until you start saying "can't be arsed recording today" bad bad habit to get into! Anyway on a more serious note, can you tell us what you can and can't do structrally to the recording space?
 
Man I hate people that jump in and hijack a thread, that must be why self hatred is rank in brian, so here it goes... ahem, fitzy baby what software are you using? Looks fab! Can you use it to draw up plans for things like isolation booths etc?

PS what a shithole :rolleyes: once you clear it up you'll get a better idea *yourself* on how to build a studio in there. Don't mean to be harsh but speaking for myself, my productivity would be 0 if I had to work in that. Having a clean & tidy place will reduce the amount of little annoyances which mount up until you start saying "can't be arsed recording today" bad bad habit to get into! Anyway on a more serious note, can you tell us what you can and can't do structrally to the recording space?

He's using Sketchup--it's a free 3D drawing/rendering program available by download from Google. (I don't mean use Google to find it--though you can--I mean it's a product from Google.)
 
"He's using Sketchup--it's a free 3D drawing/rendering program available by download from Google."

Excellent white, instant free downloadable weapons are the best kind... of weapons. thanks ;)
 
"He's using Sketchup--it's a free 3D drawing/rendering program available by download from Google."

Excellent white, instant free downloadable weapons are the best kind... of weapons. thanks ;)

No prob. I used it to help visualize my studio as well.
 
Help Building A Studio

I've made up my mind and decieded I to move out of my garage and build a studio. I'm thinking in the dimesions of 20x25 and willing to spend about 10k on the project. I want the whole nine yeards;mixing&mastering room, vocal booth, sound proof, wiring, etc. I have an idea on how to go by this but I would appreciate and perfer someone with more experience on this subject. Any help would be truely grateful, Geoffrey Clark
 
I've made up my mind and decieded I to move out of my garage and build a studio. I'm thinking in the dimesions of 20x25 and willing to spend about 10k on the project. I want the whole nine yeards;mixing&mastering room, vocal booth, sound proof, wiring, etc. I have an idea on how to go by this but I would appreciate and perfer someone with more experience on this subject. Any help would be truely grateful, Geoffrey Clark

HEY!!!! GET YOUR OWN THREAD!! :D

I've cleaned up my basement quite a bit, but haven't gotten around to taking pictures. I'll try to do that tonight. Maybe I'll take video and upload it to youtube. There's still a lot of junk down there that just has no place else in the house to go, I'd like to find a solution for all that. If I move the stuff out from under the stairs and put it on shelves or something, I could put a lot it all back there and just use that as storage space, but then I loose that as an isolation option (although I'm not using it now anyways, and I wanted to build movable iso walls).

As far as what I can do to the room itself, I can't really make any structural changes. It's a rental, and not only would it be questionable as far as the lease goes, but it would be a waste of money since I won't always be living here. That's why things that I can move around and take with me would be better options. I don't have too much money to spend, so the cheaper the better. I can drill holes in the wall, but it's all concrete, so it will be a bit more difficult than hanging up stuff on drywall (but again, it can't be something I can't plug up or return to the way it was). Let me know if you need to know any more info about the space, I'll try to get that video up tonight.
 
Best thing I can suggest if you can't make any changes is some portable panels and when you are tracking, make sure none of those appliances are running (unless it's a bazillion degrees and you need AC, even then, don't record while it is actually on and blowing). You want to keep your monitors at least a little ways away from a wall if you can. I would also treat the wall directly behind your monitors. If you don't, you can get artificial cancellation or constructive interference based on the distance they are from the wall.

As for the dude wanting to build his own studio, if you want to do it right, 10k goes really, and I mean REALLY, fast. You could blow that just on the external building. Start another thread and we can talk.
 
You want to keep your monitors at least a little ways away from a wall if you can. I would also treat the wall directly behind your monitors.

I will probably keep the desk about a foot away from the wall, just so I can get behind it if need be. But how would I treat the wall behind my monitors. Would a hanging moving blanket be enough or can/should I build something to absorb the sounds?

On that note, anyone know a good place to get cheap moving blankets? The only stuff I ever find at salvation army are frilly comforters.
 
Probably the best thing to put behind the monitors is mineral wool (like fiberglass, but not quite fiberglass). You can make movable panels if you like. ATSacoustics.com has materials for really cheap. Just don't forget to cover the stuff in fabric.
 
I laboured for hours making that fancy video and no one replied!!! EVERYONE HATES ME!!!:(:(:(


:p
 
It's not that we hate you, it's that . . . well okay, we hate you. :)
 
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