Acoustically treating my home studio? (Pictures)

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MusicianMagician

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Any advice is very appreciated. I’m very new to this and want the best sound possible. I’m planning on making some DIY acoustic panels for budget, but don’t know how many to make or where to place them. I have a big window and a closet as well. I’m also planning on hanging guitars on the wall (let me know if that’s a good idea or not)
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I would never hang any musical instrument on a studio wall because their sympathetic resonances would be problematic. IMHO, the areas to address are the floor, the creases where surfaces meet, and the window.
 
I would never hang any musical instrument on a studio wall because their sympathetic resonances would be problematic. IMHO, the areas to address are the floor, the creases where surfaces meet, and the window.
thanks for the reply. On another forum someone told me that as long as it is not acoustic guitars i should be fine. Is that still good advice?
 
thanks for the reply. On another forum someone told me that as long as it is not acoustic guitars i should be fine. Is that still good advice?
Solid bodies would be considerably less problematic but all strings will sing under the right conditions so I wouldn't risk it.
 
TLDR: shouldn't be too difficult, depending on your needs.

Much depends on what you want to record.

It's a small room, which can be problematic for certain applications. I am happy you said "sound good" instead of "sound proof." You aren't going to be able to do much in a small second-story room to make it quieter.

If you're not recording drums and can record bass direct (and maybe even guitar ITB) you aren't going to have any real issues recording; you can skip the heavy bass-trapping and maybe even just use a little treatment to tame the HF early reflections. Maybe pick up a large diaphragm dynamic mic for vocals like an SM7 or an RE-20. They sound great and will help negate most of the reflection issues you're going to run into, at least in a vocal application.

Assuming no live drums and loud amps, recording-wise you should be fine. Creating an accurate listening environment a small square room will be more of a challenge. Try and set up so that both sides of your listening position are symmetrical with identical treatment. Treat the back wall. The room isn't big enough for diffusers. If the ony thing you're recording live in the room are vocals, you can probably even get away with foam rather than rockwool or OC703. You'll need to learn how the room affects how you're hearing the mix, and that will take time and a lot of listening in different environments and different speakers, even headphones. The goal isn't for the mix to sound "good" at your mixing position. The goal is for the mix to sound accurate. That's a challenge even on a big budget and with a large room. You just have to take the time to know if the bass is boomy in your room because of the room or because of your mix.
 
I've got two walls of guitars on hangers. The only one that makes any noise I can detect is a 335. I'm sure they must, but I've never detected it? The reality is that you have reflective surfaces and absorbing ones, and your room has all parallel hard surfaces lacking anything to stop the reflections, not even heavy curtains. Why don't you experiment with some duvets - hung on mic boom stands and listen to music you know well, with and without. You can then move them around and see what they do to the sound. Then when you know it's absorption in certain places you need, you can buy nicer ones or make your own?
 
One of the rooms I track in has 4 violins on the wall. They do ring, but as in your case it would be easy to dampen the strings with a rubber band or something.

You seem to be in a fairly tight residential neighborhood so I'd be more concerned about isolation from outside noise sources.
 
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