Advice for room

[gjoanisse]

Hi everyone, I am new to the forums, and this is my first post. I have found lots of useful information here so far. I am attempting to build my first home studio, and I need a bit of advice on the room I will be using. I attached a drawing of the room to scale, and I basically have three options (see the labelled rectangles below) as to where to place my desk and monitors for mixing.

Option 1 - I am leaning towards this option, but I have read that it is usually best to project your sound lengthwise if possible. However, this is the most symmetrical location in the room, and it would keep my monitors away from corners.

Option 2 - I would prefer to avoid this one, as there is not much space to play with as the door swings inwards.

Option 3 - This wouldn't be too bad, if it weren't for the closet screwing everything up. My monitors would be close to corners, but they would be facing down the longer side of the room. It would be tight getting the closet door open.

Any advice you guys could provide would be greatly appreciated. Like I said, I am new at this so I am still learning. I will eventually be building some sound baffles and hanging some foam on the walls once I decide where to put the desk.

 

[Potsy24]

Normally option 2 would be the best because it would send the monitor sound lengthwise and give you good symmetry on the wall that you're facing. But, I think that door would be a problem. First because you will have trouble getting into the room and loading equipment. But also because you will run into problems later with mounting bass traps and absorbers. Your first reflection point to the left might end up being the door itself, and mounting panels to the door is going to cause problems with opening it. Corner bass traps are also going to be difficult to get near the door.

Option 3 will give you similar problems with the closet door. Also, you would be asymmetrical to your left and right, which might hurt your ability to monitor a mix accurately.

I would pick option 1, even though it would send your sound down the shorter dimension of the room. You will have better symmetry, and you will actually be able to get around and fit things into the room. I think space ends up being an even bigger issue than acoustics in these small spaces.

Either way, you will want to put the effort into some acoustic treatment. I spent about $200 (but quite a few hours) treating a room only slightly larger than this with 6 24x48 bass traps and 5 30x46 broadband absorbers. For my needs, it was more than enough to tame the sound for both tracking and mixing. Hopefully Ethan Winer will chime in with some advice or a link to one of his articles. Here is how my room turned out: https://homerecording.com/bbs/gener...g-display/new-bedroom-studio-pictures-337488/

 

[gjoanisse]

Thanks for the advice! I really like how your room turned out, and I'd like to take a similar approach with the absorbers. Its tough working with a room that's both small and awkwardly laid out, although yours seems much more symmetrical than mine!

 

[Potsy24]

Thanks, I'm glad you like it. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions about how the panels were built. It really is tough with these small rooms, but we have to work with what we have I guess. I got pretty lucky with the symmetry. There is just a weird doorway area and some off-center windows. I feel like a little randomness can't hurt that much. After all, who is going to listen to these recordings in a perfectly symmetrical, "properly" laid out, and acoustically treated room?