I'm hoping for help or feedback on setting up a challenging studio space.
Viewable at the bottom of this post, is my floorplan, both as an empty space, and then filled with all the stuff I put in it.
The room being used for the studio is multipurpose, serving also as an office and a den.
There is also a kitchen with a bartop looking into the room. That means there's basically no wall in one corner of this space.
Other challenging features of the space:
Almost the entire rear wall is actually a sliding glass door looking out onto a patio.
The front and rear left corners of the room are chopped at 45 degree angles. The front corner chop is deeper and uniform from floor to ceiling. The rear chop is shallower with bottom 5 feet a glass-covered gas fireplace, making the deepest part of the angle, while on top of the fireplace is a mantle that recedes further toward the natural corner (see diagram).
The kitchen bartop itself is also at a 45 degree angle, so that's a semi-wall in the front right corner at only 5 feet tall. The kitchen is full of highly reflective surfaces such as tile countertops, hardwood flooring, laminated cabinets, and appliances. But since it's recessed farther from the main geometry of the room, I don't know if that really has a significant effect.
The first question I have is: what is the ideal placement of temporary sound treatment in such a room?
The second question I have is: what is the ideal positioning of the studio area? I know Ethan recommends sitting centered from side to side, on the long axis of a room, with more of the room behind than in front. However, neither end of this space seems like it would work very well, considering the sliding glass doors in back and the main entrance and angled wall in front. Also, the midi drumset, which is hooked up to the desk, must be adjacent to it.
There's also the fact that the TV and couch area (den) will take up a full half of the room no matter where placed, and the sliding glass doors only open up to the left (meaning there must also be a path clear to that side of the door).
It's clear I want a bass trap in the rear right corner, but then what about all the other, cut, corners in the room? Also, since the door at the front right opens into the room, any treatment put in that corner would block the door opening so could only be set up for the duration of a mixing session.
As for the surfaces in the room: the walls are drywall over metal studs; there is a very shallow splatter texture incorporated into the plaster (the ceiling shares this pattern too). There are lot of picture frames hung on the walls. The floor in the main room is wall-to-wall short-pile carpeting (except at the door, where it's hardwood). The sliding glass doors are double-paned glass, treated with full-length, side-to-side vertical blinds that can be drawn to the right to open them, or drawn shut to the left. When open, they can be rotated to filter or block light (like all blinds).
I purchased 6 panels of 4" 8lb mineral wool board, and 6 panels of 2" 8lb mineral wool board. My plan was to make 6 bass traps to prop up in corners , and 6 absorbers to hang on the walls like pictures, or at angles along the corner formed by the wall-ceiling. I can't attach anything permanently in the space right now.
Any feedback is highly appreciated (however, there's no point in telling me to ditch the non-studio stuff cluttering the room, because I can't do that for now). Thank you very much!
* The space filled with stuff is attached below first, as space.png
* The space, bare and easier to visualize is attached after, as space_bare.png
Viewable at the bottom of this post, is my floorplan, both as an empty space, and then filled with all the stuff I put in it.
The room being used for the studio is multipurpose, serving also as an office and a den.
There is also a kitchen with a bartop looking into the room. That means there's basically no wall in one corner of this space.
Other challenging features of the space:
Almost the entire rear wall is actually a sliding glass door looking out onto a patio.
The front and rear left corners of the room are chopped at 45 degree angles. The front corner chop is deeper and uniform from floor to ceiling. The rear chop is shallower with bottom 5 feet a glass-covered gas fireplace, making the deepest part of the angle, while on top of the fireplace is a mantle that recedes further toward the natural corner (see diagram).
The kitchen bartop itself is also at a 45 degree angle, so that's a semi-wall in the front right corner at only 5 feet tall. The kitchen is full of highly reflective surfaces such as tile countertops, hardwood flooring, laminated cabinets, and appliances. But since it's recessed farther from the main geometry of the room, I don't know if that really has a significant effect.
The first question I have is: what is the ideal placement of temporary sound treatment in such a room?
The second question I have is: what is the ideal positioning of the studio area? I know Ethan recommends sitting centered from side to side, on the long axis of a room, with more of the room behind than in front. However, neither end of this space seems like it would work very well, considering the sliding glass doors in back and the main entrance and angled wall in front. Also, the midi drumset, which is hooked up to the desk, must be adjacent to it.
There's also the fact that the TV and couch area (den) will take up a full half of the room no matter where placed, and the sliding glass doors only open up to the left (meaning there must also be a path clear to that side of the door).
It's clear I want a bass trap in the rear right corner, but then what about all the other, cut, corners in the room? Also, since the door at the front right opens into the room, any treatment put in that corner would block the door opening so could only be set up for the duration of a mixing session.
As for the surfaces in the room: the walls are drywall over metal studs; there is a very shallow splatter texture incorporated into the plaster (the ceiling shares this pattern too). There are lot of picture frames hung on the walls. The floor in the main room is wall-to-wall short-pile carpeting (except at the door, where it's hardwood). The sliding glass doors are double-paned glass, treated with full-length, side-to-side vertical blinds that can be drawn to the right to open them, or drawn shut to the left. When open, they can be rotated to filter or block light (like all blinds).
I purchased 6 panels of 4" 8lb mineral wool board, and 6 panels of 2" 8lb mineral wool board. My plan was to make 6 bass traps to prop up in corners , and 6 absorbers to hang on the walls like pictures, or at angles along the corner formed by the wall-ceiling. I can't attach anything permanently in the space right now.
Any feedback is highly appreciated (however, there's no point in telling me to ditch the non-studio stuff cluttering the room, because I can't do that for now). Thank you very much!
* The space filled with stuff is attached below first, as space.png
* The space, bare and easier to visualize is attached after, as space_bare.png
