Another weird shaped room

[Lakin]

Hello,

I have an oddly shaped room and need to develop a plan. I will not be recording full drum kits often. I am trying to determine my needs for isolation. In the past I have recorded instruments and vocals one track at a time. So I have not yet needed to isolate each musician while they play simultaneously. I usually have recorded vocals after laying down other tracks.

I have uploaded the rough layout of the room. I am wondering about a couple of things. Do I need to put in walls for isolation? Can I utilize a Vocal Booth (VocalBooth.com) or a Whisper Room (WhisperRoom.com) for isolation instead? Where should I put my control room? Where should I place my DAW, board and studio monitors?

Does anyone have any ideas for what to do with this room?

I really appreciate your advice.

 

[Lakin]

Odd Room

This is what I have been considering. I am frightened by what this could cost.

I know that I have done one things to avoid on the SAE website. I have no direct entrance into the Control Room.

Are there any other ways to eliminate the effect of parallel walls besides the construction of odd shaped rooms? Is stereo room symmetry around my speakers? Is it necessary on the back wall (i.e. behind my head?

Thanks for the help. I will also post some other ideas that I have.

 

[ola]

Maybe this one if you want the control room in the middle.

/Ola

 

[Lakin]

Thanks

Hello Ola,

That is some good advice. Best of luck with your studio too. I am in a similar situation where I have to run my plans by the woman in my life.

I am concerned about what all this may cost. I am looking also at the possibility of using something like SpectraFoo of Metric Halo (www.mhlabs.com) along with EQ to deal with problems of in phase and out of phase frequencies. Maybe that is an alternative if construction is too expensive in the short term. I am going to start a new thread specifically about using EQ to deal with a room shortcomings.

 

[ola]

Building extra walls isn't too expensive, if you do it yourself. It's basically just sooden studs and drywall. Add the cost for hired labour and you'll have to sell a kidney to finish your studio

If you need to soundproof the entire studio, that's another story. That can cost an infinite amount of gold.

 

[Lakin]

Space between walls

Hello Ola,

I notice that all of the designs on the SAE website and the design that you have posted for me have space between the walls. Is there just air between the wall or insulation or who knows what?

Is the biggest acoustic culprit in my rooms going to be the parallel walls?

Is symmetry in the control room an absolute necessity? Is symmetry only necessary close to the studio monitors?

Thanks for your help. It is very much appreciated.


Lakin

 

[ola]

I only dare to answer one of the question, as I'm far from an expert on this subject.

The space between the walls can be either just air or filled with e.g. rockwool. Regardless of the "filling", the most important thing with the walls (in terms of insulation) is physical separtation, as described in detail on the SAE site.

I hope that absolute symmetry in the control room is a necessity. I presume that relatively similar behaviour on the side walls is the most important. I for one won't have absolute symmetry and I hope that my efforts in planning the room will be enough.

 

[Lakin]

What do you think of this?

I have modified your design eliminating all parallel walls. I keep on standing in that room trying to visualize it. I just hope that the spaces are not too small. If I could I would mix while being suspended from a crane. I like open spaces. However, I think that this plan is more practical and less expensive than a crane.

I have not put it in the drawing, but the the walls would have accoustic foam and the tight corners will have foam base traps.

What do you think? Do you see anything that doesn't seem like a good idea? Are there any better ways of dealing with this space?

Thanks.


Lakin

 

[Kelly Holdridge]

Mixing while "suspended from a crane" would not be unlike mixing outside. If you're crazy enough to rent a crane, may I suggest first buying some extensions of various sorts and mixing outside?

I'm LMAO at the vision of someone "mixing while suspended from a crane." I can just see Steve Albini or Tchad Blake designing the mix especially for people hanging from a crane, swinging from side to side. It'd have this weird SRS dizzy-soundfield thing goin' on, lol...

"More swing, dammit! If I have to come down there and operate the crane myself, I WILL!"

lol

 

[Lakin]

crane

Hello Kelly,

You can operate my crane any time.


On a serious note, would you recommend me setting things up so that I can listen easily to mixes in different accoustic environments (i.e. the living room, the den, outside on the deck, etc.). It seems as though this would be quite easy to do. It seems like would quickly provide an inexpensive way to find potential problems. Also on the deck there should be little to no constructive interference. I also have been thinking that it would be good to burn CDs or mixes and go to my car too. Right now my studio is right next to the garage. Is this a good idea or not?

Lakin

 

[ola]

It's a geat idea to have several listening envoronments.

 

[Lakin]

Another possible setup

Hello,

I have uploaded another possible setup. In this can I would use an Auralex MAX-Wall which is a moveable acoustic foam wall. I thought that this would be a good idea because I could use it behind me during editing and mixing on my Mac to minimize constructive interference and phase problems. Also I figured that the MAX-Wall could be used in the studio to create a more dead recording space. In other words I could put it around a drum set, guitar amp, etc.

This is my lower cost, maybe temporary, solution.

What do you think? Do you see any obvious problems? Will this be insufficient in the short term?


Lakin

 

[ola]

Didn't you just say that you liked open space? That control room will be far too small. Try haning a blanked where the maxwall is in your latest plan. Then furniture the control room temporarily. Finally sit in the control room for 19 consecutive hours. If it feels OK, go for it, otherwise, try another design.

 

[Lakin]

possible design

Hello Ola,

I am concerned that the space for the control room is small. However, I like the idea of the larger space in the studio. I was thinking that a larger space offered room to rehearse and jam with musicians as well as a good recording space.

I am, however, concerned about the number of parallel walls. This design eliminates some of the parallel walls. I have another design too that goes further. I will also upload that design. I am very concerned about the parallel walls in the control room. Am I excessively concerned with parallel walls?

Also do 90 degree angle corners cause acoustical problems? I just know from playing racket ball that 90 degree corners work like walls. I also remember that the acoustics in racket ball courts are terrible.


Lakin

 

[Lakin]

2nd design

Here is a variation on the former theme, but this one goes the further. It eliminates all parallel walls. It doesn't eliminate all right (i.e. 90 degree) angles. There is one.


I still somewhat concerned about the effect that odd shaped rooms have on resale value of the house. So I am really looking considerable gains in acoustics to be achieved if I put in a lot of walls.


What do you think?

 

[ola]

I still think that your control room may be too small. Try th blanket and see how small it feels. it's easy to say that it's large enough when you have the open space behind your back. I like the idea of having a large studio room for jamming and recording but I'm conserned that your design makes for a too small control room.

The parallel-breaking walls in the studio may be a bit too angeled. Not that it hurts but it takes away more area than necessary. A 12 dergee angle is apparently sufficient to achieve a "non-parallel" effect.

As for being consernde with the resale value. I wouldn't build a studio in a house if I had any plans to move, ever.

 

[longsoughtfor]

Lakin - I think your "studiodesign12" is the best approach. I know you won't have as big a recording space but you will have a decent sized control room. It is a trade off but aside from the acoustic benefits, you also just have more room to operate, run cables, get behind stuff etc...

Just my $0.02 but if your looking for votes... this one gets mine.

Cheers
Kevin.

 

[Lakin]

Thanks

thank you longsoughtfor and ola. I appreciate your 2 cents. I think that I also like studiodesign12 best.

I don't know if I will be here forever. However, I want an effective studio. I guess I will have to sell to a musician if I ever do or someone that like odd shaped rooms.

I still have no real idea what these walls would cost.

 

[ola]

Are you planning on building the walls yourself?

 

[Lakin]

cost of building the wall

Hello Ola,

I plan on building the walls myself. I was going swing by HomeDepot and try to get a sense of the cost. You gave me some good advice earlier saying that building it myself would be much more cost effective than using a contractor. I just hope that I can pull it off well.

Lakin