Build a Home Studio in 11 Days or Fail College: Go.

[Chitta]

You read it in the title.
I do not kid.

Okay, I'm so pressed for time here I cannot even lay out all my plans for you in the OP (Because I should be writing a paper about renaissance art instead.) It will have to be play as you go, and anyone interested in my progress can check back to see how things are coming along. And if you are reading this and have experience in studio building: Please come back and check in and offer any helpful advice you might have, it will be hugely appreciated (and you'll get to see all the lovely pictures.)

So tomorrow, I'll be taking measurements and doing room mode calculations so I don't walk into this blind and have an idea what to look for.
Next day I'll be measuring SPL across the relevant frequency range to help choose the best materials for bass traps.

My very first question (many to follow):
When taking SPL measurements, Should I use A Scale or C Scale filter on my meter?

Also, should I record SPL readings for more places than the listening spot?

Just two questions for now, I know at least one of you brilliant men (and women) have a good idea about this stuff.

Meanwhile I'll be studying all I can (acoustics too.)

 

[miroslav]

My very first question (many to follow):
When taking SPL measurements, Should I use A Scale or C Scale filter on my meter?

Just that one question could turn into a small debate!

I use C-weighted...some guys use A-weighted.

My logic...
C-weighted is broadband (like music), while A-weighted as intended for measuring industrial noise for OSHA purposes, which leans more toward the mid-bands.

So now that I answered your question... ...can you at least tell us WHY you will fail college if you don't build a studio in 11 days...?
Is this some sort of summer semester class requirement...?

 

[themdla]

So tomorrow, I'll be taking measurements and doing room mode calculations so I don't walk into this blind and have an idea what to look for.
Next day I'll be measuring SPL across the relevant frequency range to help choose the best materials for bass traps.

what is the room for? (ie why are you traping it?)

My very first question (many to follow):

When taking SPL measurements, Should I use A Scale or C Scale filter on my meter?

i've heard c scale and slow

http://www.massivemastering.com/blog/index_files/Calibrating_Your_Monitoring_Chain.php

Also, should I record SPL readings for more places than the listening spot?

Just two questions for now, I know at least one of you brilliant men (and women) have a good idea about this stuff.

Meanwhile I'll be studying all I can (acoustics too.)

yes from what i've understood room modes are very different in each point in a room. to do this right you will need to do room mode calculations.

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

I smell something fishy. How much space do you have and what are the building parameters...build a studio? Wait a minute. You can't even draw a set of plans to submit to BID(Building inspection department) in 11 days...er..you are getting a permit...arn't you?
If not...I see a giant FAIL coming....and I don't mean your FORMAL education either.


ps. Just for the sake of ...well, lets put it this way.

Personally, I don't think you have a clue. But I'll play along.

Room modes? If you are measuring SPL...(please tell us WHAT is creating it and where) this must be an existing room or two. If so..then you haven't got time to change any room dimension in the first place.

In the second place, what kind of isolation targets are planned?

In the third, what kind of music are you recording and with what kind of system?

Any adjacent buildings with occupants who might have some objection to loud sounds. Or any airports, traintracks, Interstate hiways, main throughafares, or main truck routes nearby? How bout foundaries? Or missile test beds. Or firing ranges..or ..well, I think you might get my drift.

On second thought..maybe you don't. I hope you aren't planning on any room within a room construction or floating any floors....wait a minute. Any structural surveys done yet...ie...suspending heavy interior envelope ceilings without doin so is...well lets just say ..do you have insurance?
(btw...you DO know a typical studio with 70db TL can weigh in at 30 or so TONS don't you? er...this ain't on a second or third floor is it?


Oh, and what is the planned HVAC noise curve planned at. And WHAT is the HVAC. How are you distributing it and keeping the room systems seperate? How and where are the Ventilation interfaces?

And please, tell us the planned TL of the front CR wall..oh, and what monitor/amps. How are you decoupling the monitors? Are you soffit mounting them?

What room geometry in the CR.

Any splayed walls or ceilings?

Have you determined the Dc of the live room? Any diffusion planned?

Where? And what type? Where are you getting them?

Any Iso booths? What TL and how are you getting it? What kind of door seals/thresholds are planned?

Well, thats enough for now....except.

Who is going to oversee a LARGE crew to make sure every detail of highly detailed Transmission loss construction is adhered to so when the Inspections happen, you won't have correction delays...er...thats if you can get a Zoning permit in the first place.IN ONE DAY..oh, did I mention MANDATORY ADA compliance requirements. Hmmm, you DO know about them don't you?

 

[ALS]

So now that I answered your question... ...can you at least tell us WHY you will fail college if you don't build a studio in 11 days...?
Is this some sort of summer semester class requirement...?

+1 also wondering why you will fail if you don't build a studio in 11 days.

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

Meanwhile I'll be studying all I can (acoustics too.)

 

[grimtraveller]

You read it in the title.
I do not kid.

I smell something fishy. How much space do you have and what are the building parameters...build a studio? Wait a minute. You can't even draw a set of plans to submit to BID(Building inspection department) in 11 days...er..you are getting a permit...arn't you?
If not...I see a giant FAIL coming....and I don't mean your FORMAL education either.


ps. Just for the sake of ...well, lets put it this way.

Personally, I don't think you have a clue. But I'll play along.

Room modes? If you are measuring SPL...(please tell us WHAT is creating it and where) this must be an existing room or two. If so..then you haven't got time to change any room dimension in the first place.

In the second place, what kind of isolation targets are planned?

In the third, what kind of music are you recording and with what kind of system?

Any adjacent buildings with occupants who might have some objection to loud sounds. Or any airports, traintracks, Interstate hiways, main throughafares, or main truck routes nearby? How bout foundaries? Or missile test beds. Or firing ranges..or ..well, I think you might get my drift.

On second thought..maybe you don't. I hope you aren't planning on any room within a room construction or floating any floors....wait a minute. Any structural surveys done yet...ie...suspending heavy interior envelope ceilings without doin so is...well lets just say ..do you have insurance?
(btw...you DO know a typical studio with 70db TL can weigh in at 30 or so TONS don't you? er...this ain't on a second or third floor is it?


Oh, and what is the planned HVAC noise curve planned at. And WHAT is the HVAC. How are you distributing it and keeping the room systems seperate? How and where are the Ventilation interfaces?

And please, tell us the planned TL of the front CR wall..oh, and what monitor/amps. How are you decoupling the monitors? Are you soffit mounting them?

What room geometry in the CR.

Any splayed walls or ceilings?

Have you determined the Dc of the live room? Any diffusion planned?

Where? And what type? Where are you getting them?

Any Iso booths? What TL and how are you getting it? What kind of door seals/thresholds are planned?

Well, thats enough for now....except.

Who is going to oversee a LARGE crew to make sure every detail of highly detailed Transmission loss construction is adhered to so when the Inspections happen, you won't have correction delays...er...thats if you can get a Zoning permit in the first place.IN ONE DAY..oh, did I mention MANDATORY ADA compliance requirements. Hmmm, you DO know about them don't you?

Just buy a second hand standalone and tell the college that it's your studio and that everything is done to super quality in the box !

 

[themdla]

Just buy a second hand standalone and tell the college that it's your studio and that everything is done to super quality in the box !

hahahahah lol

 

[DrewPeterson7]

Ok, what's the backstory? This is such an absurd premise that I can't help suspect you're trolling here.

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

and that everything is done to super quality in the box !

Since when are microphones ITB?

 

[miroslav]

When you buy mics...they come in the box.

 

[Caotico]

I should be writing a paper about renaissance art instead

I teach writing classes at a University. I think you've got a serious case of procrastination. Just start writing, and you can build the studio later



Also, I noticed a mistake in your title. I think the phrase should have been "and fail college," not "or."

Unless you're taking a studio building class, and you were supposed to have been working on it all semester.

What a crazy post. Anyway, back to grading papers...

 

[Chitta]

Okay a tiny little backstory for context (I'll be pressed for time until I'm supposed to have finished this project.)

My major (Professional Music, what is that? vague.) ask me to have a final project. After multiple flakey artists didn't follow through with recording projects or mixing projects or both because I made the mistake of not charging them, as I would benefit from the work (people get their sh*t together when they're paying you out of pocket.)
I signed an application for a new apartment with my girlfriend and have an empty room to go wild in. This then naturally becomes the pull it outta my butt backup plan. Propose it to my department chair showing him all the gear I'll put in it, some equations I'll use, so stuff I'll build, and my winning , along with promising graphs, tables, pictures and a process journal and BAM Green light. Now I only have ten days to make it happen.

So really at the end of the day, this is really just going to be my entry level, wet behind the ears home project studio.

And now I've spent entirely too much time explaining so I'll be back with more questions sooon!
Thanks a million for the recommendations and the "WHY's" regarding my first questions.

I promise I'll update with more and more interesting developments in my harrowing dilemmas, my brilliant work arounds, my atrocious assumptions, and the fate of my college degree.

If you want to add your thoughts on Manet and realism we could kill two birds with one thread.

okay thats just a joke...
kind of.

 

[grimtraveller]

That was what's known as a shaggy dog story !

 

[pandamonk]

When you buy mics...they come in the box.

Not Naiants!

 

[Weasel9992]

So you basically want us to do it for you? That sounds suspiciously like cheating to me.

 

[themdla]

follow up

so did you get your spl meter and monitoring chain setup?

did you perform the room mode calculations i metioned?

what is your recording method? HD, DAW, Tape, etc...

 

[stealth_prod]

LOL this is absolutely entertaining. I dont take this serious for one minute. If it is serious then you should smack yourself in the face for being stupid.

First thing pops into my head is: Apartment and building! So have you made sure you are even allowed to do any building?

What is your goal for this? Just something quick to finish this project (i smell failure)? Why not just rent out a studio and get it done?

Seems to me like your professor or whomever "green lighted" you was looking for a little entertainment.

 

[Chitta]

Yeah Buddy, and the dubious smell entertainment! Knew this would come, I'm dubious as well... but determined.
And we'll see how far that gets me.

First explaining the end goals a little.
I would like to have a room I can do some critical listening in. Maybe record a little guitar, and possibly some scratch or demo vocals. I'm not doing the post production for Avatar 2 and I'm not trying to rebuild a room outta blackbird studios. I've got an 8pre audio interface and a duet I use with Logic 9 on my macbook to record and still haven't upgraded my entry level monitors (Event ALP5's.)
Because of that, when I mix I switch between those, and my DT990Pro cans quite often (earbuds too.)
I'll probably never try to record drums in there unless I'm just screwing around.

I've got carpet in the room already and I'm not allowed to pull that up.
All I'm really trying to do here is make the room acoustically sound as good as it can, because I can't cut into the walls and it's the only room I've got to build in.


So MDLA I just did the room mode calculations because I just took measurements. (I actually don't have the keys to this place yet..... Friday I get keys.)
So the realtor took me in so I could measure.

I have a little more time now to talk so I'll say a little bit more about how much I'm really trying to bite off here, and I guess we'll see if I've got the teeth to chew it.

I was a big nerd in acoustics classes so some of this stuff isn't new to me (none of the concepts or equations are, a few of the practices are..)
The calculation of the room modes is really just to give me something to do while I'm waiting around to get in there.
The proof in the pudding will be when I get in there and here's what I'm intending to do:

Set up my monitors and a software oscillator. Set my SPL to a dBC (Thanks MiroSlav) and I'll record the readings ascending in semitones from 20Hz to 20k.
If I have some indicators that I should have standing wave issues below 500Hz that aren't showing up in the readings. I'm going to chalk that up to my 5.25in monitors and assume that if I upgrade my monitors I might run into something (stay safe assume the worst right?)

I'll do this at the listening position, then at three other places in the room, one near the back wall. The other two, places I may consider setting up mics.

Once I have all the data for where the quirks in my room are (in Hz.) I'll make the final decision on what insulation to buy for trapping.
For what makes logistical sense right now I'm thinking that I'll put bass trapping from floor to ceiling. in the to corners behind my work desk. I'll also put traps horizontally where the ceiling meets the back wall, in the two corners (not all the way across.)
I don't know as much about bass trapping as I would like to, I haven't ever done it before. I know about frictional diffusion and absorption coefficients but I'm certainly no guru on placement or knowing how much should be used for what sized room (I understand the smaller room, the more you need.) But after building it, I figure I'll let my ears and the SPL meter be the judges.

After all that madness I'm intending to build some diffusion. Like seen here:
07734
out of a ceiling tile as a base, then ply, pine 2x2's cut to random lengths.
Place these strategically to try to get rid of some early reflections.
More on making diffusers and some of the specific problems with my room for this later.
But I have an large bookshelf I was intending to use as a back wall diffuser instead of treatment meant for treatment.

After all this, I'm hoping to start piecing my gear together in a fashion that gives me the best access to all of it and makes some logical sense (as supposed to how it is now, half of it being in the closet..)

I don't have a closet in the room to stick things that hum, and honestly I don't even have a rack yet, although it maybe getting toward time to buy one.


See what a newb I am guys? THIS is why I joined the forum. And, intend to spend lots of time talking to the folks here.
So give me your critical thoughts, but please, gimme a little encouragement if you've got any to spare.... I need it.
So play nice (Stealth_prod ) I love writing and recording and twittling the knobs and faders so I'll do it wherever I am, and if there's an old lady who doesn't like it on the floor above me, I make a mean apple pie and I'll bake her more than she can eat, and I'll walk her little yippy shaky dog because I'll do whatever takes to keep on making organized sounds.


Next I'll post the gear that I intend to shove in here.
But really I need any experienced guidance you all can offer on the treatment thide of sings. (Catch the reference?)

 

[Chitta]

The Gear List

Computer Hardware and Software
17” Macbook Pro 2.6 Ghz Intel Processing, 4.6 Gb RAM
External Drives
Mac OS 10.6
Logic Pro 9
Reason 4

Audio and MIDI Interfaces
Apogee Duet
Focusrite Saffire Pro40
Motu MIDI express
Motu FastTrack

Control Surfaces
Behringer BCF2000
M-Audio Keystation 61es

Signal Processing
BSS AR-416 DI Box

Synthesizers
Yamaha S80
DSI Prophet 08
Roland Juno 106

Sampling/Drum Machines
Native Instruments Maschine

FX
Boss RC-50 Loopstation

Monitoring
Event ALP5 Nearfield monitors
Beyerdynamics DT 990 Pro
Sony MDR 7506

Misc.
Instruments/Mics
Stands/Cables