Help me treat my new space

[Kerfoot32]

Hey guys, I've gotten some really great feedback here in the past. I have a new space I'm turning into a temporary studio and I thought I'd search here for some treatment tips. The space is small wooden building split into 2 rooms.

Smaller room (94x124x92):





Bigger room (118x145x112):








First I need to decide which room to record in and which to mix in. The bigger room would be more convenient as a control room because all the power is in there and I would have more room for people to hang out in while not recording. But I'm afraid the small room might be too cramped for drums and stuff. Which room should be for what?

Right now I'm more concerned about treating the recording room. What kinda treatment am I looking at? Sleeping bags on the walls? Bass traps?

I've gotten great results in the past with corner isolation booths made of blankets and plywood for vox and guitars, but I don't know a thing about what drums need. Is that high ceiling bad? Are those shelves bad? Anything to point me in the right direction is much appreciated guys

 

[GIK Acoustics]

I'd really opt for one bigger room to do both in rather than splitting it up, but since that can't be done: I would certainly opt for the larger room to be the control room, the smaller room to be the recording room.

Obviously, ambiance would be nice in your recordings, but both rooms are too small for any sort of useable ambience. I would recommend covering a lot of the wall space with thick insulation in the recording room, and cover with fire-resistant fabric. This will give a lot of absorption, and if you get thick enough insulation (at least R-19) you will get some good bass trapping as well. Your recordings will be quite dry, but dry is usually better than "wet" with odd and short reverb. You could use some slats on the wall in front of the absorption to keep it a little less "dead" feeling and sounding while still getting equally controlled recordings.

As for the control room, treatment at the first reflection points and bass traps in the corner would certainly be the first steps.

We've also got loads of information on treatment up on our website here: Room Acoustics Primer - GIK Acoustics

Let me know if you have any specific questions!