Home studio acoustic treatment - large closet and windows

[Tonalta]

My home studio is set up in a room that is 12' x 10' (See attached diagram). The walls are made of sheetrock. (Standard bedroom construction materials). I have my desk and monitor speakers positioned in the middle of one of the 12' walls that is uninterrupted. Near the center of the wall to my left is a 3 1/2' x 2' bookshelf and in the wall to my right is 2 standard size windows, side-by-side (approx 4'x5' total glazed area). The 12' wall behind me is comprised mostly of a large closet enclosed by two sliding doors. The room's floor is hardwood, a third of which is covered by a oriental rug. I have a fabric-covered easy chair in the right-hand corner behind me (which I assume is soaking up some frequencies). The door to the room is in the corner behind me and to the left.

The treatment I plan is mostly standard - one 24"24"x1" acoustic panel at ear level on the wall to my left, one 24"24"x1" acoustic panel covering one of the windows to my right and two 24"24"x1" acoustic panels on the wall in front of me directly behind my computer. I may put one foam bass trap in each of the corners at about the 3' mark when I can afford them. For now, the immediate treatment will be the panels. The panel vendor will very likely be Acoustimac.

My question is regarding what to do with the closet behind me. Should I take off the closet doors and move the aforementioned bookshelf into the closet to act as a diffuser? I have another bookshelf about the same dimensions that I could place right next to it. Both shelves are full of books of various sizes. Maybe I could hang a heavy curtain in place of the sliding doors? Also, would it be better to cover the window to my right with venetian blinds instead of an acoustic panel as a compromise to window visibility? I believe I read recently that blinds can act as a diffuser.

Thanks for your input...

 

[RAMI]

You should set up along the short wall. I would set up right in front of the windows.

Also, forget about "FOAM bass traps", that's an oxymoron. Foam doesn't treat a room for bass, even if the manufacturer calls them "bass traps".

 

[Massive Master]

+1 on all counts. Turn 90 degrees clockwise and start looking for proper broadband treatments for the space. In a space that size, you're going to need PLENTY.

I was in a space that size for a bit -- It took a dozen 2'x4'x4" broadband (not "foam" but OC 703 & 705) panels just to make a dent.

Noisy gear goes in the closet (which will be much more accessible once you turn to the right) and blinds don't act like diffusers (well, perhaps they might in a band so narrow that it wouldn't make a difference anyway).

 

[Tonalta]

Thanks, guys. I had considered turning the orientation length-wise and setting up facing the windows to take advantage of the longer freq travel distances, but was concerned about negative effects of glass behind my monitors. I can't exactly put treatment ON the windows to the extent of covering them up. Ideas? Leave them as is?

Yes, I read that foam bass traps are doubtful. I don't disagree, but I wonder why reputable companies make them, then? What DO foam "bass traps" do?

A small room like mine would need a ton of treatment? That seems a bit of a surprise. Larger rooms would need less? I read that some treatment is enough to absorb some reflections, but it is best to not over-dampen to the point of having a "dead" room. Time to head over to ethanwiner.com for a more in-depth read!

 

[RAMI]

was concerned about negative effects of glass behind my monitors. I can't exactly put treatment ON the windows to the extent of covering them up. Ideas? Leave them as is?

Leave them and let the sunshine in. Windows behind your speakers is not a major hazard. There are much bigger problems to worry about when it comes to sound treatment.

Yes, I read that foam bass traps are doubtful. I don't disagree, but I wonder why reputable companies make them, then? What DO foam "bass traps" do?

Define "reputable". Foam is not dense enough to trap low frequencies. I don't know the numbers, but I would hazard a guess that even the "best" foam wouldn't do anything under 200hz for you, but don't quote me on that.

A small room like mine would need a ton of treatment? That seems a bit of a surprise. Larger rooms would need less?

Absolutely. The smaller the room, the more reflections and standing waves, hence more problems. The bigger the room (dimensions matter too), the relatively less treatment is needed. A professional "vocal booth" is the size of most people's entire home recording space.

I read that some treatment is enough to absorb some reflections, but it is best to not over-dampen to the point of having a "dead" room. Time to head over to ethanwiner.com for a more in-depth read!

It's almost impossible to over-dampen a room IF you're using the proper materials placed in the proper spots. Over-dampening a room usually is a result of using something like foam, which only kills your high-end, making bass frequencies an even bigger problem. With real bass traps, that won't happen. I have about 22 panels in a 19X25 room, and I still see bare corners that drive me nuts.

Yes, go read everything on Ethan's site.

 

[Massive Master]

Adding to that on the "amount of trapping" thing --

You might not necessarily need "more material" -- You just need "X-amount" of material for the job.

Think of it this way (for example) -- You're in a 10x10x10 room (1,000 cubic feet). If you have 750 cubic feet of water (sound) in the room and you're going to drown in 7.5' of water. So you need enough sponges (broadband traps) to absorb enough of that water (sound) so you don't drown. Just for the sake of argument, figure 12-18 big sponges to control all that water.

Now put that same amount of water in a 20x10x10 space (2,000 cubic feet). That same 750 cubic feet of water is only going to fill the room to 3.75'. Nowhere near as dangerous -- But it takes that same 12-18 sponges to absorb that water.

Sound is energy -- Broadband traps absorb that energy. The smaller the space, the worse the problem is per the area. The same sound pressure needs to be controlled in a smaller space.

And I don't use the "12-18 sponges" by accident -- As I mentioned above, I was in a similarly sized space and it took a dozen traps just to make a decent dent in the problematic energy in that space. Now I'm in a considerably larger (but still small-ish) space and I have the equivalent of around 35 2'x4'x4" traps (and the room still has a very comfortable, but very controlled non-deadness to it).

I'm not suggesting running out and installing 30 traps -- although I'd never argue against it either -- but absolutely nothing in your rig is nearly as important as your monitoring chain and the way it interacts with the space they're in. You will only ever hear as accurately and consistently as your speakers allow you to hear and your speakers will only ever be as accurate and consistent as the room they're in allows them to be. Every single sonic decision you ever make is based on that simple fundamental.

 

[GIK Acoustics]

Leave them and let the sunshine in. Windows behind your speakers is not a major hazard. There are much bigger problems to worry about when it comes to sound treatment.

Define "reputable". Foam is not dense enough to trap low frequencies. I don't know the numbers, but I would hazard a guess that even the "best" foam wouldn't do anything under 200hz for you, but don't quote me on that.

Absolutely. The smaller the room, the more reflections and standing waves, hence more problems. The bigger the room (dimensions matter too), the relatively less treatment is needed. A professional "vocal booth" is the size of most people's entire home recording space.

It's almost impossible to over-dampen a room IF you're using the proper materials placed in the proper spots. Over-dampening a room usually is a result of using something like foam, which only kills your high-end, making bass frequencies an even bigger problem. With real bass traps, that won't happen. I have about 22 panels in a 19X25 room, and I still see bare corners that drive me nuts.

Wow...you nailed it!

I'll add a couple suggestions...

Thanks, guys. I had considered turning the orientation length-wise and setting up facing the windows to take advantage of the longer freq travel distances, but was concerned about negative effects of glass behind my monitors. I can't exactly put treatment ON the windows to the extent of covering them up. Ideas? Leave them as is?

As suggested above, windows are not nearly as big of a problem as most people think. You would just treat them the same way as any hard surface.

Yes, I read that foam bass traps are doubtful. I don't disagree, but I wonder why reputable companies make them, then? What DO foam "bass traps" do?

Testing Acoustic Foam Bass Traps <- this is what foam does!

A small room like mine would need a ton of treatment? That seems a bit of a surprise. Larger rooms would need less? I read that some treatment is enough to absorb some reflections, but it is best to not over-dampen to the point of having a "dead" room.

Yes, the smaller the room, the more treatment you need. To put it simply, sound just needs a large amount of space to travel. When we enclose that space to really small dimensions (especially small spaces with some dimensions the exact same or multiples of others, like a 10x10) we get compound problems since the sound waves aren't able to die out before they hit a boundary. Boundaries are really what causes most acoustic problems in the first place (but they are very necessary, obviously, and for some not-so-obvious reasons as well)

Larger rooms don't necessarily need less, but you're usually fighting smaller problems and have a much more likely chance of getting a room to be more flat with less resonances.

Also, over-deadening a room can be avoided by choosing the right products. For example, we have our Scopus tuned traps at GIK to deal with problem frequencies without dampening higher frequencies. We are also coming out with some new traps (just getting in the test data for them this week!) that we are calling FRL that absorb low frequencies very well, up to ~200 - 300 Hz where they start to roll off quickly. This is a more broadband bass trap that also won't over absorb the highs. We are quite excited for them!

There's a ton of information on our Education section of our website you can check out here: Acoustic Primer - Room Setup, Testing, Treatments

Let me know if you have any questions!