Home Studio (version 2.5) - pics included

[Seeker of Rock]

There is a formula, I believe on Ethan's site and others will probably be able to cite it verbatim. I think it is 60 degree angle or something to your ears. In other words, if the near fields are spread too far, you will have to angle them at extremes to aim toward your ears, so maybe wider is not better. I think mine are about 5' apart and angled toward my ears, FWIW. Technically, I'm sure everything with a hard surface in your control room will have a reflection of some sort, including hard parts of your chair like the base/legs, mixing desk, console legs, doorknobs, buttons on your shirt or jewelry around your neck, etc. If reflections from the desk platform were a problem, you could always use something like a rubber matt or even foam (which may look kind of cool if done right) in the empty areas not taken up by the mixing board.

 

[cincy_kid]

yea, I think you mean this:

which is what I plan to follow. I didn't see the part about the exact angles but I will do more research on that as well.

I was going to start another thread for this question but since we are talking about monitors, here's a noob question

How come I see pictures of people's home studios and they have the studio monitors like I have, but then they also have another set beside them or above them hanging form the ceiling, and some even large speakers in the wall? Are they used for different purposes other than getting a good mix?

 

[pandamonk]

yea, I think you mean this:

which is what I plan to follow. I didn't see the part about the exact angles but I will do more research on that as well.

I was going to start another thread for this question but since we are talking about monitors, here's a noob question

How come I see pictures of people's home studios and they have the studio monitors like I have, but then they also have another set beside them or above them hanging form the ceiling, and some even large speakers in the wall? Are they used for different purposes other than getting a good mix?

For variety. Every set sounds different. You want a flat response from the set you mostly use, but then you might wanna check it on a set of hifi speakers(that's why so many people have Yamaha ns10s) and on other things. The speakers mounted in the wall are called soffit-mount. There is certainly a reason for it, but i don't know it yet . I think it might be something to do will stopping the bass frequencies which come out the back of the speaker. Also, i think, if built properly, it isolates the speakers from the rest of the room, so the bass frquencies don't vibrate through the desk/walls etc and reach your ears before the airbourn sounds. Not sure though...

 

[cincy_kid]

so in a studio like Bruce has in this pic:

the soffit mounted ones actually serve a different purpose than the ones on top of the console? Would they both be on at the same time or its used separately?

 

[cincy_kid]

Flooring

Just curious if there was any pros or cons to using laminate flooring vs just painting the concrete floor after ripping the carpet up. They both are reflective I imagine hehe.

Anyone?

 

[pandamonk]

so in a studio like Bruce has in this pic:

the soffit mounted ones actually serve a different purpose than the ones on top of the console? Would they both be on at the same time or its used separately?

Yes, and used separately. It's the same purpose, just gives variety. Like what sounds good on one set, might not sound so good on another, so you wanna get the best of both.

 

[pandamonk]

Just curious if there was any pros or cons to using laminate flooring vs just painting the concrete floor after ripping the carpet up. They both are reflective I imagine hehe.

Anyone?

Laminate looks better... Maybe very slight difference in sound, but this would be extremely minimal, and probably unnoticeable.

 

[cincy_kid]

well thats what I thought at first too Panda until my wife showed me some pics of what she had in mind. I was thinking when she said painting that she meant to paint it gray ro some flat color, but here are examples of what she was talking about:

See how shiny they look:

And you could do them in squares if you wanted:

Could paint pictures / designs:

Or even paint a rug:

Obviously most of these have been done by professionals, but the technique is documented and you could get it looking pretty cool and shiny even with a plain color...

So I am not sure anymore if I think the laminate would look cooler. Depends on your taste I guess.

my REAL question / concern is will the floor be as equally beneficial (reflective) for my rooms as laminate would be?

 

[pianosaur]

theres not going to be a difference sonically between the 2
i'd stain the concrete like your wife wants to do

i would also leave the windows open and just do basic corner trapping like panda recommended. i think the difference between working in that closet and the bigger room will be immense.

 

[cincy_kid]

Thanks for the comments piano. I think I am for sure gonna do the painted concrete, it looks too cool not to...

On the windows I was thinking I would make frames that were trhe same size as the windows and have some 2" 703 in the fram and just be able to slip it over the indow fram and would also be able to slip it off if for some reason I wanted some day light in the basement

Thanks again and keep the comments coming ~

 

[cincy_kid]

well, we bought paint tonight for the basement which means the walls get painted soon and the carpet comes up thereafter...

I think I am going to tear down the counter tops and start with a fresh clean slate.

Will post pics as I go...

 

[true-eurt]

Epoxy floors are pleasant to the eye and easy to maintain, if done correctly..if not, they will gouge and scratch easily.

I like the freedom it gives one, to express their creativeness by painting whatever you want on the floor and not be limited to Tiles and Linoleum or Carpet.

You can also tri-stain the floor and even get a swirled or natural rock effect before applying the Epoxy.

Something to keep in mind with the high glossy Epoxies....is that, when meshing with water or same shade of liquid spills, they easily become a hazardous surprize sliding area....that is, if you even allow drinks in that area.

This is the type of flooring in a church I clean....I go barefoot for this very reason while cleaning, after having a near crash landing.

But since you have already purchased the paint, I guess you checked it out already.

 

[cincy_kid]

Hey True,

Thanks for the reply and insight, I appreciate it!

Bought the wall paint tonight for the basement which only means that once that is painted, we can rip the carpet out (which is the same carpet in my studio area) and then we will start on the floors sometime after that, hehe

good tip on the slippery warning, never thought of that one...

 

[cincy_kid]

Demolition Begins

Ok, so I took down the countertops tonight. Shelves are out next and then need to clear the space out to get ready for paiting. Yea, I think I am ghoing to repaint it (again), so I will be thinking of colors

More progress and pics to come....

 

[cincy_kid]

Update:

1) Painted the new control room area (pics coming as soon as I clean it up) --

2) Got everything cleared out of the "soon to be" Live Room (closet) Ripped up the carpet, backing and the pieces of wood that gets nailed into the concrete. What a mess!!!!

Next step is to rip up the carpet in the control room area, sweep everything, get the glue residue up, patch any holes that were made while taking up the wooden pieces and get it ready to be painted

It seems the painting concrete thing is going to be a bit more work than anticipated, but I think its still a go. Worse case scenario I go back to the laminate floors idea..

Stay tuned ~

 

[Gorty]

Looking good so far Cincy! Are you painting all the same color?
What a difference a coat of colorful paint makes to a room.

 

[cincy_kid]

Thanks Gorty ~

No, the picture above is the same purple I had it before in this pic:

This "live room" will probably just stay this color...

The control room area (which I will post pics tomorrow) was painted 2 colors. 3 walls are a lime green and 1 wall a purple (different shade of purple than the one above)... I will show you tomorrow.

 

[cincy_kid]

On a side note, I am still debating on whether or not to use the desk pictured above with the perfect monitor stands or to use this other conference style desk I have and put the moitors on stands.

The ONLY reason I would not use the desk above is because I am not sure if its 60 degree angles between the monitors and my listening poistion. I was hoping to follow that perfect triangle theory and just not sure if my desk is the irght angle. Wonder how much that matters hehe

 

[Gorty]

On a side note, I am still debating on whether or not to use the desk pictured above with the perfect monitor stands or to use this other conference style desk I have and put the moitors on stands.

The ONLY reason I would not use the desk above is because I am not sure if its 60 degree angles between the monitors and my listening poistion. I was hoping to follow that perfect triangle theory and just not sure if my desk is the irght angle. Wonder how much that matters hehe

Just angle the monitors to line them up with your sitting position so that they are basically pointing at your ears, this will give you pretty much the 60 degree angles.

 

[cincy_kid]

Good idea, but isn't there any "rules" to having the monitors that close to your ears instead of taking advatnage of the size of the room you have to work with?

I will be pretty darn close to them, but if that doesnt matter then great!