How to use my room best?

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jordan_ellipsis

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Hi there. I have a room at home on the back of the garage that isnt being used and so was dedicated to me and my musical pursuits ;) I dont know the exact dimensions right now, but its roughly 13/14ft by 13/14ft. I've used it for a while for my band to practice in. Theres a drum kit and a bunch of amps, instruments and equipment in there.

I've been getting into the recording side of things over the last year and have built up a decent collection of equipment. I'd like to be able to do a semi-decent home recording job - nothing superb, just good enough to make a demo to pass round.

The problem is obviously the lack of space so i think, when recording, i'l empty the room of all unnecessary objects eg. when doing the drums il move everything else out and move the drums to the centre of the room. Should i do this for recording guitar amps too?

I'd like to treat the room as much - and as cheaply! - as possible. Im gunna try get hold of some foam packaging from a company and put it on the wall - but should i glue it to the walls and do i need to cover the entire wall space. This could lead to problems when i want to return the room to practice space.

As for doing vocals, i was going to construct a vocal both using 4 or 5 mattresses. I just want quick, cheap shortcuts that will have maximum affect - im i going along the right lines?
 
Well,...my room is only 10 x 10,...I posted some pics in this thread . You can see how I use the space. I do recording and mixing in here. I've treated it to about 80%. That way I use it as my vox booth too. Drums are a problem. My son has acoustics,..but they are a total pain to record....lots easier with software drums for recording.

I bought some auralex foam from Musiciansfriend,....and I also bought some from foambymail.com.

I can see absolutely NO DIFFERENCE in the two foams. They weigh exactly the same and everything,...and the foam by mail is about a third of the price of the auralex. Everything (acoustic treatment you see in my room cost me about $400 us) that includes the expensive auralex. So a small room is a whole bunch easier to treat.

Being your space is small like mine,...I'd absorb as much as I could. You could do probably 80 - 100%. A small square room is CRAP for acoustics. Use the room to record vox too,...you don't HAVE to have vox booth.IMO.

I also built a "cloud " from OC703 it's not in the pic,....I had 10' ceilings,...hung the cloud at 9'.

Good Luck!
 
You're gonna have to do a lot to get your square room to sound decent. I'd invest in at least one book on acoustics and i'd look around this forum and try to learn as much as you can before you start buying material. Just slapping some foam on the wall won't necessarily make the room much better. This site is good for learning about acoustic treatment:
http://www.realtraps.com/
 
You said cheap (I assume fast too) so here goes. First off, use things you already have. You mentioned matresses, stand them on end in the corners, not as effective as bass traps but it will help some. Forget packing foam or eggcrate foam, neither will improve the sound and could be a potential fire hazzard. A couple of old quilts, loosely stapled to the celing will help if you can't afford a real cloud. Throw rugs work wonders on bare floors. Heavy drapes (hung with a little space behind them) on the walls will cut down on reflections. Hang a heavy blanket or quilt over the door. None of these ideas are real solutions, just a few things which will help without costing you a lot. Make improvements as you can afford them.
 
Yeah, thats pretty much what iv set about doing, glad it's the right idea :)

Thanks for all your help
 
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