Mixing Room Layout

[DDev]

Due to an (un)fortunate leak in a water line above the area in my basement where I had setup my quasi-mixing studio, and the resultant damage to drywall, carpet, etc., I have been able to convince my wife that it would be cheaper for me to construct a small room to house my "studio" than to replace the carpet in the entire basement.

Now for the dilemma. The space I have is 8 ft. by 8 ft., with one corner lopped off at 6 ft. from each side wall (to clear a ceiling fan). This lopped off section will probably be where the door will go. I'm trying to attach a file that shows my tentative layout. Along one of the 8 ft walls there is a dropped ceiling chase for plumbing, etc. that is 13 in. down by 39 in. deep.

Anyway, I'm looking for some ideas on how to best layout the room to get decent acoustics. I do all of my recording remotely, so this studio primarily gets used for mixing. My goals are to provide a place I can work without disturbing the rest of the house too much, and vice versa. Total isolation is not realistic, especially on a fairly limited budget.

In general terms, my equipment consists of a 24-channel mixer, a portable rack with dual-ADAT's, and a fixed rack with patchbays, effects, etc. I have been using a desk that is basically a 3 ft by 8 ft piece of plywood on top of a couple of 2 ft by 3 ft cabinets. My monitors are fairly large, JBL 4311's.

I'm planning to do staggered stud construction on the 2 walls I have to build, but that is as far as I've got it planned so far. The layout I'm attaching shows the mixer in the corner opposite the lopped off corner/door but I don't know if that is best or not.

Any ideas would be helpful.

Thanks,
Darryl.....

 

[TexRoadkill]

Are you stuck with those room dimensions? An 8x8x8 (assuming 8ft ceilings) is about the worst possible dimensions you could have. If you can offset the walls so they are not parallel that will be the best and if not at least change the dimensions so it is not a square. Squares are evil when it comes to acoustics.

 

[DDev]

Well, I can't grow any of the dimensions. I could get away with cutting one side down to 7 ft, but I don't think I can manage to get stuff in if I go much smaller.

My main issue is that the ruined carpet was 7 ft by 8 ft (and the drywall was 4 ft on one wall and 6 ft on the other), and that is my bargaining card.

My main reason for thinking about positioning the mixer/monitors in the corner was to offset the effect of the square, maybe by putting in a corner closeout behind the mixer to act as a bass trap and to break up the square, but I don't know enough to be sure this is a good idea.

I had also thought about possibly building some corner soffits for the speakers, with integral bass traps (like John describes on his site).

Darryl.....

 

[John Sayers]

Darryl - what you laid out is correct IMO - deaden the walls behind you and the door with 703 or equivalent. Put a bass trap in the corner in front of you, and in the other corners if possible.

Don't forget the ceiling, especially above you, - some 703 up there as well would help.

cheers
John

 

[DDev]

Thanks for the reply, John.

One other question: Is is possible to make functional bass traps out of those heavy cardboard tubes you can buy that are used to make cement footings? I've seen them in various diameters and lengths. My idea for the cement tubes is to stack a couple together to get as close to ceiling height as possible, stuff them with insulation, and seal the ends. This would be cheap to do, and wouldn't require much skill with angles to get it built.

If these are viable I'll probably use them in the left and right corners of my layout, but construct a trap across the corner behind the console to break up that area.

Have a good one!!

Darryl.....

 

[longsoughtfor]

DDev - Sonor tubes will not work as absorbers but will work as big round diffusors .

In order to absorb, a cyclindrical bass trap needs to allow some amount of air pressure difference to build up then breakdown -effectively dissipating the sound energy. A tube like you mention would never allow any enery in, it would just bounce off. The bass traps you are talking about are usually made from tubes of rigid fiberglass (pipe insulaion) and sealed at both ends. Do a search in this group for the topic and you will find lots of info.

Cheers
Kevin.

 

[Son of Mixerman]

Darryl - what you laid out is correct IMO

Ahhh. Its nice to see that someone remembers the most common way to get around squareness problems. Also I might add to make sure your not sitting dead center of the room, make sure your off one side or the other. If you can't skew the room...skew yourself!

SoMm