Oz, you got me thinking about room adds....

[RichHead]

So now that I know that my setup "sucks" ( ), I'm thinking about room additions. I could do about a 15 x 20 room out back without messing with anything major. I know this isn't a lot of room, but I'm not a pro either. How might you divide a room this size for recording, or WOULD you even divide it? I know this is a pretty broad question, but if you have the time give it a shot

Thanks

 

[RichHead]

Nobody? I'm not looking for a technical drawing here folks.....Just some ideas. I've seen drawings, and I'm in the process of working with an engineer to create a drawing and have my plans submitted to the city

15 x 20 room - how would you divide it if it was yours?

Would you make a 15 x 10 wet bar and have naked girls (in cages of course) on the other 15 x10?

I'll take anything...anything at all

 

[Track Rat]

My existing setup is built in just a slightly larger room, 12'x27'. I devided that into two rooms, a live room 12'x16' and a control room 12'x10'. It has worked out pretty good but as rooms go it's still WAY too small. I'm contemplating changing everything around next year. I want to turn the existing area back into one room 12'x27' and use that as a control room and I want to turn my garage which is about 25' square into a live room.

 

[RichHead]

Thanks Track Rat. That actually sends me in a completely different direction being that it will attached to my garage as well....I know my space is small too, but I hadn't considered possible expansion into the garage space....Way cool.

 

[Ethan Winer]

Rich,

> about a 15 x 20 room ... How might you divide a room this size <

You might consider leaving it as one larger room. Not only would that give a better sound - the main goal - but then you could fit even more dancing girls (in cages, of course.)

--Ethan

 

[Green House]

I have a question that is related.

I am planning to build a small building about 20' x 30'

I was considering a separate control room and tracking room, but now I am having second thoughts. There are several advantages I can think of to a one room setup:

1. The tracking room will be larger

2. The mixing room will be larger (same room)

3. It will save me a pile of money and time to have one room

4. I can always divide it later

Problems with the one room design:

1. It will be impossible to hear what is going to disk...I will have to do test tracks to see how my sounds are coming together...thankfully hardrive space is cheap and easily reclaimed.

2. My mixing space will be the same space that the sound was originally recorded in. This seems bad to me...but I am unsure


I would appreciate any comment about the pros and cons...My biggest concern is the similarity of tracking and mixing spaces.

Thanks

 

[RichHead]

Re: Re: Oz, you got me thinking about room adds....

Rich,

> about a 15 x 20 room ... How might you divide a room this size <

You might consider leaving it as one larger room. Not only would that give a better sound - the main goal - but then you could fit even more dancing girls (in cages, of course.)

--Ethan

Hehe cool. Thanks Ethan...I still have to talk to my wife about those girls though....

Hey Greenhouse...you have twice the room as me. If I had 20 x 30, I would definately divy that up. I would put an iso room in there at least....

 

[Ethan Winer]

GH,

> It will be impossible to hear what is going to disk <

Yes, but if you record flat and with no effects you can always change it later, which is better anyway. The only real issue is not being able to hear changes in mike placement. But once you know the room and where to put mikes, that's not a problem.

I have one large room - 18x34 - and I love it. If I had to divide it, neither room would be nearly as good.

--Ethan

 

[Green House]

Ethan,

Thanks for the reply. I was thinking that having a nice big room would be of tremendous sonic advantage. Yes...I always record flat...when I said that I was referring to hearing changes in mic placement. I have always just ran test tracks to hear how it was sounding and this has worked reasonably well.

One question...can you think of a reason that it would be a problem to mix in the same acoustic space that you have recorded in? Will this cause a translation issue?

Thanks much

P.S. I also welcome anyone who thinks one big room is dumb to offer comment. Thx

 

[Michael Jones]

Ethan,

Thanks for the reply. I was thinking that having a nice big room would be of tremendous sonic advantage. Yes...I always record flat...when I said that I was referring to hearing changes in mic placement. I have always just ran test tracks to hear how it was sounding and this has worked reasonably well.

One question...can you think of a reason that it would be a problem to mix in the same acoustic space that you have recorded in? Will this cause a translation issue?

Thanks much

P.S. I also welcome anyone who thinks one big room is dumb to offer comment. Thx

My current space is a single room, about 17x20x9 (l,w,h).
I don't think I could ever hold a multi-track session in here, mainly because I have a huge grand piano in here as well, but partly because the room would just be too small for that many people.

I find that I have to do numerous test tracks as well. There is no monitoring while recording, and I think that's a major disadvantage, unless you're just recording yourself. Recording drums is impossible, there are just way too many sympathetic resonances happening.

A 20x30 room is decent sized. I would think that you could come up with a design that would allow for a control room, and a small iso booth, and still maintain the acoustic "flavor" of a large room for the majority of your tracking.

 

[Ethan Winer]

GH,

> can you think of a reason that it would be a problem to mix in the same acoustic space that you have recorded in? Will this cause a translation issue? <

I have heard people say it's bad to record and mix in the same room, and I agree to an extent. When I record a live string section with mikes far away, I can hear the sound of the room in the recording. That's fine and as it should be. But when I play it back and stand way back from the speakers, I hear more of that same sound yet again.

So I have decided to add a little more fiberglass absorption to reduce the room sound, which I plan to do soon. Even though my room is quite large by home studio standards, it's still too small to expect a sound free of room tone. The best part of my room is the hard wood floor, and I will not change that! Just add a little more absorbing on the walls and ceiling.

Also, the "room twice" effect occurs only when I stand well back from the speakers. Up close, in the heavily treated part of the room where the speakers are, the sound is always very clear and neutral.

The more important part of your question concerns translation. I think that has more to do with proper bass trapping than almost anything else.

--Ethan