Priorities? Ideas?

  • Thread starter Thread starter cstockdale
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cstockdale

cstockdale

supafly killa homey
We just bought a house.... yay.

Anyway. I have a space in the basement that I can use for a studio, but there are some tradeoffs taht have had to be made. As a "real estate" investment, we can't make it too gimicky, so the rooms sizes and shapes are somewhat fixed, so I am looking for the best ideas for treating the issues I will have:

The "studio" is a room 10' wide by 14' long. Control room is 5 1/2' wide by 10' long. I sadly have no choice about the shape of the rooms: this is where the walls are. In the long future this may be repairable, but for now it is not.

Walls are all double thickness with insulation (drywall--joist--fibreglass insulation ---joist--drywall). It is the basement, so the floor is solid. Will be finished with laminate. Ceiling will be insulated, and is 8' high.

The control room is too narrow for it to be arranged with the desk facing the studio and monitors pointing to the N wall, so I thought the desk should be in the W end, with monitors facing the long way in the room.


Is there any sort of interim treatment I can use to prevent a billion standing waves? Shelves in corners/along walls?
 

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5 1/2 wouldnt that be too cramped? Granted a desk probably takes up 3 feet of space, meaning you only have 2 feet left for a chair and you. hmm,...
 
That is why I was saying I would need to orient the desk the other way, so my back has ~7ft behind me. I can build a wraparound desk in one end of the control room (ie facing "down" in the picture, that way I can turn to my left to look out the window into the studio), My current desk is 3 1/2feet wide, so having 5 1/2 feet is an improvement in that dimension. I know I need to treat the walls of the room to temper reflections etc.
 
Thanks for the links: very useful.

Also wondering how to interpret "reverb calculators", I checked one out at http://www.csgnetwork.com/acousticreverbdelaycalc.html regarding RT60 time, and found that the shape of my room (studio, not control room) was making a peak in reverb frequencies at 2000 Hz of 1.79 seconds decay time, the reverb got shorter at lower and higher frequencies. This is with just painted sheetrock on walls and ceiling and hardwood floor. If I put a light drape across one long wall and a heavy drape across one short wall, this drops reverb decay times at all frequencies to ~ .30 seconds.

I am trying to understand what this would mean to my ears.
 
I agree with the others that the control room seems small, and you definitly want to be seated centered along the long axis (for both comfort and sound). Anyhow there is no need to mess with 'interim' treatment. Just get yourself two bales of 703 rigid fiberglass panels (one for the control room and one for the studio) and make some four inch thich DIY broadband absorbers. You do not glue these to the wall as you do with foam so there is nothing 'gimmicky' to reduce your investment. As a starting point I would sugges six four-inch broadband absorbers in the control room, mostly on the wall behind where you are seated. In the studio I would go with three four-inch broadband absorbers in corners and six two-inch absorbers to cut down the slap echoes on the large walls.
 
Innovations said:
I agree with the others that the control room seems small, and you definitly want to be seated centered along the long axis (for both comfort and sound). Anyhow there is no need to mess with 'interim' treatment. Just get yourself two bales of 703 rigid fiberglass panels (one for the control room and one for the studio) and make some four inch thich DIY broadband absorbers. You do not glue these to the wall as you do with foam so there is nothing 'gimmicky' to reduce your investment. As a starting point I would sugges six four-inch broadband absorbers in the control room, mostly on the wall behind where you are seated. In the studio I would go with three four-inch broadband absorbers in corners and six two-inch absorbers to cut down the slap echoes on the large walls.
Click to expand...


Can you post a link or give a more detailed description as to how to make these absorbers?

I want to have a decent sonic space, but I know that "studios" can really affect resale value. I saw a house that had a studio in it, and the real estate agent said it was hell to sell the house, everyone thought the wood-panelled non-symetrical room with a sloped ceiling and the irregular shape control room were just too weird.
 
Might you be better off using the small room as a booth? You'll probably have to do drums in the big room with you.. but everything else can just go in the booth.
 
cstockdale said:
Can you post a link or give a more detailed description as to how to make these absorbers?

I want to have a decent sonic space, but I know that "studios" can really affect resale value. I saw a house that had a studio in it, and the real estate agent said it was hell to sell the house, everyone thought the wood-panelled non-symetrical room with a sloped ceiling and the irregular shape control room were just too weird.
Click to expand...
DIY broadband absorbers are the simplest thing in the world to build. The most difficult part is finding a source of 3 or 4 pound per cubic foot fibergalss or mineral wool panels. The most typical model number is Owens Corning 703 but there is also Roxul, Johns Manville Spinglass and others. The important thing is you want 3 or 4 pounds per cubic foot unfaced.

Then just decide if you want framed or unframed absorbers, which is a matter of appearance mostly.

If you want unframed take a stack of panels equaling your desired thickness. Wrap in an accoustically open fabric (felt, burlap, Guilford of Maine, etc.) like it was a christmas package, pinning and gluing to seal. Then hang on the wall, usually using impaling clips.

If you want framed build a frame of 1x4 wood 2 feet by 4 feet inside dimensions. Fill with your fiberglass panels, cover with fabric as above and hang with eye hooks and picture wire just like a framed picture.
 
cstockdale said:
Can you post a link or give a more detailed description as to how to make these absorbers?

I want to have a decent sonic space, but I know that "studios" can really affect resale value. I saw a house that had a studio in it, and the real estate agent said it was hell to sell the house, everyone thought the wood-panelled non-symetrical room with a sloped ceiling and the irregular shape control room were just too weird.
Click to expand...


http://www.ethanwiner.com/BTPlans.gif

http://www.ethanwiner.com/BTParts.html

SoMm
 
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