Problematic room - Should I bother with acoustics?

  • Thread starter Thread starter flextone
  • Start date Start date
F

flextone

New member
Hi,

Recently moved to a new apartment and I'll be forced to work in the living room for the next 1.5 years. It's a very big room and I'll be in a corner with no acoustic treatment. The monitors are too close to the wall and there's nothing I can do about it without sitting in the middle of the doorway. Here are some pics. Should I bother with acoustics at all? Is there any way to make this situation better? And if so what would you recommend?

img3883g.jpg
img3885.jpg



Thanks!
 
flextone said:
Hi,

Recently moved to a new apartment and I'll be forced to work in the living room for the next 1.5 years. It's a very big room and I'll be in a corner with no acoustic treatment. The monitors are too close to the wall and there's nothing I can do about it without sitting in the middle of the doorway. Here are some pics. Should I bother with acoustics at all? Is there any way to make this situation better? And if so what would you recommend?

img3883g.jpg
img3885.jpg



Thanks!
Click to expand...
What are the dimensions of the room? Could you draw a plan or take some more pictures?
 
flextone said:
img3883g.jpg
img3885.jpg
Click to expand...

Just from those two pictures I can see a bunch 'o problems waiting to happen. I'd AT LEAST add 4" panels on the front wall behind the speakers and on the wall to your right. That corner is funky so you might get away without treating it for the short term.

Frank
 
flextone said:
Should I bother with acoustics at all?
Click to expand...

I see this type of question a lot, though I admit I don't understand it! If your room is really bad, then you need acoustic treatment even more than a better room does! It's like asking, "I'm really hungry, should I eat a snack or not even bother?" :D

--Ethan
 
Judging only from the pictures, that looks like an odd place within the room to set up. Why not the long way, in front of the window? Throw some heavy drapes up there, throw that bookshelf behind you, move the speakers a good 2 feet back from the window, and I'd imagine you'll be at least a little better off. Get some acoustic treatment going and you'll be even better!
 
Some more pics:

img3887t.jpg
img3888nt.jpg
img3889y.jpg


Ethan, the reason for this question is that as I wrote, this a temporary arrangement. And being a big room, treating all of it will cost, while I'm not sure that putting up some panels or foam behind the speakers will do anything.

Steve H. I can't move to that area as it is the "living" part of the living room and I'm married :)

Thanks guys.
 
flextone said:
Ethan, the reason for this question is that as I wrote, this a temporary arrangement. And being a big room, treating all of it will cost, while I'm not sure that putting up some panels or foam behind the speakers will do anything.
Click to expand...

I know, and I was mostly kidding. Here's the deal:

* Any treatment you buy or build now can be taken with you when you move. Just like speakers and other gear.

* Having absorption at the side-wall reflection points is far more important than behind the speakers.

* Even a few corner bass traps will make a big improvement.

Another problem I see is lack of symmetry. So simply moving your setup around can make some big improvements as well. More here:

How to set up a room

--Ethan
 
Is there any way to keep the speakers next to the same wall and make the arrangement more symmetrical?

And, will installing panels on the right side wall and behind the speakers make a noticeable difference?
 
Nice high ceiling; with some effort you should be able to get a great sound in there. To me it's a no brainer that you should do some work on it.
 
If you´re limited to this space and "almost" corner, do the best you can
I think you´ll have benefits from treating a good area behind the speakers, it may helps on some peaks and nulls due to the proximity speakers/boundarie.
(4" rockwool)

Treating the front wall/floor corner is a good idea too.
Also the rear wall to deal with the reflections from "all frequencies" (that´s why the ideal would be something like 6" (at least 4") broadband rockwool or similar + gap.

This will helps with frequency and decay , and a bit with the "lack of" symetry;but if you cannot move to the center of room (or better, the center of lenght -side of window), symetry/image/frequency response L and R speakers never will be accurate.

Ciro
 
flextone said:
Some more pics:

img3887t.jpg
img3888nt.jpg
img3889y.jpg


Ethan, the reason for this question is that as I wrote, this a temporary arrangement. And being a big room, treating all of it will cost, while I'm not sure that putting up some panels or foam behind the speakers will do anything.

Steve H. I can't move to that area as it is the "living" part of the living room and I'm married :)

Thanks guys.
Click to expand...
Why not centre your TV along one wall with each speaker to either side. This will symmetrise the room and you could listen to the tv over your good monitors.

From here, follow the standard acoustic setup, treating the first reflection points (side walls, ceiling and back wall) and bass traps in the corners.
 
pandamonk said:
Why not centre your TV along one wall with each speaker to either side. This will symmetrise the room and you could listen to the tv over your good monitors.

From here, follow the standard acoustic setup, treating the first reflection points (side walls, ceiling and back wall) and bass traps in the corners.
Click to expand...

Personally, I'd think you'd want the TV as far away from where you're recording as possible. Then again, I'd imagine you won't be watching TV while you're tracking!
 
Great, thanks for the reassurance everyone :)

So to recap: 4" panels behind the speakers and one on the right side wall. I'l get another carpet as well.

Should I go rockwool or what? Diffusion or absorption on the right side?
 
flextone said:
Great, thanks for the reassurance everyone :)

So to recap: 4" panels behind the speakers and one on the right side wall. I'l get another carpet as well.

Should I go rockwool or what? Diffusion or absorption on the right side?
Click to expand...
There are far more important areas which need to be treated than BEHIND the monitors.
 
flextone said:
Hi,

Recently moved to a new apartment...Is there any way to make this situation better? And if so what would you recommend?
Click to expand...

The professional room treatments were a little too expensive for me, and the science of treating a room just goes over my head, so I improvised and made some moving blanket baffles. They are very easy to make and easy to assemble and disassemble so you can put them away when you are done recording or have visitors over, won't mark the walls and you can take them with you when you move.

The PVC parts and springs will cost you around $15 and the moving blanket should also be around $15. The only tools needed are a hacksaw and sandpaper to sand the rough edges off the cut pipes. When taking the frame apart you may need a pair of channel lock pliers to help you twist and loosen the connectors.

I used 1" PVC pipe and fittings.

Here is what you’ll need to make one baffle:

PARTS:
4 - 1" x 10' pipes
4 - 1" T fittings
4 - 1" Couplers or Caps
2 - 1" Elbows
2 - Spring Clips
1 - Moving Blanket

Tools:
Hacksaw
Sandpaper
Channel Lock Pliers

1. Cut 8" off of each 10' pipe (for the feet), then cut off an addition 2 feet from each pipe. Take one of the 2' pieces and cut it in half. These will be the feet and legs for the frame.

2. Use a T-Connector and attach two 8" feet and one 12" leg, then place couplers on the ends of the feet. Repeat for the second leg.

3. Use the other two T-Connectors and two Elbow connectors to connect the 4 long sections of pipe to make the square frame and then attach the legs.

4. Fold the top 3" or 4" of the blanket over the top cross bar and clip the corners to the side of the blanket to hold it in place.

That's it.

soundwavebaffles003.jpg


soundwavebaffles004.jpg


In addition to the baffles, I had tall bookshelves covering one full wall. I pulled random books "out of alignment" to make the surface uneven, the way they do with those expensive wooden sound diffusers. I also tacked old pillows into the upper corners of the room and stacked the family sleeping bags in one corner.

It's not high tech, nor pretty, and I didn't get every area, but it helped reduce the sound reflections a lot and made my recordings sound much better.


D
 
There are far more important areas which need to be treated than BEHIND the monitors.
Click to expand...

Would anybody care to enlighten me? What else is there? Behind my listening position is a door to another room. The bookshelf on the right can be worked on a little. But other than that, I can only think of the right side wall and behind the monitors. Hanging panels from the ceiling will be difficult with my landlord, besides, it's high enough and I only want to get to an acceptable arrangement, not completely dead listening area.
 
pandamonk said:
There are far more important areas which need to be treated than BEHIND the monitors.
Click to expand...

There's the back of the room and back corners, yes...MORE important though? I'm not sure. He's got two BIG problems to start off with: he's right up against the front wall and he's much closer to the right wall than the left. Though, like every small room, modal information will dominate the sonic landscape for the most part, the two problems above will probably cause bigger perceptible acoustic issues right off the bat.

Frank
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top