Recording Room Design

[thealpha]

My parents are building a new home and they said I could design a recording studio in the basement. I was wondering what dimensions I should use for the room because I've heard on the web that rectangular or square rooms are not sonically the best. Is this true? I was also wondering if I should have all the sound dampening in one room or have two separate rooms, one for the editing and a smaller room for recording. Does this make sense, or should I do both recording and editing in the same acoustically treated room? Any ideas on shape of room and sound reduction techniques will be much appreciated.

Thanks for the advise!

 

[JFrankParnell]

as for the configuration of it, will you be performing on the recordings? If its mostly going to be you and your band, I would try to have an all one room situation.

And, yes, rectangles are no good without lots of room treatment.

So, with those 2 points in mind, and the fact that youre starting from nothing (not an existing room), it would be cool to do a trapezoid with your mixing station in the narrow side, firing out to the rear, wider wall. Try to get them to build a kind of tall room also, so you have room for sound control on the ceiling.

lucky!

 

[jhbrandt]

Sorry guys, - wrong.

Rectangle rooms are calculable. Odd shapes with slanted walls often have anomalous standing wave patterns that are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to correct. Not to mention that they are difficult and expensive to build.

The non-rectangular walls that you keep seeing in photos and posts are not the massive shell walls of the studio - or at least should not be. These slanted walls are for reflection control and flutter elimination only.

If you need a studio designer, PM me.

You want to have a look at the volume you have to work with and then determine exactly what you need - as well as future needs. You can then determine whether a one room control & recording, or two room situation will suit you best.

You can get a copy of my room mode calculators here: METRIC - SAE

If you need help understanding them - let me know.
Good luck!

Cheers,
John