Room acoustics help needed PLEASE

[LCD]

I'm not sure where to post this so here goes....

I'm looking to get the best sound for mixing out of my room. The "diagram" is below (lol). It's really the carpeted basement. The top left corner is the stairwell that leads upstairs. There is no door at the bottom, only at the top. The middle left is a doorway that leads to a laundry room. By colors, here's what I have in my room:

Black: TV on a stand
Brown: Dresser
Red: Queen size bed
Blue: L-Shaped desk (my music corner)

This picture is not hardly to scale but measurements are approximately 20 ft. x 13 ft. and the ceiling is about 8 ft. high. Walls are drywall mostly with the exception of the left side, adjoining the laundry room. That "wall" is simply a thick cardboard-like laminate covering over wood beams.

All that being said, I will be upgrading my setup in a month. I also want to make sure I have my room set up the proper way to get the best possible mix position and a section for recording vocals.

I'm up for moving stuff around in order to get what I need so here are my questions:

1. Where should my desk be in order to get the best possible mixes from my room?
2. Since I have no acoustic treatment at all so far, what should I get and where should I put it? Please keep in mind that I'm on a budget so i guess list in order of priority.

Thanks for reading this long ass post, any help is appreciated more than you understand...

 

[Ethan Winer]

> Where should my desk be in order to get the best possible mixes from my room? <

The drawing below shows the ideal setup for a rectangular room like that.

> Since I have no acoustic treatment at all so far, what should I get and where should I put it? Please keep in mind that I'm on a budget so i guess list in order of priority. <

That's a deep question - more than can fit in a single reply here. Likewise, "on a budget" means vastly different things to different people. The short version is:

* Broadband (not tuned) bass traps straddling as many corners as you can manage, including the wall-ceiling corners.

* Mid/high frequency absorption at the first reflection points on the side walls and ceiling.

* Some additional amount of mid/high absorption on any large areas of bare parallel surfaces, such as opposing walls or the ceiling if the floor is reflective.

For the complete story see my Acoustics FAQ:

www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html

There's a lot of additional non-sales technical information on my company's site, linked under the drawing below.

--Ethan

 

[LCD]

Thanks Ethan!

I actually watched a couple of your videos last night so it's ironic you replied. Thanks for your insight... my question now is... would it be best to use the wall adjacent to the stairs as my front wall... in other words, with my monitors firing away from the stairs?

 

[Ethan Winer]

> would it be best to use the wall adjacent to the stairs as my front wall... in other words, with my monitors firing away from the stairs? <

If the room is longer left-right in your drawing, you should put the speakers on the right facing left. Symmetry is most important in the front of the room, so the stairs should be behind you.

--Ethan

 

[LCD]

LOL @ my terrible drawing... the room is actually longer up-down... so i'd need to move the bed (dammit) and turn the desk around?

 

[TamaSabian]

Sorry, that I use your thread LCD, but I have almost the same question. Looking at the picture, do you think that monitors are well located???. Placing them against a wall is a must???. What if you have 1 room studio??
Thanks TS