small control room - worthless?

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mncheetah

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Would a control room with the following dimentions be worthless?

10'x6' with a 7' ceiling - simple rectangle.

What are potential problems with a control room of that size?
 
MN,

> Would a control room with the following dimentions be worthless? <

That size certainly is less than ideal, but could be made workable if you cover pretty much every surface with broadband absorption including enough bass traps.

--Ethan
 
By 'broadband absorbers' do you mean slot resonators? I do have one slot resonator built into one of the walls. Is there anything that would take up less space like the typical foam with cones or ripples? What would be the most efficient method, efficient meaning space and frequency absorption?

Thanks.
 
MN,

> By 'broadband absorbers' do you mean slot resonators? <

No, I mean treatment that absorbs over a wide frequency range. In other words, something like fiberglass for the mids and highs, and efficient bass traps to handle a significant portion of the low frequency range.

> I do have one slot resonator built into one of the walls. <

The problem with small rooms is they need proportionally more bass trapping than larger rooms. If you cover at least 30 percent of the room surfaces with bass traps, you'll have a much flatter low frequency response than covering only 5 percent. You didn't say how large your slot resonator is, but unless it takes up an entire wall it's probably not enough.

> Is there anything that would take up less space like the typical foam with cones or ripples? What would be the most efficient method, efficient meaning space and frequency absorption? <

Foam is one of the least efficient absorbers, though it's fairly easy to work with. Rigid fiberglass is much better at all frequencies, and dedicated bass traps are better still for low frequencies. Not wanting to turn this into an advertisement, but have a look at my company's site:

www.realtraps.com

Especially the MiniTraps page. That will give you some ideas. Also see the FAQ article for my Acoustics forum:

www.recording.org/users/acoustics

--Ethan
 
Hey Ethan. You have my order on a sticky pad on your desk. I WILL be making the purchase this week! I have a bit bigger room than what's described here, but still small. The corners are tough to caddy corner the minitraps on a wall/wall install due to lack of space. Will caddy cornering the wall/ceiling joint, centered on each of the four walls be effective too? Just as effective? That would be 4 minitraps up at the top of each wall caddying the ceiling, in the center of each wall. And of course, lots of 703/5 cloth covered for the rest of the wall surface. In fact, the monitor wall would have the minitrap up top centered, and then 703/5 alternating along the width of the wall behind the monitors. Thanks. I know, I'm not forgetting my order..promise! BTW- I'm referring lots of people over to your site, and they love what they see. Also, it's great you offer the fiberglass panels covered too. Think about designer colored fabrics, even for the mintraps. Function and choice of colors. A winning combo!

Dan
 
Dan,

> You have my order on a sticky pad on your desk. <

Yes, I do. :)

> Will caddy cornering the wall/ceiling joint, centered on each of the four walls be effective too? <

Absolutely. A corner is a corner. And a wall is a floor. That point was made clear to me when we tested our large panel traps at IBM's acoustics lab. I asked how they planned to mount them, since they are made to hang on a wall. The chief engineer said they don't - they just put them laying on their backs on the floor because it's exactly the same thing!

> Think about designer colored fabrics, even for the mintraps. Function and choice of colors. A winning combo! <

We've almost sold out our first batch of MiniTraps, and the next batch - being made now - will include some black MiniTraps with black fabric.

--Ethan
 
Thanks Ethan, and your page about minitrap installation is awesome. It helped answer my questions as well. Call you Monday.
 
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