Small Room Acoustics

[Real100]

My current room is about 15x11x7.5' ht, so I say use your spare bedroom, But don't use tile for the floor, too reflective and noisy. Hardwood would be best, otherwise consider laminate. But for now, leave the carpet, and see what things are like. The larger family room would only be a good option if you could add acoustic treatment in it.
GIJ Acoustics and ARS Acoustics are two good sources for rockwool or compressed fiberglass panels (and it is very easy to make your own).

I was going to use area rugs on top of the tile. The main area of the house is all wood-look tile, so I thought I might try to match it up. I'm planning to remove a closet from the room, so I will get a full 14x10. Currently there's a closet taking up about 3x8 on the back wall. I could leave the carpet, but I hear many folks recommend going with the hard surface with area rug on top. Also, that might make it easier to roll chairs around. I'm going to be hiring contractors to remove a closet, so I could add the flooring piece to the job. Will the tile really be a problem with area rugs on top? My realtor mentioned that the wood-look tile was the best flooring option available as far as durability goes. I do like the look of hardwood, but not sure if that's my best option for resale versus trying to match the flooring in the main area of the home. Resale is not my top priority, though, and I'm sure I could still sell the home later if this room had hardwood in it.

What's a good initial approach for treatment? I was thinking broadband absorbers on side walls and ceiling with bass traps in all corners. I forget how the door is located in the room, but it might prevent me from treating one corner. Would you recommend absorbers only for a 14x10 room or would there be any benefit from also adding diffusion? I've been reading a lot of stuff. I forget but seems like it was stated that the diffusers are really more for larger rooms and small room should just be lots of absorption.

 

[Real100]

Less than 1,500 cubic feet he says don't bother. Maybe I will just set up in the main living area. I could try to add treatment there. I'm attaching my floorplan. This is not exactly my floorplan. Mine has the optional 4th bedroom, so I will have to rip out a closet if I want a true 14x10 room. Maybe I will just try setting my desk up in the main area. I'm thinking I would have to set up the long way. Would that be better than using the bedroom?

 

[mjbphotos]

Right, diffusion does no good in a small room. Each to his own, as far as the floor goes. Hardwood is always the most expensive (and preferred) floor for most people - unless this is a concrete slab floor. This 'wood-llo' tile is a fairly new product so I haven't heard anything about it. Lots of grout to consider. The advantage of laminate or hardwood - no seams.
You should consider 4" thick (minimum) traps in all the corners - if there's a door in one corner, can you mount the traps so they can be moved easily into position, or are at least against one wall? 2" thick (at least) in point-of-first reflection on either side of your mixing area (use the mirror trick to find the positions) and as a ceiling cloud, if possible.
If your monitors have rear-firing bass ports, you will want traps behind them, as well, unless they are least 3 feet out form the front wall (unlikely in a room that size).
You should strive for an equally-balanced room, left-to-right, as much as possible.

Fixed my typos in previous reply - GIK and ATS for traps.

 

[balky]

I made my own post.

https://homerecording.com/bbs/threads/fixing-booth-sound.428357/

 

[basscleaner]

I would like to say some words after reading the thread and further discussion. The first of all, to my opinion, any room design projecting for sound recording or critical listening must begin from acoustical dimensions choice. What does it mean? It means that dimensions of your room must be, the first, hard to ensure good defense from outer noise, the second, to provide smooth FR in LF range with minimum spread from target function (no more, than -+1.5 dB), the third, control listening zone must be wide enough. The execution of these conditions corresponds to Acoustical Dimensions existing for initial space dimensions and LF sound sources places in the room. In my practic I had some cases, when user tried to change your old front speakers or sub by news with very bad final results. Why this was happened? Because there was shifting of maximum SPL speaker center for new speakers. It means, that SPL speaker(s) center(s) and AD must be in cooperation between each other. Because any room is the resonator. Only after AD determination (by REW, for instance) one may to perform the design by acoustical treatment, working with first reflections, F balance, reverberation etc

 

[Seeker of Rock]

I would like to say some words after reading the thread and further discussion. The first of all, to my opinion, any room design projecting for sound recording or critical listening must begin from acoustical dimensions choice. What does it mean? It means that dimensions of your room must be, the first, hard to ensure good defense from outer noise, the second, to provide smooth FR in LF range with minimum spread from target function (no more, than -+1.5 dB), the third, control listening zone must be wide enough. The execution of these conditions corresponds to Acoustical Dimensions existing for initial space dimensions and LF sound sources places in the room. In my practic I had some cases, when user tried to change your old front speakers or sub by news with very bad final results. Why this was happened? Because there was shifting of maximum SPL speaker center for new speakers. It means, that SPL speaker(s) center(s) and AD must be in cooperation between each other. Because any room is the resonator. Only after AD determination (by REW, for instance) one may to perform the design by acoustical treatment, working with first reflections, F balance, reverberation etc

And to add to the OP, this ^ ^ and this v v:
transmission loss (often called ‘soundproofing’ where you don’t hear sound escaping outside of the room) and sound treatment (tuning for LF buildup and errant HF reflections) are two separate things. If just tuning your room acoustically (most important for mix and playback), generally speaking avoid right angle when possible in walled construction. If you’re retrofitting an existing room with unavoidable right angles, you can easily build bass absorbers in corners and use side panels for first reflections on parallel side walls, and ‘clouds’ to help a flat ceiling.

 

[basscleaner]

And to add to the OP, this ^ ^ and this v v:
transmission loss (often called ‘soundproofing’ where you don’t hear sound escaping outside of the room) and sound treatment (tuning for LF buildup and errant HF reflections) are two separate things. If just tuning your room acoustically (most important for mix and playback), generally speaking avoid right angle when possible in walled construction. If you’re retrofitting an existing room with unavoidable right angles, you can easily build bass absorbers in corners and use side panels for first reflections on parallel side walls, and ‘clouds’ to help a flat ceiling.

The only point, where "transmission loss and sound treatment" are crossing is low frequencies range. Moreover, putting bass traps in room corners may significantly impoverish sound timbre. More hard and thick walls force bass response and distortion. Use of drywall with air gap may "kill" some bass frequencies at all. And repeat, one needs to consider, that place of maximum power point of sound source strongly changes room response with the step about of 10 cm.