Starting out.

  • Thread starter Thread starter vermades
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vermades

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I posted this in another forum not realizing there was one for studios so i'll post it in here just to get some ideas.


I live in an apartment, i'm currently in the process of looking for a house to rent to start mixing properly. I will not be doing any recording what so ever for awhile, i'm just sampling for now and have many tracks finished just need to mix them.


My problem is finding a location. Someone mentioned getting a place out in the boonies somewhere, but unfortunetly I have no transportation and need to stay in or close to the town that I live to get to work so thats out.

I'm wondering what size room is ideal for mixing in?...I doubt i'd have the money to really do any acoustic treatment, that plus it will be a rental so thats out..... I'm just looking for a temporary place to be able to have a decent mix and if possible is there any cheap solutions to help my mix out by way of soundproofing and acoustic treatment...something cheap I could put together myself for minimal cost. i'm guessing I should try to find a house with a basement?
 
someone said cheap?

my understanding is that you can reduce some of the hi & med frequencys bouncing around your room by placing comforters, foam etc.. on the walls.

I've been collecting shipping egg-shaped foam sqaures...a lot of places throw this stuff away....other major shipping areas may just give you a few 2x2 sheets.

comforters are cheap.

carpet.

just deadning the walls a little, i noticed a big difference & improvement in my previous total- drywall room. 13x13.

listen to your favorite CD's and a goal of getting this to sound as good as possible, is a good starter.

and then you can start building bass traps...see threads by Todzilla and Michael Jones and others.

good luck...a lot of reading out there.
 
thx, well soon as i get the room i'll start scowering the thread for info on cheap solutions :)
 
I got a dumb question, could styrofoam blocks be used to help for a mixing room? I'm just asking because I could have access to free styrofoam blocks, more than i'd want...you know the ones they use in horticulture, for planting trees in. They're pretty thick maybe a little less than a foot thick, filled with holes or inserts.
 
With your parameters, I advise you to look for a room that is symmetrical, has dimensions that aren't simple multiples of each other, a cube being the worst of all. In other words, don't get a room that has one dimension exactly half of another, or exactly a third. There are some golden ratios (1 X 1.6 X 2.3 for example would be a 12.8 foot X 18.4 foot room with an 8 foot ceiling). These kind of ratios will minimize corrective acoustic treatments you have to perform.

Comforters and sleeping bags actually ain't a bad poor man's solution. They work best when hung from the ceiling such that there's a couple of inches airgap between them and the wall. If you want cheap bass traps, just get some rolls of pink insulation from the building supply store and stack them to the ceiling in each corner.

Styrofoam and foam may be of limited value, but man oh man, the fire hazard potential is pretty scary.
 
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