Studio Treatment Problems

[analog_out]

Hi,
This is my first post. I've read a lot of the stuff like the SOS book on setting up your studio and I'm having some problems as most of the examples show closed rooms. My problem is that we have 2 rooms that open onto eachother the length of the house. Half is used as the living room and the other half is the dining room where I set up my gear. There is no door/wall separating the two. Unfortunately this is the only space I can use (family already not too happy about me taking up the dining room!!) but I really don't understand about how to treat it. Would I have to do the whole room including the living room as well? Could I get away with putting some kind of curtain up in the join between the rooms? Would that work? Is there even a solution? Am I stuck forever with a headphone mix?!!

 

[KineticSound]

There are too many variables to give you a definitive answer, but in general:

A. Deal with the bass frequencies in the corners first.

B. Deal with primary reflection points next.

C. In your case, probably provide some separation just for the sake of the people in the adjoining room. Something I use a fair amount in my studio is a homemade "gobo" made from an inexpensive clothing rack (one of those deals you see at Target/Walmart to hang your laundry on), over which I've draped a packing blanket secured by two large clips. It has wheels on the bottom, so I can roll it around. To your point, it's basically just a heavy curtain that can go wherever it's needed.

And I don't mean to sound like your spouse, but if you're in a dining room, be thinking "temporary" in case it ever needs to get moved. In my earlier studio, I mounted acoustic panels in frames that I could hang on the walls like pictures. You can also run vertical holes in foam bass traps and mount them on mic stands rather than glue them to the wall.

 

[DM60]

Not sure where you are located, but you could build some temp walls with Roxul Safe and Sound to reduce the sound coming out of the dinning room and to make sure that the other room has less influence on your setup.

If you can setup a nice partition with some Safe and Sound, I think the other room will not be an issue. Even if it is only 4 foot high by X wide, should yield decent results.

Others may have better guidance.

 

[mjbphotos]

Good tips from the guys above - build yourself some kind of movable sound abosrbtion gobos. Read in the Studio Buildng section of these forums how to make bass traps - 2'x4' is typical size. You can construct these so they stack up. Hang them on the wall, or stack in the basement when not in use.

 

[The Uninvited]

A much better and cheaper alternative is to buy your household a pair of headphones each. That way you can make as much noise as you like and not disturb them.

 

[DM60]

A much better and cheaper alternative is to buy your household a pair of headphones each. That way you can make as much noise as you like and not disturb them.

For tracking, probably true, but one still needs to tame the room for tracking and second, mixing with monitors in a good room usually yields better results for the final mix. Which is a primary focus of mixing to get your final mix to sound good in as many environments as possible.