When is a big room TOO BIG?

[elbandito]

I just came across an opportunity to rent a 1200sq ft loft. The ceilings are probably 20 ft high, though I haven't measured it or anything. The side walls are exposed brick, the ceiling and floor are concrete and there is a floor-to-ceiling window. Obviously this is going to be a VERY reflective room.

I plan to build some gobos, hang heavy curtains and put up some diffusers but my question is: When is a big room TOO big? I mean, I couldn't guess the volume of this room but I'm willing to bet that it hold a heck of a lot of air and that means that there will be sounds all over the place. What would be the best way to tame the reflections in a room this size? I can't do anything to the ceiling and I can probably only cover the bottom 1/3 of the giant window. I just can't decide if it's worth trying to make this place into a live-in studio. I don't want to put a year's worth of income into making it sound perfect but I do want to tame it as much as possible.

One more thing: I'm for sure going to be rehearsing in this place and that will go a lot easier than recording, I'm sure. Would any of you advice against my trying to record live-off-the-floor in a space like this?

 

[witzendoz]

I don't think a room could ever be too big, however if you mean the room has too much reverb, yes you will need to treat for that.

Big rooms usually have less problems with the bottom end and you can spread out the musicians when recording them together, or if it's a control room, luxury, you can set up al your gear with plenty of room. 20 ft ceilings are awesome.

The only down side of treating large rooms is that you need more material to treat it and sound proof it.

I would always love to have bigger rooms.

alan.

 

[Bobbsy]

Yup. What Witzendoz said.

And don't forget you can use moveable screens etc. to split the place up if you even need a smaller acoustic for some reason--much easier than knocking a wall out of a room that's too small!

 

[Track Rat]

I just recently got access to a VERY large space to track in. It's an old factory. So far I've only tracked in the small room (35'x60'x12'). Tight mics still sound like tight mics on the drums and guitars. The room mics on the other hand sound killer in that they really sound like a "room".

 

[RAMI]

I plan to build some gobos, hang heavy curtains and put up some diffusers

You'd be wasting your time. "heavy curtains" will not help you at all. You need real bass traps in the corners and walls. Curtains, carpets, moving blankets, egg cartons, etc.....are useless for this. You'll need LOTS and LOTS of bass traps for a room like this. But once you do treat it properly, you'll probably end up with an awesome sounding room.

 

[Greg_L]

Man, acoustically treating that space is gonna be expensive. I'm no acoustical expert, but I'd leave it wide open and totally live. You can still close mic stuff to take the room away. Gobos could be good for a drum kit. Just mix somewhere else in a more controlled environment.

 

[RAMI]

Man, acoustically treating that space is gonna be expensive. I'm no acoustical expert, but I'd leave it wide open and totally live. You can still close mic stuff to take the room away. Gobos could be good for a drum kit. Just mix somewhere else in a more controlled environment.

Actaully, I agree with this, despite what I said. The reason I said it , though, was because I was assuming he was going to be mixing in there.

Like Greg said, as a live room, just leave it. If you want to make it a reliable mixing room, treatment will be really expensive.