Where to start??

[Hacksore]

Ok keep in mind that im new to the whole studio thing. I have an extra room in my house and about 10k to throw around. Take a look

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All of the walls are typical house drywall except the left side wall is concrete (its next to the garage). The back wall has 2 windows and an aluminum door. A friend suggested some wall offsets in the form of those office cubicle walls and some auralex. And i was thinking that little offshoot to the room in the back right would be a good bass trap spot?
Floors are concrete with old asbestos tiling. Should i lay carpet or no carpet?

So many questions haha.

Help a rookie out with some suggestions please!

 

[technominds]

and about 10k to throw around. Take a look

Thats alot to throw around :O

The main issue we need to resolve first is; what will you be recording?

 

[Hacksore]

Mostly hard rock and metal with live drums.

 

[technominds]

Will you want a live room, or would you settle for recording everything in the same room?

 

[Hacksore]

I could probably do it in one room.

 

[Ethan Winer]

> Help a rookie out with some suggestions please! <

The best way to set up that room is to cap off the narrow area at the upper right so you have a single wall 8 feet long. Then put the speakers in front of that wall facing toward the left. Then put the mix position so your ears are 6 feet from the newly extended wall you're now facing when listening. Much more info here:

www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html

--Ethan

 

[Hacksore]

Something like this? The only thing is that back wall has baseboard heat along it, and if i capped off that area id have to tear up the heater, which im trying to avoid.

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

Here is what I would do. No time to explain, although I'm sure other members would have no problem.....think 703 and a vocal booth.
fitZ

 

[jkokura]

All those yellow blocks on Rick's post are probably Bass traps, absorbers, etc... These are wall units... Check out Ethan's site, and also check out this site http://johnlsayers.com/HR/index1.htm by John Sayers. Assembling these in the right spots will allow you to control the sound in the room. Sorry if this is obvious, but you did call yourself a rookie...

jacob

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

Ok, got two minutes before work beckons. The yellow squares are fabric covered 2'x4' panels of 4" thick Owens Corning 703 rigid fiberglass spaced 1" off the wall. They are BROADBAND absorbers. The triangle corner units are diagonals cut from these panels and stacked in corners floor to ceiling. They are placed there because that is where LOW FREQUENCY room modes(resonances) terminate and occilate. They are "modal traps", NOT bass traps. Bass trap is a misnomer. Why would you want to remove bass from the sonic spectrum? Anyway, this stuff really works wonders. Here is a pic of the corner unit on the floor in a testing lab. Since modes collect in ALL corners, the
SUPERCHUNKS, as they are refered to, should be used at the wall/ceiling intersections as well.

fitZ

 

[Ethan Winer]

> Something like this? <

Exactly. And if you need access to the heater, put a door there instead of closing it up permanently with sheet rock.

 

[pandamonk]

Why cap off that section. Wouldn't it be better to knock down the closet and open up the room a little(If this is possible, of course)?

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

Why cap off that section. Wouldn't it be better to knock down the closet and open up the room a little

Good catch there pandamonk. I must be blind.

 

[Hacksore]

I really appreciate the help guys. However im deciding to put it off untill i can find a better suited space. I just cant see spending so much money on such a really cramped space. Ive learned a lot though so if i change my mind i know where to get started.

 

[travelin travis]

I really appreciate the help guys. However im deciding to put it off untill i can find a better suited space. I just cant see spending so much money on such a really cramped space. Ive learned a lot though so if i change my mind i know where to get started.

You could take all of the absorbers with you to your new space. There really would'nt be any money wasted. You might be very surprised when you hear how the absorption changes your room's sound. You would also be getting a jump start when moving to your new space.

 

[pandamonk]

What I'd do is knock down that closet, and build an insulated stud wall with door as shown, as rick suggested(this could be used as a vocal and amp booth). Then I'd buy 8 of brians 4" bass buster acoustic cotton and 1 of his 3.5" Bulk Pack Cotton Bass Absorber packs. The 4" bass buster I'd mount in frames leaving the edges shown, like attached pic, and cover the whole thing in "breathable" fabric, then place them in the corners as shown. With the 3.5" id cut each (almost) 8' section in half and mount it the same as the 4", and use these in in the positions shown(where the middle is around ear height). With one of the 3.5", id cut it in half and either mount it in a much lighter frame, or not mount it at all, then cover in fabric. These I'd place 1 above the mixing position is the first reflection point, and one about the drumkit. That should suffice in the acoustic treatment. Now onto equipment: I've heard many good things about the presonus firepod, I'd get this, a pair of Studio projects B1s, a couple SM57s, a bass mic(AKG D112?), 3 or so tom mics(SM58s would suffice), a DI box, 4 large boom stands and 6 mini boom stands. A nice desk, i'd probs build. Possibly a behringer bcf2000 for control of what's on the screen. A nice powerful, probably dual-core processor computer. Software, I'd go with Sonar 5 Producers edition. And some decent monitors(unsure about these, too much choice). I'd also invest in 2 pairs of Closed-Type High-Performance Studio Headphones. Then a bunch of, maybe 12, XLR-XLR leads, and what else you may need. Just my .02

Everything in this suggestion could be used in another room if you decided to move, apart from the stud wall and door obviously. But this would be a decent storage area, and it helps isolate the room from the rest of the house a little.

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

hey panda. only got a minuite or two. Those absorption coefficients shown in the link
http://sensiblesoundsolutions.com/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=32


...hmmmmmm. Questionable to say the least. When you click on the "web page" midpage, it goes here
http://www.acousticalsurfaces.com/echo_eliminator/bassbust.htm?d=0

look at the 4" ad. There is a button for acoustical tests. It goes here...

http://www.acousticalsurfaces.com/echo_eliminator/echo_acou_test.htm

There is NO test for 4". Only at the bottom there is a test for six panels, of TWO layers of 2" panels...HUNG BY CABLES Then read the "coefficients"!!!!

I've found dozens of this kind of bullshit on this site. I even emailed them about their test results where one page didn't jive with the others. Talk about snake oil. Believe what you will though. Show me the manufacturers "lab acoustical coefficients" test results. I bet you won't find them.


fitZ

 

[pandamonk]

hey panda. only got a minuite or two. Those absorption coefficients shown in the link
http://sensiblesoundsolutions.com/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=32


...hmmmmmm. Questionable to say the least. When you click on the "web page" midpage, it goes here
http://www.acousticalsurfaces.com/echo_eliminator/bassbust.htm?d=0

look at the 4" ad. There is a button for acoustical tests. It goes here...

http://www.acousticalsurfaces.com/echo_eliminator/echo_acou_test.htm

There is NO test for 4". Only at the bottom there is a test for six panels, of TWO layers of 2" panels...HUNG BY CABLES Then read the "coefficients"!!!!

I've found dozens of this kind of bullshit on this site. I even emailed them about their test results where one page didn't jive with the others. Talk about snake oil. Believe what you will though. Show me the manufacturers "lab acoustical coefficients" test results. I bet you won't find them.


fitZ

Yeah. Talk to brian about it, it's him who's selling it. There's been no tests on the 4" because it was made specially for brian, and is the 5.5" but compressed and dyed. I heard some good things about it, but yeah the coefficients are questionable. I'm glad you've emailed them, cause I'm thinking of buyiong a load of this stuff, and if they're lying then I'll forget about it. Brain seems confident in them though, to me.

 

[lomky]

Hey Rick, how about the specs for the Roxul RXL-40 4". I can't find anything about how the tests were done. Wouldn't something like that be done by CSA or Underwriters? There are ASTM/CAN/ULC numbers on all the specs except the absorption. Of course to buy those tests is pricey so I haven't seen them. The results are here:

http://roxul.com/graphics/RX-NA/Canada/products/rxl_board/RXL40-ENG-12-21-05.pdf

I'm sure you've seen it before. I do have access to this stuff from a supplier but it is pretty expensive.

http://www.crossroadsci.com/product...tion=view&feature=catalog&stage=&type=product

4" at $2.63 CDN/SF. Haven't been able to find any 704 here in Edmonton.

I guess my question is I remember reading one of Ethan's posts saying something about the products are tested on a hard surface and can go above 1.00 for absorption. Where can I find more info about this?

I must say that you and Ethan have taught me so much about this stuff, and it is all appreciated.

Heading over to Mr. Sayer's site to learn more...

 

[bpape]

I have asked for specific coefficients for the 4" material but have not gotten anything from them yet. The coefficients to use that would be closest would be the ones for the 3.5". They show the 5.5" numbers but that difference in thickness will certainly make a difference.

I didn't realize the link on their site was not correct. I simply linked to their test data. Let me see if I can get some additional data to link to.

Oh, and by the way, the 4" is not made just for me. It is a product that they offer at wholesale to a few vendors. It is, as you described, essentially the same material as the 5.5" but compressed slightly, cut into 2x4's and dyed a charcoal color.


Bryan