Wierd room dimensions

[Guernica]

Hi Guys,
Ive had my little home studio set up in an 11x10 bedroom in my house. Well, due to an addition to the family on the way, Im getting evicted to the garage (where all daddies end up ) Im wondering if some of you guys can help me set this up to sound as best as it can. After taking a good look at the space i will have available, this is what ive come up with. Im not too worried about the construction end, but the room dimensions have me concerned. Ive kicked the back wall out of parallel, should i do this to the wall at the left as well? The other 2 walls are perimeter walls and pretty much there as they are. .........since the room is so small, should i deaden it as much as I can, or ?
I track as well as mix in this room, so im looking for the best results i can get for both worlds. Obviously i wont be tracking any live drums in here, but i would like to be able to record vocals, guits, etc.

Thank you very much in advance for any info you can offer.

Mike

 

[knightfly]

Splaying the walls any more, assuming the only one this can be done to is the one on the left, would make the room even smaller. I wouldn't have done the bottom wall at an angle in this case, because now any reflections from that wall will arrive at different times (about 5 milliseconds round trip different) which could really confuse speaker imaging.

If you've already done this, would it be possible to push the lower left corner out even with the lower right, making a convex "V" as seen from inside? That would give some diffusion at the rear of the room, and make it symmetrical. Non-symmetrical is NOT good in a stereo listening field.

If you can't do that, maybe you could build a big gobo that could act as a dummy wall parallel to the front wall but located near the rear wall, with diffusion (slats, for example) on the side toward the speakers, then be shoved up against the rear wall when tracking, or used for isolation where necessary. the other side could be made absorptive for more choices.

With an 8 foot ceiling and an 8 foot wall, you will have modal problems at 70, 140, 210 and 280 hZ. If possible, a drop ceiling at the front, 6 ft. rising back to full height near the middle, then dropping again would help tame those modes and improve stereo imaging. 4" foam at sides and behind the mix desk, and place monitors as far from walls and corners as you can. Not much room for couches, so probably corner bass traps, preferably floor to ceiling in all 4 corners since it's a small room. If you figure the average length of the room as 12.5 feet and the average ceiling height as 7, (6 to 8) then the modal distribution looks pretty decent. If you can somehow regain a symmetrical listening field, you should be in good shape overall.

What are you using to record? How noisy is it? If it can be heard without straining, have you considered an isolation box or something? Whatever you can hear in the room, any decent mic will proudly hold up for the world to hear, especially on acoustic guitar, vocal, or any other source quieter than 100 dB or so...

That's the first layer off the top of my head, anybody else wanna hazard a SWAG as to what this room will sound like, please don't be shy... Steve

 

[Guernica]

Knightfly.....
....wow, very useful information here, .....thanks. Im not sure what you mean about pushing out the lower lft corner of the room. ......mmmmm. Do you mean making the back wall wider than 8'? ....Im afraid i cant do that. .....another reason for the slanted wall at the bottom is parking in the garage
I can see why symmetry would be important for the stereo field, thanks for setting me straight there. Would tilting the wall out of plumb be beneficial to me. Im just trying to control any reverb for tracking purposes..... ....maybe that isnt necessary though..... I dunno.
I understand what you mean about building a gobo(?) for the rear of the room to regain symmetry..... that also lends itself to a great way to make a small Iso booth out of that corner.... ...I like that alot. And as you mentioned, I could build it to be pushed up against the wall when not in use. Regarding ceiling height.....the only problem with that is I am 6'7". ....I'll see what i can do though. Im recording with a Tascam 788...... and yeah, that stinker is evident when im using condensers. ...another reason to have the isolation wall that you mentioned. What does the isolation box you mentioned entail?
........thank you very much for the insight......... Its very appreciated.
Mike

 

[caretaker9]

Hey ya Pal...
I think the 'isolation box' he was referring to would be utilized to act as a 'doghouse' for any hard drive noise generating units... Simply a box with a vent for cooling purposes, and lined with acoustic foam or equivalent... Maybe you could slant the ceiling from 7' to 8'... . Sounds as if a 'gobo' is a sort of movable partition-type wall... Some good ideas, hopefully others shall chime in... Keep us posted!