Wooden Room.

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 3:17 pm

Hi,
New to the site and just now begining to get into sound production. I've played in a band all my life and just now learning how to record music.

Two things:

1) Anyone have any opinions on Behringer mixers? I just ordered the Eurodesk SL3242FX Pro.

2) Acousticly, could this room be decent for recording? Obviously the room will be cleared of items not studio related, but what are some main things, judging from my pics, I will have to do? Its all cedar and the dimensions are aprox 15x15.

Thanks

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 3:41 pm

Welcome to RO!

The bad news first -
search "Behringer" on this site and you'll find out the opinions. I could tell you mine here, but I've vented about it enough...

The other bad news -
In general (I don't know many if any exceptions to this rule), rooms with identical dimensions (or even darn close to identical) are generally bad in that they have a double mode in the room. However, judicious use of acoustic treatment or book cases can fix or assist in fixing this.

The good news is - the room looks cool and would probably prove to be a very good place for creativity to flourish.

Cheers-
J.

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 3:43 pm

Well being that you've already ordered the mixer, it's probably best that you discover it's qualities or lack of.

In regards the room. The first thing I noticed is that the windows have been treated with plastic "weather-proofing". This would be the biggest concern to me. If you have humidity issues, that will be bad for your gear and your voice. If the humidity fluctuates, so will the sound of your instruments and your vocals.

The other thing that struck me is that the ceiling seems quite low. Other than that, there are better qualified people here to answer your questions.

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 6:03 pm

hey UCoVi,

dont let these guys scare you. they're way out of scope here and taking your question out of context. what they are saying is "i would never turn that room into a $50,000 recording room."

but for your situation and what you are doing -- it's great!

wood usually makes for a nice sounding room , and those angled wall slats should diffuse sound nicely. have a great time in there!!

-dave

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 8:24 pm

UCoVi wrote:

Hi,

...but what are some main things, judging from my pics, I will have to do?

Four doors and four windows...I'd say find a better room but that would not help a bit...or wood it?

It depends on how much you value quiet in your work to determine what it is that you could do to live in this room. All those doors and all those windows are going to leak sound out as much as leak noise in. Maybe that isn't a concern for you. Maybe you live in a quiet area where outside noise will not bother your working environment.

It also looks as though there is a screened over area on the ceiling...something up there looks like a hole of some sort possible allowing for air exchange? A quick way in or out when sent to your room? I dunno.

You could build isolation panels to cover the windows. For these panels to be of any use, they would have to be made of at least a close approximation of the materials the exterior walls are made of. E.g., (from the interior to the exterior) interior cedar lap siding/studs with open cavities filled with insulation/ some kind of thermal barrier and then exterior whatever kind of material that is. As an example.

In the working stages, a square room is only a problem when it becomes a problem to >you<. (A square room does have many problems that can be a challenge to overcome.) But if this is your picked out room, then it is what it is.

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 10:27 pm

yeah... OK... I'll toss my hat in too.....

Here's the bottom line.....

It depends

There's a couple of basic tenants to get a grasp on...

1. Soundproofing is NOT the same as acoustical treatment.

Soundproofing, in practice, is adding materials and constructions that will absorb sound energy to reduce or eliminate sound from entering and/or leaving a room or building.

Acoustic treatment is where you add absorbative and/or reflective surfaces to the inside of a room to shape the desired frequency response and/or liveliness of the room.

2. Soundproofing generally requires a good amount of mass to stop sound. The amount of soundproofing quality of a room is usually proportional to the square of the dollars you have... and it always cost twice as much as you planned.

3. If air can get in, so can sound... even if it's a pinhole... sound WILL get in/out.

4. Hang on to your common sense AND your wallet.

Would I personally put a lot of money in that room? It depends.

If you are doing light acoustic work and you don't have a road with much traffic outside those windows... it might work, it might not.

If you are talking a metal band... I seriously doubt it... same goes is there's an interstate 100 feet from the house.

I would recommend Rod's book.

I would also start looking into a budget... divide it into Hard Budget, Soft Budget and OH MY GOD!

The hard budget is money you 100 percent are going to spend. Soft budget is for the stuff you might need once you get into it. OMG, is the stuff you didn't plan for.

If you cannot live with the sum total of those budgets... you need to cut back somewhere.

The other thing to do is to read the sticky at the top of the forum.

As has been mentioned... rooms with equal dimensions are a big no-no. They can be dealt with... but again... how far do you wanna go and how much money you got?

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 8:46 am

Ok, Ill try to answer everyone at the same time...lol

First the room isn't the same on both sides. Its 16x12 and there are some (built in benches) that complete one side of the room yet only complete 1/2 the other side near the doors, this im sure will serve as a difference in the way sound is bounced in the room as a whole.

2. I've constructed panels to be mounted over each window AND the double doors. Just simple frames with backing and covered with thick berber.

3.I have 4 bass traps from floor to ceiling(or bench to ceiling really) for each corner of the room and have constructed an Isolation Cloud that will enclose the fan on the ceiling( its very similar to the panlels for the windows and doors.)

4.Sound isn't that big of a deal as far as escaping goes becasue my house is out in the woods. So no annoyed nieghbors.

5. Honestly im not putting crazy amounts of money into the place. All the supplies I already own and the only things Ill be buying are cables, mics, cords, etc. WEll and the mixer ofcourse which now im starting to wonder if I shouldve ordered at all....lol Seriously does anyone use this model or know anyone that does? Ive heard all decent reviews on it for the money.

Eurodesk SL3242 Pro????????

I think I left some answers out im sure I re read everyones post and reply again.
BTW THANKS GUYS! Its good to actually see people replying!!!!!! YAY

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 10:12 am

In the first shot it looks like the paneling is overlapped. Thats great - it will diffuse the sound "quite a bit". Almost as well as non-parallel walls. Did a lot of work years ago in similar situation and it worked quite well.
Some treatment (bass traps and early refection panels for monitor position), may go a long way. Good luck.

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 10:19 am

In the first shot it looks like the paneling is overlapped. Thats great - it will diffuse the sound "quite a bit". Almost as well as non-parallel walls. Did a lot of work years ago in similar situation and it worked quite well.
Some treatment (bass traps and early refection panels for monitor position), may go a long way. Good luck.

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 10:22 am

rockstardave wrote:

hey UCoVi,

dont let these guys scare you. they're way out of scope here and taking your question out of context. what they are saying is "i would never turn that room into a $50,000 recording room."

I don't see how anyone up to this point or even after attempted to scare or take his question out of context.

The room is nice and given that the dimensions aren't identical and that there is trapping for every corner (vertical at least) it will probably be a fantastic room.

As for the Be***nger...well, he's on his own on that one.

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 12:06 pm

Cucco wrote:

As for the Be***nger...well, he's on his own on that one.

awwww......c'mon this is getting worse by the minute.

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 1:31 pm

UCoVi wrote:

Cucco wrote:

As for the Be***nger...well, he's on his own on that one.

awwww......c'mon this is getting worse by the minute.

I tell you what...
I'll answer your questions regardnig the B***inger to your heart's content if you open a new topic in either the Budget Gear forum or the Pro Audio Gear forum. (Although, if you open it in the latter, it will likely be moved to the former.)

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:06 pm

UCoVi wrote:

First the room isn't the same on both sides. Its 16x12 and there are some

I'm thinking this was a setup!

You gave enough information...but not all the right stuff at the right time and if you would have added the latter with the former there would have been no reason for me to even sober up.

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 7:02 pm

HAHA!

sorry

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 8:12 pm

Ahhhhh....eat me...
jk Brien

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