New recording studio acoustic treatment advice

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 11:02 am

Hey guys, i'm new to the recording game aswell as this forum, and would apreciate a little bit of help Smile

i have just had a new small home studio built. i have a control room and 1 live room, just about big enough for a standard rock drum kit, and a guitar stack, so the live room is about 8 Feet x 10 Feet, and the control room is about 8 Feet x 6 Feet. all the walls are plasterboarded, as are the ceilings, but baring in mind the ceilings are quite high, about 10 or 11 foot high.

all contributions to helping me get the acoustics right in these rooms would be cool, in the live room, i'll just be recording a usual rock set up, guitar, bass, drums, vocals.

thanks guys.

Josh Very Happy

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 11:07 am

Hi Josh,

I wish you had come here first because we would have told you not to build two tiny rooms. You'd have done much better with one larger room and headphones for yourself and the players. My best advice is to remove the dividing wall if possible. Otherwise, you need as much bass trapping and broadband absorption as you can possibly manage in both rooms. Much more here:

Acoustics FAQ

--Ethan

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 11:34 am

hey mate,

well the thing is, it's not actually at my home, the studio will be on the second floor of my dads offices, so space is very limited.., the building isn't actually finished yet, so only the outer walls are up, they are waiting upon me supplying my requirments for the positioning of the walls. i am planning on having a few local bands in the record when im done,

is that really the best solution?, baring in mind i have alo tof outboard stuff, as well as a big 48 chnl mixer.

cheers,josh.

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 11:48 am

Please start with this.

Similar but adding what is useful is this. Note the post at the end by John.

Quote:

baring in mind i have alo tof outboard stuff, as well as a big 48 chnl mixer.

There is nothing for us to bear in mind if you have not posted about it. Very Happy

Andre

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 12:43 pm

ok... thanks for the information, but what is the best overall options?..

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 2:19 pm

just had a brain wave..

what if i were to keep the whole studio as one room, and then i just have free standing treated movable panels surrounding the desk and outboard stuff, you think that would work out?

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 3:31 pm

IMHO the bigger room is better. 10x6 will sound like a bathroom or a padded cell.

I like your movable partition idea. They will provide a little more isolation to make mixing possible, but will not provide enough to make track edits a reality. So a few office partitions or 703 panels is probably all you need. You may consider building a machine room for your computer and noisy outboard gear that is midi controllable.

My guess is that you will want to suspend the floor to keep the noise from bleeding into the office.

To help us help you, make sure to click on this thread and follow the instructions as previously mentioned.

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 4:26 pm

ok well i shall start from the start..

i am a newbie recording student, with little cash flow, but luckily i have been given pretty decent surroundings for my situation for completely free for me to work with. i can be as loud as possible within my studio, as the offices are in an industrial park with no living residents within about 2 miles, and my studio will only be in use out of office times, so noise isn't a problem,

as i said i have very little room to work with, and i am planning to get a few bands from the local area, of which i have already booked 3 bands before the place is even built, so the room needs to be as spacious as phisicilly possible, even though we have very little to work with, as well as giving as best a sound as possible, for acousticilly treating the room i have a budget of around £300 to work with, and all materials can be supplied for free, as the building im in is owned by a construction firm, so thats another thing not to worry about, the ceilings in the room are very high, as well as being slanted as we are on the top floor, but lowering the ceiling has already been discussed and is possible to do. the building itself is nearly finished, all outer walls are up, and it is about a month away from the inner walls being planned out and built, partially waiting for me to decide what i want. the room itself contains no windows, the walls are plasterboard and the roofing is still (easily plasterboard-able)

im sorry i don't have any graphics as yet as i don't quite know what im going to do,

im thinking the portable panels to surround the control room may be a practical idea?

the control room will contain a 48 channel desk, 2 wall mounted monitors, about 30U worth of rack space (easily placable under desk?) a 61 key midi controller, and my pc tower, and compact monitors.

my live room will contain a standard 5 piece kit, a perminantly placed 4x12 guitar cab and a few guitars & basses

there Smile

remind me if i've missed anything..

Josh

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 6:46 pm

Thanks for the additional information. The budget and hours of use casts a very different light on the picture now.

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 10:09 pm

An 8' X 16' room with 10' tall ceilings is what has you positively glowing is that correct? Most here agree this is one room and shouldn't be split in any way.

One thing that may come up in conversation, if I have the room dimensions correct, will be the actual numbers being divisible by one another.

But with all this free stuff coming your way, there should be some free time to study what it is you are doing, rather than suggesting that it will be... simply because you have said it will be. Wink

Have you tried searching for any information here that you think may be needed? Four weeks is plenty of time to overcome a few obstacles. Put some time into understanding the walls you need, the construction of these. Many mistakes can happen from listening to uncle tom or the local bands drummer who almost got signed.

Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 1:14 am

Space wrote:

Many mistakes can happen from listening to uncle tom or the local bands drummer who almost got signed.

SO true, thanks for the information, when i go down there today ill have another look, and hopefully get a proper measure up.

is there anything i can do with the walls themselves before i start to build them? like, besides putting something like foam egg cup panels on the outside of the wall for example.

cheers

Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 1:53 am

Joshh wrote:

<snippage>... today ill have another look, and hopefully get a proper measure up.

is there anything i can do with the walls themselves before i start to build them? like, besides putting something like foam egg cup panels on the outside of the wall for example.

OK, let's get a nasty point dealt with first and foremost...

Sound proofing is NOT the same as acoustical treatment.

Next, you want to nose around here and try to educate yourself on the differences between the two.

One thing is certain... you really need to try to get a handle on the "mass is my friend" understanding.

Then draw up your room... even if it's a sketch...

Once that's done, you should pretty quickly be able to move forward with the wall and ceiling construction.

Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 10:16 am

Joshh wrote:

is there anything i can do with the walls themselves before i start to build them? like, besides putting something like foam egg cup panels on the outside of the wall for example.

Reading this (as suggested by Ethan Winer earlier) will answer that question much better than I can.

Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 10:47 am

thanks for all your help guys, apreciate it

Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 6:56 pm

Is there any reason for a 48ch mixer?

If you don't need it all it seems like you might want to cut down (trade it for something) and save space.

This topic sponsored by: