For what it's worth, years ago Westlake Audio designed and tuned my studio and control room. They used a formula called "the golden rectangle". They told me that the same formula was used by the ancient greeks. If you do a search, you will find many articles on this subject. Westlake Audio also told me that they did several mastering labs here in LA useing that same formula.

There are all kinds of ratios deisgned to give optimum modal spacing. Check [="http://forum.studiotips.com/viewtopic.php?t=684"]this link[/]="http://forum.studio…"]this link[/] for an excellent introductory survey of some of the popular ratios. FOr a thorough discussion of this topic, you should go to the [[url=http://="http://www.recordin…"]Acoustics Forum[/]="http://www.recordin…"]Acoustics Forum[/].

The golden ratio isn't a bad modal distribution, as you will see in the link, but The golden ratio is more of a visual asthetic. There are better ratios.

Thanks for the replies folks,

I done a search on the golden triangle and looked at Davids link and I'm afraid algebra and such high maths isn't my thing. What I'm looking for really are the dimensions of the rooms the Pro MEs here are useing and what are the smallest dimensions "they" would consider.

The reason I didn't put this question on the acoustics forum is I'm looking for an MEs point of view.

more replies welcome

Cheers

Liam

Non-rectangular aspects are even better - no parallel walls. Can you afford an acoustician?

The one thing you do not want to do is have equal dimentions since it leads to standing waves. The worst would be something like 8 by 8 by 8.

Hire a good acoustician and let him guide you. It is cheaper in the long run and if he or she is any good at all they will give you much more than they are charging you for.

Our dimensions are 24 by 14 by 12 feet tall with an open beam ceiling.

The acoustician we hired was GREAT. Here is his web page.

http://www.dsmassociates.com/

Best of luck.

Hi

Just to fill you in on what I'm doing, I'm looking for premises for my studio at the moment. Primarily it will be used for tracking and mixing however, I'm hoping that it can be eventually adapted for mastering also. So I thought I might as well get the right size room to start with. Hence my interest in mastering room sizes.

Thomas,
Thank you for your room dimensions. Yes I've been warned about the nightmarish scenario that a cube room presents.

I don't know if I can afford an acoustician at this stage, it may have to be diy to start with then sort it out properly later.

Cheers

Liam

This is acoustics and should be discussed by acousticians.

It's not a recommended practice to master where you mix. It' a good practice to use a fresh environment and fresh ears attached to someone not related to the project.
Like David said the acoustic forum. There is a wealth of knowledgd there