Room Treatment: monitors against the wall

[craigsbrain]

Hey guys,

Am looking to purchase the GIK Acoustics Room Kit Package #3 which includes: 3 x GIK 242s Acoustic Panels (sides & ceiling), 4 x GIK Tri Traps (corners) & 1 x GIK Monster Bass Trap (rear)

My room is 15ft long x 14ft wide (minus a 4ft long x 3.5ft wide space in the rear west corner) there is a 3.5ft x 4ft soundbooth directly north of this removed space and directly north of this, on the west wall is the door) there is a large 7ft by 7ft picture window in the centre of the rear (south) wall (which i am happy to stand a monster trap in front of) the room has 11ft ceilings and is carpeted. I don't plan on recording alot of live music, just mainly a VI/Sampler Home studio with some Vocals and Guitars straight into the computer. I do, however want to have a go at Mastering in this room.

Basically it's a decent size room for three people but NOT, as GIK recommends if I put my mix spot at 38 percent of the room's length.

Basically for space considerations, I can't afford to give up all that empty space behind the monitors - I need to butt my workstation/reference monitors right up against the centre of the north wall)

So considering this, any comments on Kit #3: additions, alterations?

My two biggest concerns are the fact that i'm ignoring the 38% rule - that there will be no space behind my monitors and that the 3.5 x 4.5 removed space creates a 5th corner in this room.

thanks in advance

Craig

[craigsbrain]

I should also probably mention that my monitors are front-ported, not sealed, and i understand that ported monitors can be a problem when placed too close to a wall - i would prefer not to have to buy new monitors - however the, truth is preferred i suppose..

[lucey]

More bass trapping (all corners) would likely be helpful. More of everything I'd guess. Rear wall? Overhead?

Front ports are better than rear, but you will see the low end get messy as you approach the wall or especially corner. You'll need to listen, move, listen, move, listen ... test if you're so inclined.

[Glenn Kuras]

Hey Craig,
We got your email, which thanks BTW, and Bryan I believe is working on the layout for you. Drop me a email if you have any questions though. When buying from us we are able to give you one on one service and don't want to turn GS into a GIK hotline, so I am going to keep our advice to email!! But hey if anyone else on here wants to give there thoughts please do so.

Glenn

[jwl]

Remember the 38% rule is more of a guideline. That said, it's likely your room won't sound as good if you set it up with everything up against the wall as you describe. So the choice is yours.

One thing to think about: perhaps you could re-arrange the room a bit? If you pull the desk out to the 38% length, is there anything you could do with the space behind the desk? Storage? A small keyboard performance station?

Just trying to think outside the box here....

I'm sure Glenn and Bryan will hook you up nicely, I just wanted to add a few thoughts to others who might read this thread.

[craigsbrain]

Originally Posted by Glenn Kuras

Hey Craig,
We got your email, which thanks BTW, and Bryan I believe is working on the layout for you. Drop me a email if you have any questions though. When buying from us we are able to give you one on one service and don't want to turn GS into a GIK hotline, so I am going to keep our advice to email!! But hey if anyone else on here wants to give there thoughts please do so.

Glenn

Thanks Glenn, received an email from Bryan about 2hrs after you sent me your email - have emailed Bryan back and hopefully we will come up with a cunning plan

Originally Posted by jwl

Remember the 38% rule is more of a guideline. That said, it's likely your room won't sound as good if you set it up with everything up against the wall as you describe. So the choice is yours.

One thing to think about: perhaps you could re-arrange the room a bit? If you pull the desk out to the 38% length, is there anything you could do with the space behind the desk? Storage? A small keyboard performance station?

Just trying to think outside the box here....

I'm sure Glenn and Bryan will hook you up nicely, I just wanted to add a few thoughts to others who might read this thread.

Sorry JWL, this is a new room I'm designing and aside from the vocal booth, it's just going to be a 8ft long table at one end of the room - on it: a 12 space rack, 88 key controller - 2 x 24" monitors, mac pro, reference monitors - that's about it

basically this leaves a pretty open 10ft by 12 ft space right behind the workstation - want it to have a real living room vibe - sofa, armchair, coffee table and a couple of musician stools

10 x 12 is a pretty decent empty space but anything less, I know, is going to start feeling really cramped

thank god for DAWs though - damn! they pack alot of power in a tiny space