What to do about this room?

[Pippo]

Ok, so I have decided to turn my small setup in my bedroom into my small songwriting/recording room. I want to be able to track acoustic and electric guitar as well as vocals there, so I'll have the option to keep them when doing a proper production. Now, the problem is that my room just sounds... well, terrible! Everytime I play or record something, I can hear the room so clearly, and it doesn't sound nice. This also prevents me from doing very accurate mixes in there.

I've included a rough sketch of the room. It includes a bed (the green thing), a cabinet for the computer (the brown box in the front) and a desk (the yellow box). The left side includes a door (top left), a closet (middle left), and another door (bottom left). In the back of the room (where the bed is) there is also a window (not drawn out, sorry).

I've included the measurements for the room in centimeters in the pics, but for you Imperial measuring guys and girls, the measurements of the room are: 17' 5" x 8' 8" (if I converted it correctly... Man, feet and inches are confusing..! )

Since reading up a bit on the forum and other places, I'm still unsure about the right approach for this room. I figured I'd start with some DIY broadband absorbers (like those from Cojo's sticky thread) around the front of the room (picture included as well, the purple blocks are absorbers; the transparent purple ones are clouds).

So my questions are: is this a good way to start? I guess it can't get worse... Or should I think about other ways to deaden the room more? What do you guys and gals about the placement of the absorbers? Should I even out the spacing of them more? Should I even worry about clouds at this point?

The absorbers are 14 cm thick (5.5 inches) and 120 cm long (47") and 60 cm wide (24"), except one on the left wall which is half as wide. I was thinking the other half as a cloud. Hope that explains the pic.

Thanks in advance,
/Pip

[Glenn Kuras]

It all looks pretty good to me but just a few things.

*You need early reflection point panels (What Are Early Reflection Points. SPOTLIGHT:Bob Ebeling - Revolution Studio) on the left, right walls and ceiling.
*A good starting point for the mix is to sit 38% of the room length and move forward or back until you find the best response. It seems you are right up against the wall so you need to move back.
*You going to need a lot more bass trapping to really get the room under control. One idea since you wanting to record in that room also is to use (if your handy you might be able to build some) something like our Screen Panel (you can find it on our website) which can be used as a portable booth for recording ,fold it up to use in the corners for bass traps, use in early reflection points or use on the back wall.

Hope that helps

[Pippo]

Thank you Glenn for your response! Really appreciate it!

Regarding the points you brought up;

You need early reflection point panels

Yes, I had hoped I covered those with what I had in the pic... Would you say that the absorbers I spoke of will work as reflection point panels? If so, I guess I just need more of them..?

A good starting point for the mix is to sit 38% of the room length

Due to the limited space I have, I decided to cram it in towards the wall (fully aware of this guideline). If I back up to 38%, it's just not enough room in there, though. But you are right, I just didn't wanna see it.. I guess I have to compromise; I'll back up enough to get it off the wall, but still so I can move around in there (and go to bed! )

You going to need a lot more bass trapping to really get the room under control.

How about if I use the type of absorbers I talked about from floor to ceiling straddling the corners of the room? Do you think that would work to start with? The back wall has a window, but maybe I could put something up only for mixing?
Your fold-up panels looks great, by the way!! Thanks for the info!

Hope that helps

Oh, definately yes!

Best,
/Pip

[Glenn Kuras]

Yes, I had hoped I covered those with what I had in the pic... Would you say that the absorbers I spoke of will work as reflection point panels? If so, I guess I just need more of them..?

Yep they should work fine.

Due to the limited space I have, I decided to cram it in towards the wall (fully aware of this guideline). If I back up to 38%, it's just not enough room in there, though. But you are right, I just didn't wanna see it.. I guess I have to compromise; I'll back up enough to get it off the wall, but still so I can move around in there (and go to bed! )

Well a few feet will help. So do what you can. See the following about SBIR
What is SBIR?

How about if I use the type of absorbers I talked about from floor to ceiling straddling the corners of the room? Do you think that would work to start with? The back wall has a window, but maybe I could put something up only for mixing?
Your fold-up panels looks great, by the way!! Thanks for the info!

Yes I think it would be a good start. Yes having a window may help as more of the low end is passing through it (a good thing) but still would get a few thick panels back there to help with any nulls and peaks coming from that area.
Thanks for the kind words about the Screen Panel. They seem to fit a lot of solutions for peoples rooms.

[Pippo]

Thanks again Glenn!

I've done some rethinking regarding the layout, so I've uploaded a pic of my new idea.

Just to explain:
I've moved back the listening position about 2,5 feet. I've kept the computer cabinet by the wall (so I'm able to open the door...).
I've also put another absorber on the door, and evened out the spacing of the absorbers between right and left wall. On the front wall, the absorber is on it's side. All absorbers are about 5' off the wall, except for the four yellow ones. The yellow ones are the same type of absorbers but from floor to ceiling, and on the back wall the absorber is straddling the wall/ceiling above the window. Is that a good place to put it, or should it be below the window?

There is also a cloud (the red grid above the listening position), hopefully in the right reflection spot. Also, I had to move in the monitors a bit, since I wouldn't be able to open the door otherwise...

Hopefully this works better..?

What are your thoughts on the side walls and ceiling of the back half of the room? And do you think I need the smaller absorbers on the left and right front walls there, or would they be better someplace else, or not at all?

Thanks again, Glenn, appreciate taking your time and helping me!

/Pip

[Glenn Kuras]

It looks like everything is in check. For the back side walls and ceiling you could go with either absorption, diffusion or both. How much you put there just depends on how much of the over all decay of the room you want to lessen. I would get all the other areas done first then see how the room works. If you feel as you are getting flutter echo in the back of the room then that is when you will want to treat it. Once again diffusion or absorption will work.

Glenn

[Pippo]

Excellent!!

Thank you so much for your advice, Glenn! I have read many of your posts in other topics as well, and they have all been helpful. I have to say: Kudos to you! To answer all these questions in such a helpful way - awesome! Respect to you.

I'll do my part and pay back to the community with how this project is going. 'Cause after all - if there are no pics - it didn't happen! It's the very least I can do.

I will probably start this in late September, when I'll have some more time. Now I'm off to find the material for my absorbers!!

/Pip

p.s. Whenever I get to Atlanta, I'll buy you a beer (if this thing works out... )

p.p.s. You must have a lot of beers in IOU's?

[Glenn Kuras]

p.s. Whenever I get to Atlanta, I'll buy you a beer (if this thing works out... )

Sounds good to me!!

p.p.s. You must have a lot of beers in IOU's?

Yea, but better yet I have people that have offered me a place to stay when I travel. One of these days when I sell this place I am going to travel the world and take people up on there offer!!!