Weigh in on my studio treatment design (3d draft pics)

[nruyle]

Hello everyone,

I have been lurking around here for a bit, gleaning a lot of great info. I recently moved my studio into a new free-standing converted back house. This conversion was done years ago and includes double-hung walls, a floating window, and isolated electric circuits for A/C, Lights, and receptacles in each room. Overall a great space.



A couple of annoying aspects that might be pertinent here. The entire studio has carpet on all the walls. I have read here and other places that if anything this can actually create more problems then it solves. Of note is that the carpet has no shag and for the most part has been installed very well. Certainly not what I would have done but for the most part it looks ok and doesn't seem to do to much beyond add an extra sound barrier to the walls and some mild reduction of HF reflections. I am renting this space so I plan to leave this carpet in place unless removing it becomes absolutely necessary. The second annoying aspect is that the only A/C is two window units in the walls. I bought a 12,000 BTU Mr. Slim system which I will be installing tomorrow to remedy this problem.

One aspect that may be a positive is that the roof/ceiling is pitched, reducing the parallel surface area a great deal.





So I have decided to do a full treatment of the space, utilizing much of the info found on this forum:



As you can see, the space is two rooms with a window in the wall between and an entry foyer where the rack and computer will be located. This facility will be used for a variety of workflows and is being designed to allow for reconfiguration.

The primary setup will be for film/video post and sound design. I hope to also do some mixing for small projects and pre-mixing for larger projects. This primary setup will be in the larger room and will utilized a pneumatic standing/sitting desk at the front 34% listening point.



In this configuration, the smaller room will be used as an ADR (or foley) recording booth or for a secondary workstation. When recording ADR the right side, first-reflection panels will be moved to the booth to allow visibility through the window, as well as provide additional treatment in the booth.



A secondary configuration will be for using the large room as a listening/presentation theater, by removing the desk, adjusting the speakers and placing the couch at the rear 34% point.



A third configuration will be to use the small room as a control room and the larger room as a live room for large or group recording sessions.




I will be using Ruxul Rockboard 80 in 2" and 4" sheets. For the bass traps I will be combining one of each for 6" of thickness.



I will be sewing my own bags out of a yet to be determined “gulford” type fabric that I can find in the fashion district here in LA. Just picked up an amazing vintage Singer Featherweight via craigslist to do the sewing.

The plan as of now is to try to mount most of these frameless, maybe using some wooden frames for the panel in high traffic areas such as near doorways. The 2" vertical panel will be on legs. More on this once we get the material.

We will be doing most of this in this coming week as my Dad is in town to help me. I have had some training in acoustic theory but this is my first actual design. I would love some feedback.

What am I missing? What is unnecessary? What is overkill?

I have a few specific questions.

Anyone worked with 8LB rockboard? How is it in terms of frameless mounting.

Any advice on putting two sheets of rockboard together. We are thinking of using some type of thin bolts with large washers on each end and/or some spray adhesive.

Are the extra 2 inches on the bass traps worth the hassle over just using one piece of 4"?

Any special considerations with the pitched roof? I am placing an extra trap at the point where the three plains meet at the roof peak. Any thoughts on this approach?

How about the addition of FRK for the bass traps? Am I reducing the reflections too much without it.

Would some defusers be in order somewhere? I would love to have an excuse to build some of those awesome wooden-block Skyline defusers.

Any and all advice/comments are welcome.

Links to a few more pictures below. Thanks Everyone.

Nathan Ruyle
thisissounddesign.com



http://img.skitch.com/20090913-c2aja...qt5gebq87u.jpg

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[Ethan Winer]

There's way too much for me to comment on fully, but I'll hit the two high points:

1. What you propose looks great.

2. Yes, use FRK type absorbers for all corner bass traps.

--Ethan

[Glenn Kuras]

Would some defusers be in order somewhere? I would love to have an excuse to build some of those awesome wooden-block Skyline defusers.

Sure but I would not use them anywhere you don't have absorption. For a room your size it will be more "icing on the cake" though.

[Eatin Weenies]

Might I suggest hanging an absorber directly on the inside of the control room door. As indicated by your quite excellent rendering, as this hard surface reflection point has been left untreated.

The diagram shows the door in the open position, with radiant lines passing through the open portal in into the hallway,.... hopefully never to return,..... though I suspect you will more than likely be mixing with the door in the closed position.

If that is the case, you might want to consider addressing this potentially problematic angle as well.

The inside of studio doors are all too often left untreated in home and/or cottage industry control rooms; as the default rational seems to be that because it is a door, it would cease to function as a door if you mounted a trap directly it to,.... so this surface is often left untreated.

Also, I would like to point out that if the door is closed (and reflecting), and the section of wall surface diametrically opposed is fully treated, you may potentially experience slightly unbalanced stereo imaging while mixing.

Remember, when a door is closed, it becomes just another reflective wall surface.

Hope these observations are useful to you.

I am still,

Eatin Weenies

[Glenn Kuras]

Just to clarify, your door is not in any kind of early reflection point so it might not be all that big of a deal. If it is next to the corner you could mount one to the door and one to the wall in the corner which would help with bass trapping, but also would take up a lot of room. I would just focus on other corners

[Eatin Weenies]

True enough sir, as this specific door would only be a potential secondary reflection point (provided the sound waves had enough energy left in them after hitting the primary point).

I thought it worth mentioning in the event that changes might be made to this design; or for the benefit of other readers employing layouts which design lands their control room door at a primary or secondary reflection point (with energy), and they would be good candidates to consider "back of door trapping".

Eatin Weenies

[Glenn Kuras]

I kind of like diffusion in the secondary, but HEY either works.

[Eatin Weenies]

Agreed again; and actually the preferred treatment -also in my opinion, for secondaries,... provided there is the proper volume of space in a design to take advantage of it, and the stereo image is not potentially altered by implementing diffusion improperly, within the context of the balance of other acoustic treatments and room dimensions.

I did not go over the exact measurements of this posters design; therefore I cannot comment if diffusion might benefit the him, or not.

Your thoughts?

Eatin Weenies

[Glenn Kuras]

Originally Posted by Eatin Weenies

Agreed again; and actually the preferred treatment -also in my opinion, for secondaries,... provided there is the proper volume of space in a design to take advantage of it, and the stereo image is not potentially altered by implementing diffusion improperly, within the context of the balance of other acoustic treatments and room dimensions.

I did not go over the exact measurements of this posters design; therefore I cannot comment if diffusion might benefit the him, or not.

Your thoughts?

Eatin Weenies

Most of the time when you are treating the back 1/3rd of a room (side ways/ceiling) you are dealing more with flutter echo, so either will solve the problem. It just depends on how much treatment you have going on and size of room. I would think you could put 2 well respected acoustic designers in a room and both my have different thoughts on the matter, but both would be correct.
I will say though that I would put the funds (if funds are low) into covering more of the corner areas to get the low end more evened out.

[Eatin Weenies]

Good advise for the tight budget.

He mentioned he desired "Skyline Diffusers", but not knowing the cubic volume of the space, etc., etc.,... I won't hazard a guess, though it does raise an interesting point about diffusion as it relates to small room acoustics.

Seems everyone wants low freq traps, diffusers, clouds, resonators, a Romulan cloaking device... "all the toys" as they say.

What would you recommend as the best way for him to go, if he really has his heart set on installing a diffuser in this design?

I would be interested to know your thoughts as well.

Curiously yours,

Eatin Weenies

Def: FLUTTER ECHO. The sonic residue eminating from my heart after my wife began sporting a moustache,... to match her Mothers.

[nruyle]

Thanks for the replies. Mr. Slim A/C installation is complete as of this evening. Really happy with the system. Incredibly quiet and cold. Picking up the Roxul and fabric in the morning.

[Glenn Kuras]

Originally Posted by nruyle

Thanks for the replies. Mr. Slim A/C installation is complete as of this evening. Really happy with the system. Incredibly quiet and cold. Picking up the Roxul and fabric in the morning.

Good deal.