Studio treatment design. Feedback welcome. :)

[UnderTow]

Hi all,

I am about to do some acoustic treatment on my home studio. Here is a basic sketch of the room courtesy of Ikea Home planner.



These are the dimensions: 4.5mx2.7mx2.7m (14.76x8.86x8.86).

I am thinking of making an absorber of the whole back wall and the space below the window sill on the front wall. The depth on the front wall would be 22cm (8.66 inches). On the back wall I am willing to go as far as sacrificing everything up to the door which gives 53cm of depth (20.87 inches).

Is there a point where there is too much depth or is it a question of the more the better?

What is the best way to fill that depth? I am thinking of going with Homatherm flexCL. Is it best to fill the whole depth or is it best to have an air gap behind the flexCL? And if so, how thick should the flexCL layer be and how big the gap behind?

Alternatively, would it be better to have a gab behind the flexCL which is filled with rockwool?

The flexCL comes in thickness's from 30mm to 180mm (1.18 to 7.09 inches). By volume, the thicker the cheaper. By surface, the thinner the cheaper. (Obviously).

And last but not least, considering the dimensions of my room, (height=width) I am think of maybe creating a kind of fake ceiling like in offices but with a layer of flexCL instead.

All the Homatherm will be supported in a wooden construction frame and covered and finished with fabric to look neat.

This would be the basic room "structure". After that and after measuring the sound I would want to add some panels at strategic locations (like 1st reflection points). Probably a mix of absorption and diffusion.

I would appreciate any feedback on all this.

Thanks in advance!

Alistair

[Glenn Kuras]

Is there a point where there is too much depth or is it a question of the more the better?

No but maybe put some air gap behind it to same on material.

Honestly I would just go with filling the corners or straddling panels.

[UnderTow]

Originally Posted by Glenn Kuras

No but maybe put some air gap behind it to same on material.

Honestly I would just go with filling the corners or straddling panels.

That makes sense financially but...

I want to get this room as close to perfect as the limited dimensions allow. I like a relatively dampened room and I hope to do some mastering in this room so the closer to a flat response the better. And the higher the bass absorption (and the lower the frequency) the better.

Besides any acoustic advantage, to me it just seems easier to build an absorber over the whole back wall. Otherwise I have to build corner traps and separate traps for the reflections off the back wall and possibly ceiling/back wall corner traps and then finish it all off neatly. Just making a framework filled (with one or more layers) of flexCL and covering that with fabric seems like less work and avoids any rear-wall reflections at any listening position.

Financially there is also the benefit of ordering a whole pallet of flexCL: It lowers the price per pack and means free delivery. Obviously it is still more money in absolute terms but the price per unit of Increased Sonic Pleasure (tm) decreases methinks. ;-)

Finances are not _too_ much of an issue as long as the results are better. To put this into perspective, it would cost me less in Homatherm to build a full back wall, half front wall and full ceiling absorber (1x160mm layer flexCL) than a room kit from the usual suspects. This doesn't take the cost of the wood framing and covering fabric into account but still...

In light of all this, would you still advise only doing the corners?

Alistair

PS: And everything is relative, considering the price of mastering speakers, mastering grade converters, mastering grade outboard and plugins and a hefty PC to bring it all together, why skimp on acoustics?

[Glenn Kuras]

In light of all this, would you still advise only doing the corners?

You can go that way but boy it is going to be one dead room. If you like then fine, but then again you can always follow up after the fact and put diffusion in the room if need be.

Are you talking about only trapping the back wall only or all the walls?

[UnderTow]

Originally Posted by Glenn Kuras

You can go that way but boy it is going to be one dead room. If you like then fine, but then again you can always follow up after the fact and put diffusion in the room if need be.

Are you talking about only trapping the back wall only or all the walls?

Back wall, half of the front wall and possibly the ceiling.

And yes, adding diffusion in front of the trapping where/if needed was part of what I had in mind.

Alistair

[Weasel9992]

Originally Posted by UnderTow

Back wall, half of the front wall and possibly the ceiling.

And yes, adding diffusion in front of the trapping where/if needed was part of what I had in mind.

Alistair

You need to get the corners. Trapping the back wall and front wall is great, but there's going to be significant low end build up in the corners. Trapping the parallel walls won't fix that.

Frank

[UnderTow]

Originally Posted by Weasel9992

You need to get the corners. Trapping the back wall and front wall is great, but there's going to be significant low end build up in the corners. Trapping the parallel walls won't fix that.

Yes I understand but trapping the whole back wall and half the front wall (everything below the window) covers the corners too. With 53cm depth to play with on the back wall, it becomes one big bass trap/full bandwidth absorber. 22cm on the front wall.

But fair enough, the comments have made me reconsider a bit. This is my thinking now:

Both back wall corners filled three panels deep. That gives a "column" width of 625mm (24 inches) on each side and a depth of 3*160mm = 480mm (18.9 inches). That foremost panel extends over the rest of the whole back wall surface. So you get a 160mm "fake wall" of flexCL with a 320mm gap behind except for the corners which are filled solid for a width of 625mm.

Or I could do one full width/height layer two panels thick (320mm) with a 160mm air gap. This only uses marginally more material. Somehow I think this might be more effective... I can also make the air gap deeper without getting in the way of the door: 210mm.

Then do the whole front wall up to the window with a 160mm layer with an 80mm air gap. (This makes it flush with the window sill). And I still have the corners formed by this "fake wall" and the side walls to add super chunks (or a commercial solution).

Assuming I order a pallet of flexCL, either option for the back wall leaves me with some material (3 panels and a bit) to put in frames for the 1st reflection points on the side walls and the ceiling.

I could also do the whole exercise with 140mm thickness panels. That would give me more "left over" panels to play with as there are then more panels per pallet.

Hmmm... any ideas on this?

Alistair

[UnderTow]

Here is a basic image to represent what I describe in the previous post:



The FlexCl thickness is not 100% to scale but it gives you a general idea.

Alistair

[Ethan Winer]

Originally Posted by UnderTow

Here is a basic sketch of the room

You're already getting good advice, but your proposed listening position is in a bad place centered front to back. You'll need to move forward a bit as explained here:

How to set up a room

--Ethan

[UnderTow]

Originally Posted by Ethan Winer

You're already getting good advice, but your proposed listening position is in a bad place centered front to back. You'll need to move forward a bit as explained here:

Thanks Ethan,

The chair and desk are just dumped in the picture to show the direction of the room as Ikea doesn't have any speakers in their "Home Builder" software.

Alistair

[inlinenl]

Hi Alistair,

nice to build your room ... enjoy ..

I would make some side walls which will have an angle from the window to the back ... also would suggest some hanging ceiling, also sloped ..
also the floor behind the desk/speaker place could be used for trapping ...
just avoid the box-shape off the room as paramount ...

also filling the corners on the window side shoud be done ... but that's already suggested by others ...

[Glenn Kuras]

Originally Posted by UnderTow

Thanks Ethan,

The chair and desk are just dumped in the picture to show the direction of the room as Ikea doesn't have any speakers in their "Home Builder" software.

Alistair

I kind of aSSumed that but glad you clarified.

[UnderTow]

Ok here is a new design:



This is based on one pallet of 10cm (3.94 inches) thick FlexCL wich gives me 42 1200x625mm panels.

The thickness of the back "wall" is 20cm with a 30cm gap. (Not a complete gap as you can see on the picture).

The front "wall" is 10 cm thick with a 12 cm air gap. This goes up to 1m30. (Above that it's window). The Superchunk type triangles are 60cm on the short sides (side and back) and also go up to 1m30.

I then intend to by some separate panels to put in wooden frames. Three for each side walls at strategic positions and a double (or triple one) to hang from the ceiling.

Is this making sense so far?

After that some fine tuning and addition of diffusion. Maybe some stuff from this company: Untitled Document Not least because they have some cool looking stuff.

Alistair

[Glenn Kuras]

It all looks good to me.

[UnderTow]

Originally Posted by Glenn Kuras

It all looks good to me.

Thanks Glenn.

Alistair