Room with angled walls, layout/ treatment on a budget?

Tommy Fobia · 6th January 2007

Hi, I have a pretty basic 'attic' bedroom studio for overdubbing vocals/guitar which I've recently changed around a bit. It would be great if you could give me your thoughts on how I have laid it out and what I could do better, and also what treatment would be beneficial to my space.

The room is divided into two areas, my control 'area' and my tracking 'area' in which I keep the majority of my amps etc. There is no real acoustic separation between the two areas, so I am thinking of investing in some movable acoustic screens and making an amplifier iso box. All the walls are plastered brick, with the exception of a wooden divider, and the very back wall which is a very reflective untreated brick which is one of the only two parallel walls in the entire room. The room is quite long, so I don't get too many problems from the back wall, but I occasionally notice a bit of flutter on sharp transient peaks (like a snare).

I have drawn up a basic plan in MS Word. I have no pictures as of yet, until I get hold of a digital camera! I have included a cross-section too, as the walls/roof are at an angle.

Acoustically the room is quite nice now I have the monitors free-field, but I'd like to tighten up the sound a little more, and minimise the reflections from the untreated brick wall at the back. I'd like to optimise the listening position for mixing (which isn't actually that bad at the moment).

Any ideas or comments are welcome! Thanks for your time.

Ethan Winer · 6th January 2007

Tommy,

> Any ideas or comments are welcome! <

Start here:

www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html

Be sure to see the section Room Symmetry which shows how to treat a peaked ceiling like yours.

--Ethan

studio825 · 6th January 2007

My last control room was all brick with little treatment.My mixes suffered so bad that i swap the live room for control room and now everything is sweet.I ended up making my own broadband diffussers.They cost about 25.00 each.I used micro fiber fabric with mineral wool 4 inches thick for corner traps,and 2inch min wool for flat wall aborsortion.The link that EW put up is great with a ton of info.Use good judgement on placement of panels,there is an exact science,but you can get buy using common sense installation.

Tommy Fobia · 6th January 2007

Thank you both very much for that feedback.

The untreated brick end wall is the back wall of the live/tracking area, and at the moment its doesn't cause a noticeable problem except during mixdown and at relatively high levels. I think that wall will need quite a lot of treatment as it has a large surface area.

So far, I have tried to keep the mix position as symmetrical as possible, but I can foresee the small plastered brick wall directly behind and to the left the mix position causing some problems as it makes the mix position slightly asymmetrical. Ideally It would be nice to take out the wall completely as it doesn't offer much isolation from live instruments, but it is a supporting wall crucial to the stability of the house...

It looks like I have some reading to do!

Thanks again guys! Any more comments suggestions are welcome.

6th January 2007	#2
Ethan Winer Gear Guru Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: New Milford, CT, USA Posts: 12,050	Tommy, > Any ideas or comments are welcome! < Start here: www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html Be sure to see the section Room Symmetry which shows how to treat a peaked ceiling like yours. --Ethan __________________ Ethan's audio book is coming!

6th January 2007	#3
studio825 Gear addict Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Dahellaware Posts: 316	Brick was my nightmere My last control room was all brick with little treatment.My mixes suffered so bad that i swap the live room for control room and now everything is sweet.I ended up making my own broadband diffussers.They cost about 25.00 each.I used micro fiber fabric with mineral wool 4 inches thick for corner traps,and 2inch min wool for flat wall aborsortion.The link that EW put up is great with a ton of info.Use good judgement on placement of panels,there is an exact science,but you can get buy using common sense installation. __________________ I QUIT

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6th January 2007	#4
Tommy Fobia Gear nut Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: UK Posts: 98 Thread Starter	Thank you both very much for that feedback. The untreated brick end wall is the back wall of the live/tracking area, and at the moment its doesn't cause a noticeable problem except during mixdown and at relatively high levels. I think that wall will need quite a lot of treatment as it has a large surface area. So far, I have tried to keep the mix position as symmetrical as possible, but I can foresee the small plastered brick wall directly behind and to the left the mix position causing some problems as it makes the mix position slightly asymmetrical. Ideally It would be nice to take out the wall completely as it doesn't offer much isolation from live instruments, but it is a supporting wall crucial to the stability of the house... It looks like I have some reading to do! Thanks again guys! Any more comments suggestions are welcome.