My Great Little Studio

[phybeau]

Hello all,

This is a small report of an, even smaller, studio I’m building.
It’s going to be a private studio,...just for my own pleasure...a sanctuary ;-)
Please feel free to ask/comment.


At the end of 2006 I started posting questions in the John Sayers Forum regarding my ‘studio’ design. The original post can be found here:

John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum • View topic - My (private) recording rooms, your suggestions please,...

The final floorplan here:



In the picture above, the outside walls are dark red, the inner walls dark grey. The gap between inner en outer room is white.
The inner rooms are build on an isolated slab. A ditch of 10 cm wide surrounds the doubly reinforced slab of 15 cm thick concrete.

Construction of the outer leaf (amongst others; it was an addition to our house we were building) started around may 2007.



By the end of 2007 the exterior was finished, meaning I could start filling all the gaps, beefing up the ceiling with two layers of gypsumboard etc. (After making another (new) shed for bikes and garden tools of course)



For the inner walls I used concrete bricks (21x10x8 cm)
It was my first time ever laying bricks so it took me a long while to build the walls:
A total of 3 months, with an average of one hour per day, just 30 bricks per hour....patience, patience, patience...
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from building this thing; it’s patience.



The brick laying was especially challenging since I had to fill the joints between the bricks on the outside (of the inner room) right away. Because there is no room to acces it later. This had to be done carefully and not spill too much and thus filling the ditch between the concrete slab and the outside wall, which would compromise the isolation.

Once the walls were done, the beams for the ceiling were next: 20 pieces of 420 x 24 x 7 cm.
In order to try to match the isolation I would get from the 10 cm thick concrete walls, I decided to go with a concrete ceiling as well. I reckoned 6 cm concrete ceiling would provide enough isolation. I had the beams calculated by a constructional engineer who said 60 cm OC with those beams would be enough. I went with 30% more: 40 cm OC, just to be on the safe side.



Because I won’t have much ceiling height, just 240 cm, I came up with an idea to lift the ceiling of the TR a little: 50 cm. The plan is basically to build a rectangle box on top of the TR beams:



Before starting with the brick laying of the elevation, the concrete floor (ceiling), surrounding the lifted ceiling part, had to be poured.



In order to carry the extra weight of the elevation, I glued and bolted 3 beams together on either side.



On top of the beams are 18 mm OSB boards. On top of that, the reïnforced concrete.



The double wall between the CR and TR was done with 5 x 10 cm beams. 1 layer of OSB (18 mm) and 2 layers of (9,5 mm) gypsumboard on the CR side, and 1 layer of OSB and 3 layers of GB on the TR side. Of course filled with rockwool...
**** Cannot seem to find any pictures at all,...but it did happen!!*****

Then came the fun part: building the soffit wall and the CR back wall.
For the soffits I decided to go with the Thomas Barefoot idea, where the speakers are decoupled from the outer frame:

John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum • View topic - Monitor Flush Mounting Method

To give myself a really hard time planning/constructing I also wanted the speakers above ear height, angled down:....Why?
Because of the more clear ‘view’ from behind the desk (interference of sound with the LCD monitors) and,...I have to admit: looks....;-)

John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum • View topic - Downwards soffit angle

The plan:



The construction:



The white boxes in the soffit frame picture are the speaker stands: A wooden box filled with concrete (23 kg each). Each one will rest on 4 rubber (Merfomer) feet of 8,7 x 8,7 cm.



The speakers are firmly attached to the stands.



The backwall of the CR will be filled with rockwool in 3 corners (left, right, ceiling) like the Studiotips superchunks. More than 50 cm rockwool on the thickest side.



The ceiling will also be filled (mostly) with rockwool (24 cm)



Since the speakers (Genelec 1030) are going to be fully enclosed by rockwool, I’ve removed the amplifiers (for easy acces and cooling) and will place them in the frontwall. For this I constructed a wooden frame:



The second layer for the soffits installed (18 mm Meranti plywood)



Next up, the doors.
Basically 3 layers of (ply-)wood in a bankvault style construction. (40 mm Okoumé, 18 mm Meranti, 12 mm Meranti)
Double seals on the doors with a corresponding door frame.



The glass is 14 mm laminated on the TR side and 13 mm laminated on the CR side.

For the latches I found something they normally use in ship building. More or less similar to the ones Paul Woodlock used in his massive studio build (Diary at Studiotips):

Acoustics Forum • View topic - Paul's STUDIO BUILD DIARY

These latches compress the seals to the door jambs.



Normally they attach (weld) the latch directly to the steel door. In this case I had a friend who welded them to steel plates. I then screwed the plates to the doors:



I really, really wanted wood for the floors. If it makes any difference acoustic wise, I doubt it, but I like the feel and look of it. So browsing the net I eventually found this:



I made a desk that fits the 12 degree angle of both side walls and some racks from 22 mm Okoumé. The top layer is a double layer with trims around.



Next up, putting trims around the cloth....



As you can see the bezel is not made of Meranti. I went with 18 mm mdf and painted them black.



All I need now is a comfortable couch and a lava lamp.....and finish the trims around the cloth,..and connect the central heating,...and etc. etc. etc. (not to mention completely building the inside of the tracking room...;-)

In the meantime I’m playing CD’s
Haven’t done that in quite some time.
Just to get a feel for the room.
First impressions: GREAT!....at least to my ears: love the imaging (width and depth), thight bass response,wide sweet spot.
No measurements to back it up yet: my music computer needs an overhaul..


This is where I am today, although still a long way to go, I’m very happy with the results so far. In fact, couldn't be happier..


Thanks for viewing.
Phybeau

[locutus]

Very nice. It does indeed look like a great little studio.

Great photos too. You managed an entire build thread in one post!

Nathan

[elan]

great, may i ask you one thing? i always been curious how you choose speaker position when you put them in the wall, i mean without the possibility to measure and move them if are not in the right position..

[helpdeskeddy]

Originally Posted by phybeau

This is where I am today, although still a long way to go, I’m very happy with the results so far. In fact, couldn't be happier..

Congrats with your GLS so far!
It looks really great!

I'd be interested in the measurements of the room... please post...

A lot of work done... and of course a lot to be done... good luck!

Eddy

[greatgreatriver]

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing this - looks great!

[barefoot]

Originally Posted by phybeau

Then came the fun part: building the soffit wall and the CR back wall.
For the soffits I decided to go with the Thomas Barefoot idea, where the speakers are decoupled from the outer frame:

Looks great Phybeau! I really like how you mounted and clamped the speaker. You combined the decoupled baffle idea with reinforcing the speaker cabinet walls like I think I suggested elsewhere on the Sayers forum.

[phybeau]

Thank you all for your kind words!

Elan..great, may i ask you one thing? i always been curious how you choose speaker position when you put them in the wall, i mean without the possibility to measure and move them if are not in the right position..

Well first of all, I think the room size determines a great deal.
If you follow the 38% `rule of thumb´ or `guideline´ by Wes Lachot, the listening position is more or less fixed. In my case 38% x 400 cm (lenght of the room) brings it to 152 cm from the front wall.
If I then want to make a equilateral triangle between me and the two speakers in the rest of the room in front of me, the size of the speakers (depth) and the left over space leave only a small amount of variation possible.
Of course, once worked out on paper, I tried in a different room if I would be comfortable with these speakers only 135 cm away.

You can find a lot of information about the above on the John Sayers Forum Or Studiotips. Some examples.
Acoustics Forum • View topic - The 38% Rule from Wes Lachot
John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum • View topic - Control Room Shape Question

Helpdeskeddy...I'd be interested in the measurements of the room... please post...

Hopefully very soon.
Have to get my brother to help me. I´m NO GOOD with computers, he is.
In fact he´s the one who helped me (in the big sense) with the speaker cable extensions...thumbsup

Thomas Barefoot...Looks great Phybeau! I really like how you mounted and clamped the speaker. You combined the decoupled baffle idea with reinforcing the speaker cabinet walls like I think I suggested elsewhere on the Sayers forum.

Aproval from the source itself means a lot,...thanks!
It was more or less a practical solution. I couldn´t find any decent straps, and I didn´t see myself strapping them thight enough in that small space AND keep the speakers in the exact position.
In hindsight, it might have been a good idea to use thicker wood or several layers to reinforce the speaker cabinets even more.

Well maybe, for my next studio...

[barefoot]

Originally Posted by phybeau

I couldn´t find any decent straps, and I didn´t see myself strapping them thight enough in that small space AND keep the speakers in the exact position.
In hindsight, it might have been a good idea to use thicker wood or several layers to reinforce the speaker cabinets even more.

Every bit helps!

You could also try just inserting some thin foam or textile between the speaker cabinet and the clamp panels. It could add more "effective" mass to the speaker cabinet and perhapse avoid any potential buzzing, especially on the sides where the wood panels are not being directly clamped to the speaker.

[phybeau]

Mr Barefoot, I have a feeling you're going to make me open up those soffits again!!.......stike...

Anyway, though not shown in the picture, I did attach some thin sturdy foam between the speaker and the top clamp. The sides are a very thight fit. I constructed them with only one thin piece of paper between speaker and the wood panels. Just enough to put he speaker in, once the stands were in place.

I'll think it over...Thanks for the advice though!

Phybeau

[Victory Pete]

Wow, that is awesome. You must be well organized and well financed! It inspires me to finish my own studio renovation project. Great job!
VP

[phybeau]

Wow, that is awesome. You must be well organized and well financed! It inspires me to finish my own studio renovation project. Great job!
VP

Thanks VP!
All the building going on here, at Studiotips and at the Sayers Forum kept me going also!!

In real life, I'm not all that organized. It's just that I had to wait for years before I could actually start building, so I've spend all my spare time reading and planning this thing.
That helped a lot!
Like Avare keeps saying; Good studio building is 90% design and 10% construction.

And funds well,...the outside was part of an addition to our house, so that's 'mortgage money' so to speak. For the inside building I think I've spend 4K-5K so far over the last 2 years. So that's not all that slutty..

[Silverweed1]

Great work Phybeau ! Shame I still haven't come by and see for myself...

Anyway, it would be nice to record some original bass-tunes in your "pretty hometown". I think you need an old VOX AC50 amplifier in there... I know a guy who has one and isn't going to use it at home for a while due to having a lot of constuction-like work himself.

Grtz, V

[phybeau]

Mr Silverweed, you're always welcome.
Bring your bass, and a good mood!

[Surp]

Originally Posted by phybeau

Like Avare keeps saying; Good studio building is 90% design and 10% construction.

In my limited experience it's actually about 130% design and 485% construction!

[exploded]

Any updates? I'd love to see how this is coming along.

[phybeau]

Thanks for asking!

Not much happening at the moment though.
I'm low on funds and spare time I'm afraid

Been working on some kind of 'modular cloud system' and repainting the walls.
Making three of these:

Not so much for acoustic purposes as well as a way to incorporate some lights.
The one at front wall is (almost) done:(you can still see the drillholes;-)

I've installed several LED spots which can all be switched on/off separately.


Oh, and I've found a nice comfortable couch:


Hope to get things done in the CR before summer.

Thanks for viewing!!thumbsup

[phybeau]

Last week I took some measurements with Room EQ Wizard in my nearly completed CR.
With the microphone at 125 cm height (approx. ear height) and at 38% from the front wall, here are the results:



As you can see from the waterfall, the room is pretty ‘dead’. More dead than some people prefer, but I kinda like it this way. It sounds tight.

The graph showes two very large dips at approx. 435 and 495 Hz.

I then generated both frequencies (sine wave) and just listened walking through the room.
The results were shocking:
when moving your head vertically at the listening position, at some point/height there was practically nothing the hear at others is was very loud.
Because of this experience and the calculation with the Real Traps Graphical Mode Calculator (results below) I suspected it had something to do with the room height (242 cm).



In trying to be clever I thought: what if I slope the ceiling above the listening position?
So I attached som 15 mm tick mdf to the already (12 degree) sloped absorbing ceiling (see pictures below)



I took some new measurements:



~WRONG!~
I suspected it would create some new deviations but apart from that, the dips were deeper! Deeper than with the flat absorbing ceiling!

So I’m kinda stuck, out of ideas/solutions.

It is on one hand not a bad room at all: I like the way it sounds, and the mixes I’ve done so far, seem to translate very well. And now of course I know where to pay extra attention to when EQ-ing. And I can always raise or lower my head 20 cm to double check..

On the other hand, If I can (without completely reconstructing everything) within the possibillities of this small room, make it (slightly) better, I’m all ears.

Any suggestions?

In order to give a better idea of what I have to work with I made some pictures.
The room dimensions are 4,00 meters deep, 2,42 meters high and the width goes from 2,35 to 3,90 meters. The ceiling is completely fiiled with rockwool (24 cm deep) apart from the space between three beams in the middle. (I have not decided yet what to do with that,..absorbtion, diffusion?)
In the sketcup drawing I left out the ceiling absorption, otherwise you cannot see a thing...
The speakers are Genelec 1030 and the mic used for measuring: a sE-Electronic SE-2.



Thanks in advance !,

Phybeau

[mattianlaseppia]

i'm interested too, i've a similar problem.

what about the comb filtering you have in the highs? is the desk?

[phybeau]

what about the comb filtering you have in the highs? is the desk?

I suspect the rather large desk (in relation to the small room) and the LCD monitors are responsible for the comb filtering.
I cannot see a way to avoid this though.

With regard to the other frequency dips: could a Helmholz absorber, tuned to both ferquencies (435 and 495 Hz) be an effective solution?

Thanks for looking into this.

Phybeau

[mattianlaseppia]

Originally Posted by phybeau

I suspect the rather large desk (in relation to the small room) and the LCD monitors are responsible for the comb filtering.
I cannot see a way to avoid this though.

With regard to the other frequency dips: could a Helmholz absorber, tuned to both ferquencies (435 and 495 Hz) be an effective solution?

Thanks for looking into this.

Phybeau

anyone has suggestions about how to solve the comb filtering problem? how much this will affect mixing?

thanks!

[phybeau]

I did some more tests.
Someone suggested the dips might have something to do with refelections.
So I did some tests with the desk covered with a very heavy blanket, then one covering the back wall, the floor etc.
The one with the desk covered gave the best results:



I also conducted a test with myself in a chair at the mixing position, since that's probably the most realistic scenario:

I seem to absorb a lot of highs...;-)

A combination of the original test and myself in chair:



So I think there is no easy, workable, non-drastic solution.
The best conclusion after these tests is that I now know where the problem area's are, so I can be extra careful when tweaking those frequencies.
I guess I'm going to have to live with it...

Unless someone comes up with a "cunning plan"...


...."And now for something completely different.."

A time ago I came up with an idea to manipulate my tracking room size,...(since it's going to be small)
The idea is basically the record room reverb in the tracking room at a higher pitch/speed. Then played back at normal pitch/speed should give the illusion of a bigger room. Although completely untreated at the moment, I tried it out at my tracking room to be.
For those interested, the original thread can be found here:

Is this a valid idea?

Thanks for visiting!
Phybeau

[Syncamorea]

Originally Posted by phybeau

I suspect the rather large desk (in relation to the small room) and the LCD monitors are responsible for the comb filtering. I cannot see a way to avoid this though.

First off, I love your room. I'd consider modifying the desk. Have you thought about breaking it into 3 pieces and separating them front to back? Have you tried any absorption and/or diffusion between the soffit monitors and the desk? (other than the blanket) I'm trying a couple of home-made LCD monitor stands that will tuck the LCDs down behind the desk when I want the best possible sound because my room is small and my LCD is large. I've also made abfusers to mount on the back of the LCDs that help. Have you tried any absorption or diffusion at the early reflection points between the soffit monitors and the desk?

Good luck!

[phybeau]

Thanks!

I've made the desk with two separate/moveable racks for pre amps and other outboard stuff. I could do some new measurements with them out of the room....
As we 'speak', I'm making extensions for the LCD arms, that will put them a little further back (3 to 4 inches or so) maybe that will help a bit.

Syncamorea: I'm trying a couple of home-made LCD monitor stands that will tuck the LCDs down behind the desk when I want the best possible sound because my room is small and my LCD is large. I've also made abfusers to mount on the back of the LCDs that help.

Have you got any pictures of these? love to see them

[Syncamorea]

Originally Posted by phybeau

Have you got any pictures of these? love to see them

Sorry, not yet. I've disassembled them right now and am going to try another modification. If I get the stand working properly, I will post pictures. Thanks.

[phybeau]

Finally found some time last summer to start finishing my tracking room.
By this time I’m almost finished.
Though almost finished, I couldn’t wait any longer so we pulled in the drums and amps some time ago and started recording...

Some pictures.







Some gear in the control room




The first results:

The track is far from finished; need to re-record the guitars add a Hammond-like organ(Korg actually), some percussion and hopefully some Horns,...if we can find some players...

http://soundcloud.com/phybeau/carlos-what-happened

Just to give you an idea of the room; the raw drum tracks (only a little shelving on the OH-mics...dark ribbons)

http://soundcloud.com/phybeau/carlos-what-happened-drums

Thanks for checking in!...

let me know what you think.
cheers,
Phybeau

[erikdrink]

Great!

[helpdeskeddy]

Looks great!

[dboybeats]

Congrats, looks great!