Noob Cube

[vocom]

Here I go ...

I have a 9'x9'x9' cube. Extra office in rented commercial space. Reasonably sound proof from outiside sounds (brick wall away from street, no outside windows). And I can work around/manage internal office noise from office mates.

Google SketchUp shows view through the full walls and anticipated use of GIK Acoustics products. Pics should be self-explanatory. I'll post updates along the way ... wish I could figure out how to comment on each pic ...

My audio goals are much more simple and basic than many here ... but I have learned a TON from lurking and reading. I'm not a musician, nor an audio engineer. ("Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." - Arthur C. Clarke) Most of you do freakin' alchemy in my mind!

My studio will be spoken voice only - v/o recording and educational video editing - with some "home movie"/family vid editing for good measure. At this point the primary end product will be web-based/YouTube. Prospecting marketing videos and B2B training in my insurance specialty. Glorified "podcasting", but it must have a quality sound and look. I HATE the hollow, bathroom-sound of so much video audio on the web. You have to live with compressed video, but a crappy audio source is crap no matter what you do. I have a journalism/broadcast degree, but haven't worked in the biz for 20+ years. Non-Linear Editing (video) is a brave new world for me! Audio? I know what sounds good ... and what doesn't.

So my challenges/goals:
- A boxy, boomy, slap-echoey room.
- A wrap-around, built-in desk that at this point I don't want to have to take the time and effort to remove (though I can per my lease - 3 more years).
- It just looks BARE ...
- I want to do in-studio, on-camera narrations and keep the audio consistent using a high-quality lavalier mic (wired A-T 803B) for off-cam narrations as well so audio sound is consistent. (Have a Canon HD camcorder with manual audio control and a XLR to mini adapter.)
- Turn the box into a reasonable "soundstage" and editing space for my educational/marketing video projects.
- Do not yet need a "perfect" v/o space, not yet going for full iso booth set up ... a quality v/o cardiod (EV20) + soundgard after treatment will get me closer to that sound when needed...

HUGE shout out to Glenn and Bryan at GIK Acoustics for their low-key, profesional input here and personal off-line advice. 10 panels (6x242 & 4 x 244) ordered. Initial placement noted in attached final SketchUp. Way more value and quality treatment for less money than with foam products. Should look nicer too ... Also at Bryan's advice will be adding R30 insulation above the existing acoustic hung tiles. Oh, the flouescent lights are gone ... Track haologen, maybe LED to replace ... Also fabric curtains to cover the windows - large, neutral video background draping over large window.

And FWIW, just set up my brand-spankin' new iMac, Mackie ONYX BlackJack and Mackie MR5mk2s. ($80 in company rebates for the set of 3 through EOY.) NO treatment yet, facing the corner (I know!) but cranked Alan Parson's "I Robot" from iTunes and it sounded amazing!!! ... now this may totally be due to the fact that I'm a complete noob and a long-time audio gear slut who's never owned anything close to a near-field monitor, but O-M-G! The iMac picked up the BlackJack immediately (had to find it and select it in the Apple OS, but it was there - Apple's a new adventure for me). And the monitors sounded fantastic.

Paint and treatment and actual recording to come ... Next step is to record, on-cam, some simple narration to set a baseline before starting on the treatment ...

[vocom]

Painting done. Flouescent lights gone. Track light in. Insulated shades on windows. Denser ceiling tiles hung. GIK panels mounted - 6 x 242s with upgraded cloth; 4 x 244 bass traps with std light cloth. Mounting slightly different than the last SketchUp, I moved the 242 up high above the window/door and straddled a bass trap across the corner partially covering the small window.

"Finished" pics:

Decent color rep, still with fluorescents:


The spoken voice sound is outstanding.

[Glenn Kuras]

Looks great and glad we where able to help. Please let us know if there is anything we can do for yo in the future!

[vocom]

I'll post some before/after audio soon, and get a couple more, better pics with a real camera. Glenn, I can't say enough about the personal help & encouragement I got from Bryan.

[Ub3rMario]

Hopefully with all the treatment and considerations you took, you don't have any issues with phase & standing waves! Sometimes it's hard to work with what you have (a small square room). If I were you, I would do some recordings with and without the acoustic treatment so that you can compare the differences. This way, even if you have some acoustic issues, you'll still be able to see the improvement over the original.

I personally would let something like one standing wave, not even at the sweet spot, leave me unsatisfied with all my hard work. I'm a bit OCD though. lol.

[vocom]

I am WAY behind in getting this thread updated. I have before/after audio, just need to get it posted.

Needless to say the treatment has done wonders. I'm extremely pleased.