Couple questions about room setup and treatment

[travisbrown]

So I'm finally setting up my music room in what used to be my workshop. I am hoping to elicit some suggestions about placement and treatment from people who know what they are doing.

I've really pared down my setup. The basic setup is:

Bunch of outboard gear --> i/o into MacBook Pro --> monitor through NS-10s and Camber 3.0TIs. Control with a Tascam US-2400.

The purpose of this room is just a demo/goofing around studio.

Below is a sketch with proposed setup. Couple things I was thinking

1. Loaded build-in bookcase on far wall with an alcove for an upright piano. This is the demising wall between my townhouse and that of my (friendly) neighbours. I was thinking that it would both serve as a sound barrier and as a diffuser. Books would be a good random surface and basically be an additional 10"-12" of buffer. The wall between my neighbours and me is 8" thick and insulated anyway.

2. The room has a 7' ceiling. Not ideal, but it is what it is. To compensate somewhat, I was thinking of pulling down the drywall and exposing the joists. Then adding trim along the joists so I could build and set in something like the Auralex Space Coupler or Space Array in the same manner as a hanging ceiling.

I was thinking of building something like these: Auralex Acoustics - SpaceCoupler

Should these be all couplers, or a mix of couplers and diffusers?

3. Should there be absorption above the couplers and the subfloor, and if so, what material? I was going to put at least a couple inches of rigid insulation between the joists and under the subfloor for heat transfer and minor noise anyway.

4. Is my choice for workstation placement okay, or am I better off switching it to A and putting book cases along D and part of E, and Piano along B? I was thinking that I could pull the desk out a foot or two (on casters) when mixing to get the monitors away from the wall.

5. Floor is T&G bamboo. Concrete foundation underneath. I have various rugs I can lay out to reduce reflections. Walls are drywall. Where would I need diffuser on the walls?

[Ethan Winer]

I've never tried the Space Couplers but I've heard they work. However, I don't see why that would be better than just opening the ceiling and leaving the joists in place.

--Ethan

[travisbrown]

Well, aesthetics, really. There are certain compromises one must make for a happy household. And there's some wiring and ducting up there too. It will serve as a guest bedroom too (hide-a-bed).

I don't know why my illustration got deleted from the GS forum attachments repository after a day. I've now linked from another server.

[travisbrown]

Originally Posted by Ethan Winer

I've never tried the Space Couplers but I've heard they work. However, I don't see why that would be better than just opening the ceiling and leaving the joists in place.

--Ethan

If I do finish the ceiling with some sort of scattering array/coupler, that opens up the space between the joists, would you pack insulation in there or leave open?

[Ethan Winer]

Pack insulation in where? Again, I've never used that. Maybe someone else here has better advice.

--Ethan

[travisbrown]

Originally Posted by Ethan Winer

Pack insulation in where? Again, I've never used that. Maybe someone else here has better advice.

--Ethan

If you look at the fine, fine illustration above, I mean pack insulation above the space couplers that would rest on trim pieces between the joists, much like a T-Bar hanging ceiling. Just wondering if I want space or absorption there.

[travisbrown]

I'm replying to this originally posted from Placing monitors across a corner rather than facing down a room

Originally Posted by bukman

Also not sure of the effects of having your speakers directly against the wall as you plan to have it. I have read this is not so bad a situation compared to moving the speakers further from the wall. Someone else may be able to comment on this.

Yeah, I'm not sure about this. The desk will be on casters, so I might just roll the desk out a foot or two if close wall proximity is a problem. I could pull the drywall off that wall and make the wall itself an absorption plane, at least from the wainscot up. Could get 4" of absorption material in there. In fact, I could do this for all the walls. Would pink fibreglass be fine here, or something more specialized?

In your left rear corner where you have your built in book case I have a wall about 1.5 metres long which I have thrown in another bass trap held up by an angled acoustic screen to create a fake angled corner. Imagine your books would provide similar absorbtion. Depends how high the bookshelf extends.

Bookshelves are full height - build-ins with an arbour over the piano.

Also you will definitely have a reflection point on the wall above your right couch seat and likely just behind your right monitor that you will need to absorb somehow with some foam (not to mention your ceiling above the monitors).

Cheers

Yes, I'm figuring I'll need a trap there or something. Maybe a really, really thick velvet painting. The ceiling above monitors won't be a highly reflective surface. I'm trying to figure out how to make it as scattering and absorptive as I can. This is probably my most vexing problem right now.

[bukman]

Originally Posted by travisbrown

Would pink fibreglass be fine here, or something more specialized?

My traps were built with a similar type of fibreglass. The one I used was made from wall insulation with sound absorbing features.
In Australia they are made by Bradford and called Soundscreen Plus. I used the R3 version Accoustic Insulation – Soundproof your home.
All those pink fibreglass insulation companies make sound proofing insulation also and it is usually reasonable in price as long as you stick to the domestic types.

The handy thing I found was that as they come in rectangular shape packaging I could just keep them in the packet they came in and and wrap them in cloth. They then stacked on top of each other. Well I did take a saw and cut a foot or so off the top of one packet so they would fit snugly in the corner and up against the ceiling.

With some left overs I made some smaller absorbers of the size you are considering.
They do say 4" thick is preferred to 2" so 2 sheets together of that sort of product would get you a good absorber. A bit messy when handling but very cheap.

Originally Posted by travisbrown

Yeah, I'm not sure about this. The desk will be on casters, so I might just roll the desk out a foot or two if close wall proximity is a problem.

Check this out. Genelec Oy - Wall behind the Loudspeaker Cancellation
According to this article flush mount is best. After that its placing them as close as possible to the wall that they can get. So your plan in your drawing looks solid and you may not need to get rid of your drywall at all.

Cheers