Project Studio Room Setup Questions

[tipomusic]

Dear Gearslut members,

this is my first post here with some questions that I hope will be answered to help me setup my project studio.

First here is the room in question:



and here are my questions:

1. As you can see in the left side of the picture there is a wardrobe that is almost wall to wall and by the way it is also floor to ceiling. It has two sliding glass mirror doors.
Now if I measure the size of the room and if I calculate in the size the depth of the wardrobe with which the Width of the room will be extended, hence the Width of the room becomes the Length of the room! It is important if I want to decide where to put my studio desk with the speakers on it especially because of the room's low frequency response, it is advisable to setup the speakers facing the Length of the room.

So my question is, should I calculate the wardrobe depth into the room size and if so then where should I put my studio desk with the speakers?

I was thinking that if the wardrobe is calculated into the size of the room then the best place for my speakers would be at the right side wall facing the wardrobe.

2. My room measurements with the depth of the wardrobe 14' x 12' x 8' hence I am planning to use bass traps and a lot of them. Which corners are the most important to treat? The corners closest to the speakers or the corners where I can hear the highest amount of boomy bass?

3. My room is smaller than the advisable smallest room size to set up a balanced acoustic environment for a studio.
Keeping this in mind, is it still possible to treat my room so my audio mixes will translate well to the outside world?

Thank you for any help!

[tipomusic]

Anybody?

[PaulP]

Originally Posted by tipomusic

this is my first post here with some questions that I hope will be
answered to help me setup my project studio.

Welcome tipomusic.

I'd take off the wardrobe doors and put the desk facing the right wall
(the one close to the "L" in your drawing). The room dimensions are better
this way (not square) and the wardrobe can act as a large bass trap at
your back which is good. You could always hang a curtain instead of the
doors.

What is the distance from the window to the right wall ? It would be great
if you had at least two feet. If so I'd put corner absorbers in the corners
on either side of your desk. Because of the window I'd put the side absorbers,
that reduce the reflections from the side walls, on stands and place them
symmetrically on either side of the desk at reflection points.

I suggest you also hang an absorber (cloud) from the ceiling to handle
the reflections coming from there.

Then stuff the wardrobe with as much clothing and other soft stuff as you
can fit in there.

Your room isn't that small. And with the doors off it's not square. So you
should be able to achieve a pretty good sounding room if you put enough
absorption in the proper places. It'll have to be on the dead side but for
mixing that should be ok.

Are you planning on doing any recording in your room or just mixing ?

Paul P

[imhungry]

so much glass. you should do something about all of that glass. big mirrors and windows are not good, unless they are constructed right.

[tipomusic]

Originally Posted by PaulP

Welcome tipomusic.

I'd take off the wardrobe doors and put the desk facing the right wall
(the one close to the "L" in your drawing). The room dimensions are better
this way (not square) and the wardrobe can act as a large bass trap at
your back which is good. You could always hang a curtain instead of the
doors.

What is the distance from the window to the right wall ? It would be great
if you had at least two feet. If so I'd put corner absorbers in the corners
on either side of your desk. Because of the window I'd put the side absorbers,
that reduce the reflections from the side walls, on stands and place them
symmetrically on either side of the desk at reflection points.

I suggest you also hang an absorber (cloud) from the ceiling to handle
the reflections coming from there.

Then stuff the wardrobe with as much clothing and other soft stuff as you
can fit in there.

Your room isn't that small. And with the doors off it's not square. So you
should be able to achieve a pretty good sounding room if you put enough
absorption in the proper places. It'll have to be on the dead side but for
mixing that should be ok.

Are you planning on doing any recording in your room or just mixing ?

Paul P

Paul,

Thank you for your response!

Yes, I was thinking something similar to what you suggest and place my desk with the speakers close to the right side wall so the speakers would shoot at the wardrobe.
Do I really need to take off the wardrobe sliding doors? I could maybe install a sliding rail right in front of the wardrobe doors and hang a couple of bass traps or broadband traps on the sliding rail. With these Bass Traps I could basically cover the sliding doors especially if I open the sliding doors so the two doors would slide on top of each other opening up the wardrobe at the two sides. Would this work?
I will try to do a test as well with sliding doors on and off.
I will definitely put broadband traps above my listening position the way that would solve as much primary reflections from the ceiling as possible.

Fortunately there is enough distance from the right side of the window to the right side wall to install bass traps into that corner and also there is space for this in the other corner.

I am planning to do vocal recordings beside of mixing in this very same room.

I will also try to do a test room analysis and see where are the dips and bumps in the frequency graph.

[PaulP]

Originally Posted by tipomusic

Do I really need to take off the wardrobe sliding doors? I could maybe install a sliding rail right in front of the wardrobe doors and hang a couple of bass traps or broadband traps on the sliding rail. With these Bass Traps I could basically cover the sliding doors especially if I open the sliding doors so the two doors would slide on top of each other opening up the wardrobe at the two sides. Would this work?

If I've understood things properly having the door closed makes your room
square. This is really something you want to avoid if at all possible. Small
rooms already have problems with modes and if two dimensions are similar
you will have frequencies which'll be boosted and large holes in between.

Two feet of bass trapping offered by the wardrobe is something that could
be very beneficial. Sure you could put a lot of absorption in front of the
doors but you'll lose that much space in the room.

Paul P

[tipomusic]

Originally Posted by PaulP

If I've understood things properly having the door closed makes your room
square. This is really something you want to avoid if at all possible. Small
rooms already have problems with modes and if two dimensions are similar
you will have frequencies which'll be boosted and large holes in between.

Two feet of bass trapping offered by the wardrobe is something that could
be very beneficial. Sure you could put a lot of absorption in front of the
doors but you'll lose that much space in the room.

Paul P

Hmm... Definitely a square or close to square shape room should be avoided.
Unfortunately these mirror glass doors are heavy and big and I still have to figure it out how and where I can store them.
I will try to do as you have suggested.
All in all I think it is still just a minor work compared to other situations and I am willing to do whatever it takes to make this room sounding as flat as it is possible.

Thank you again!

[AwwDeOhh]

another thing to consider:

Do or will those glass doors Rattle or otherwise make noise when music is being played?
Just something to consider... You might want to sweep thru the frequencies and see if there's a spot where those glass doors vibrate uncontrollably!

[tipomusic]

Originally Posted by AwwDeOhh

another thing to consider:

Do or will those glass doors Rattle or otherwise make noise when music is being played?
Just something to consider... You might want to sweep thru the frequencies and see if there's a spot where those glass doors vibrate uncontrollably!

Good point, but I have already decided to remove them if possible. However, before I do I might do a sweep test and listen to the doors closely just out of curiosity.
It is I think a good way also with any materials in the room, including the walls to see at what frequencies are they vibrate the most.