Treating my office / conference room / studio

[mc2600]

Hi all,

I'm building out a new recording area (for both audio and video) in my basement, and am just realizing how important sound treatment is. I'd love some advice about what to do in the room below.

Here are some details:

• The area I'll be working in is half of a 40' x 20' room. The 20' x 20' area I'm going to work in is separated by 2 half-walls (see picture below). I assume I'll have to do something to more completely separate the two areas.
• Ceilings are 10'.
• I'm exclusively doing voice work --- not "voice of god voiceover" ... but spoken word trainings. Think podcasts or a radio show, not commercials.
• Because I have historically had bad rooms to work in, I exclusively use LDD (RE20 / PR40 / SM7B). I have been happy with them, and if I could treat the following room well enough to justify playing with an LDC (I love the Blue Kiwi, for example) ... I'd be thrilled.
• Whatever I do in this room, I want to be able to move it without too much trouble. I don't expect to stay in this house for more than 2 years, and want to be able to bring my investment with me to the next space.
• I don't need "world class" acoustics. Right now, the room is very noisy. If I can just get to "good enough" or "pretty good" I'll be happy for this gear-buying cycle.
• Unless it is absolutely not possible, the "stuff" in the room is staying (conference table, desk, computer equipment --- fairly quiet, current model Mac Pro).

We are just moving in, so please forgive the wreck of a room. ;-)

Any advice or suggestions would be helpful. I have no idea what I should be budgeting for this.

Thanks in advance.

Michael

P.S. If it will be dramatically easier and/or more inexpensive, I have a pretty standard 14 x 14 spare bedroom next to my office with two windows that I could use. But I'd really rather deck out my work area.

[Ethan Winer]

If you're only recording voice-overs, and not making mixing decisions that affect how much bass is in a song mix, you don't need a lot of treatment. Simply enclose / surround the smaller area you record and listen in with absorption.

I do see one problem with your setup though - you have a reflecting wall right behind you. You'll do better to flip your speakers 180 degrees, so they're near the wall pointing out into the room. More here:

How to set up a room

--Ethan