Studio treatment

[bassik]

One more thing,

as your side wall on the left of the desk seems quite diffusive, you can spread the panels to improve absorption efficiency.
The principle is based on Fresnel zones.

This video is a good example of it, even if it is not that accurate scientifically, it shows you that you do not need to cover the entire wall to be effective (the guy still have some flutter echo as he uses thin panels, if he would be using thicker panels (80 mm or more) the flutter echo would disappear).

https://youtu.be/cp56A6TcL1E

[abalone]

looks great!
you probably put the drums in the best sounding spot, studios are defined by their drum sound
take time, trust your ears…
if the tile floors make it overly reflective, add some rugs

[Rodrigo]

Man, that would be super useful and amazing!

By “room model” do you mean detailed sketch and spatial/physical measurements, or do you mean sweeps and audio measurements? I can make some IRs of the room, but again, not really sure where to place the speaker(s) and/or mics to measure “the whole room”.

The first reflection stuff makes sense, as I guess that’s a good way to maximize the impact around the mixing area without having to treat everything.

One thing that’s different is that I’m not actually planning on “enclosing” the mixing area like in their spec. That doesn’t really make sense in the room, and I will likely spend far less time on the monitors than I would in the room at large, so physically setting up obstacles in the main space isn’t ideal.

It’s also good that one of the walls is textured/irregular stone wall, so that will help in general (I would think).

I was definitely planning on putting some panels on the wall directly behind me (if facing the speakers/desk), as well as some behind/above the monitors too.

if the tile floors make it overly reflective, add some rugs

Yeah. Already have one really big rug along with a smaller one. I was thinking of adding more, though long long term I will probably swap the floor out to wood, but that won’t be for a while yet.

[bassik]

Hey @Rodrigo
I am sorry I have underestmated how busy December can be.

I cannot promise anything but if you can take IRs measurements at a constant distance from your sweet spot and on your sweet spot, I can tell you if there is any room modes problem.
Also it is good to have reference of the other area of the room.

Reverberation time (and modal decay) is function of source receiver position, although modal decay in small room look more indipendent of this due to the locations you can leave the microphone being constrined.

How do you capture the IRs? do you use Alex Harker IR tools?
or do you use REW?

[Rodrigo]

Hey man, no worries. Any help/input is appreciated, and at any point. I’m not in a big rush to put up the panels as it’s just my home studio that I’m casually using.

It will be a couple of weeks before I can do any of this anyways on my side.

I cannot promise anything but if you can take IRs measurements at a constant distance from your sweet spot and on your sweet spot, I can tell you if there is any room modes problem.
Also it is good to have reference of the other area of the room.

So by “constant distance from your sweet spot” do you mean, like taking recordings that are say 1m away from the sweet spot (but would be closer and further to the speakers), or do you mean constant distance from the speakers (i.e. 1.5m from the speakers fanning out).

And is it best, for this purpose, to create stereo or mono IRs (and then 2 channel or 4 channel stereo (speakerL to micL, speakerL to micR, speakerR to micL, speakerR to micR))?

And in terms of mic, I don’t have a proper reference mic, but I have some ok mics. My “good” options are DPA 4060s (omni) or AKG C214 (cardioid). I have a large diaphragm condenser that’s been modded (new capsule/transformer/etc…) and sounds great, but is an unknown in terms of exact frequency response.

I presume the C214 would be better here for it’s pickup pattern, but I suspect the DPA is flatter sounding.

How do you capture the IRs? do you use Alex Harker IR tools?
or do you use REW?

I was going to use the HISS tools IR stuff. I’ve not used REW before (downloading it now). For some reason I thought it was Windows only…

edit: hmm, REW looks pretty useful. Would you suggest I just do everything in there? (since I presume it’s more tailored to this actual process)

[rick_monster]

About to receive the remaining materials to finish ‘phase 1’ of my shed studio build. I am attempting to create a ‘minimum viable space’ to house my nomadic, box-ridden hoarde… It started off as a very standard shed with shiplap cladding on 3x1 timber frame and only half a very leaky roof. 4 weeks or so into the build, things are looking surprisingly plausible!

Here are the decisions I made to try and finish on a small but not tiny budget:

• 18mm OSB for all internal walls, allowing easy mounting of shelves/work surfaces using woodscrews and shelf brackets
• Opted to not use resilient bar or wall suspension - seems not worth it without installing double glazing
• Rwa45 (high density rockwool) doubles as main sound and thermal insulation in wall cavity
• Interior roof will be rwa45, chicken wire and packing blankets stapled to rafters
• Built a new sloping roof out of 18mm OSB and 2 layer torchdown bituminous felt.
• Have beefed up existing shed double doors into an attempt at soundproof using several cans of expanding foam and more 18mm OSB

Will report back on acoustics of this build as well as soundproofing when I am finally done.

Anyone care to comment on acoustic effects due to floating Vs rigid walls?

[rick_monster]

Things are progressing well, managed to score a load of double glazing on Freecycle on Tuesday - this will help a lot with soundproofing… I fixed the double glazed units to the interior walls over existing Windows to create in effect triple glazing.

6 Windows done, four to go!

[Zhenya]

Hm, are they actually using only drapes as a primary sonic treatment? That’s interesting because could be reproduced at home with not much efforts.

[bradfromraleigh]

That is possible but its also very likely that there was significant effort put into the design of the room for the desired effect.

[Rodrigo]

Rewatched the amazing MØXE studio tour video, and I love love all the creative uses of sound treatment in there.

You don’t get a clear view of it in the video, but I googled my way to some better pictures of “the cloud” in the control room:

From the profile, in particular, it doesn’t look too thick so I’m wondering what kind of material is being used for the absorption. I’ve seen this kind of denim-y or rockwool-type material posted before, but none of those are white (as far as I know).

Mechanically it doesn’t look too complex (other than hours and hours of soldering).

Also wondering if it might be possible to ‘IKEA hack’ one of their KRUSNING lamp shades to include layers of absorbent materials for a compact/simple approach to a similar idea.

(also, in googling the IKEA lamp shades, I found their ODDLAUG acoustic panels, which I hadn’t seen before either. Could make an ok accent wall thing to gobble up some unwanted reflections on a budget)

I’ve also been waiting (for like a year now!) for the updated versions of the Vicoustic Wavewood panels to come out. (right as I was going to buy them, I was told to hold off as new ones were around the corner)

I’ve seen no mention of price anywhere, but I’m wary that product webpage says that each box comes with only 3 (vs 10 per box in the currently available versions).

[bassik]

I have just realised I have never answered your question you asked long time ago!!!
Really sorry but in the meantime I had an international move and some other smaller things…if you can resend it (if you still need help) I will have time now.

Regarding the lamp in the studio, I assume it shall be made of some relatively dense material to have some absorption properties that span a certain freq range, if not the absorption will happen only in the Hugh freq.
This type of absorbers use heath dissipation to absorb sound and would need to have a certain ‘flow resistivity’ to be effective.
If you look to these panels for example https://www.ecophon.com/uk/products/Free-hanging-units-and-baffles/Solo/Solo--Rectangle/
You will se that they are about 75kg/m3 and they are not amazing at low freq either…

Depending on your case you can customise the Ikea lamp but you will reduce reflections in the high/mid high range which might still be useful (I.e. ringing sound from a snare hit).

[Rodrigo]

I have just realised I have never answered your question you asked long time ago!!!

Hehe, no worries. It slipped from my mind as well!

Also, I put off ordering the Vicoustic panels since I’ve been waiting on the updates.

Once I do, I will likely drop you a line to pick your brain about how to best set them up and/or measurements.

Regarding the lamp in the studio, I assume it shall be made of some relatively dense material to have some absorption properties that span a certain freq range, if not the absorption will happen only in the Hugh freq.
This type of absorbers use heath dissipation to absorb sound and would need to have a certain ‘flow resistivity’ to be effective.

Interesting.

Do you see this as the kind of thing that can make things worse if done more casually? (i.e. making some DIY thing out of dense-ish material just to hang above the monitoring area)

In an ideal world I would have a proper floating area above the desk, but I’m not really trying to create a perfect monitoring situation, but rather an overall “good” sounding room, which also works well for monitoring/composing. And if adding some extra “decorative” sound treatment stuff can help more than it hurts, it would add vibe to the room if nothing else.

[bassik]

Once I do, I will likely drop you a line to pick your brain about how to best set them up and/or measurements.

Absolutely!!

Do you see this as the kind of thing that can make things worse if done more casually? (i.e. making some DIY thing out of dense-ish material just to hang above the monitoring area)

In an ideal world I would have a proper floating area above the desk, but I’m not really trying to create a perfect monitoring situation, but rather an overall “good” sounding room, which also works well for monitoring/composing. And if adding some extra “decorative” sound treatment stuff can help more than it hurts, it would add vibe to the room if nothing else.

If you are not looking to have a perfect monitoring situation (if it does exist…) you can use that DIY idea.
It will help you removing some unwanted reflection100%.

[sarmism]

Hello all. I’ve read this thread with considerable interest as I’ve now reached the stage in my home renovation where I’d like to optimise the treatment in my music studio room (I have no other options of room before anyone asks!)

Unfortunately it’s rather an eccentric layout (pic 1) with a sloping roof along its length and a sort of irregular shape to the area with the door.

I currently have the configuration like pic 2 with the desk/mixing area near the door and the monitors pointing along the length of the room. There is a sofa bed under the window. The problem with this layout is that one monitor speaker is very close to the sloped ceiling.

I’m wondering whether a better option might be in pic 3 with the desk near the window and the monitors facing the sloping ceiling. The sofa bed would have to go along the wall near the door. Disadvantage of this would be that I’d no longer be aligned to the longitudinal axis of the room.

I’d be interested in the Lines community members opinions on which option (or any other) might be best suited to acoustic treatment and which treatment you’d consider. I already have 4 bass traps and some tiles to install when I’ve worked out what I’m doing!

Room shape (pic 1)

Current option (pic 2)

Possible change (pic 3)

If you have the time to reply thanks so much!

Pete

[jlmitch5]

Could you move the desk so that it is centered on the long wall, with your listening position to the back of the weirdly shaped wall? Would also be good to start your listening position at the 38 percent front to back position (it could either be 38 percent to the front or 38 percent from the back. Just try not to do 50 percent as that will accentuate room modes.

That puts the window not in a first reflection point. It also maintains L/R symmetry in the side reflection zone.

Good luck! I am in a similar situation and am eagerly the panels I ordered to come

[jlmitch5]

That also puts the roof pitch to your advantage…it pints the ceiling first reflection behind you instead of back down to you

Also my experience with moving my monitors onto stands and off my desk was a big improvement to bass response. If you were to do that and put the speakers behind your desk, you could potentially increase the size of your equilateral triangle (and my guess is it will put your listening position at about 38 percent from the rear).

You may have came across the advice to “keep your speakers away from the wall a little bit”. That’s generally bad for smaller rooms and actually accentuates SBIR in a way that makes it effect higher low frequencies. Putting them as close to the wall behind them as possible usually results in the least bad

[sarmism]

This could work but the pitch is only 100cm on the left hand side of the room (long wall) so I don’t think I can get a desk in there nevermind the monitors. I might try though, it could help with the 38 percent ratios.

[jlmitch5]

Ah yeah that is quite short! I have not come across anything about best way to handle that scenario in my reading. You might be able to angle them up so the tweeter is directed at ear level at the listening position?

[sarmism]

Cool yes! It’s an odd room - sort of an add on to the rest of the house I think.

I wondered whether this could work having heard your suggestion.

Edit: the big rectangle is the sofa bed when it’s out in bed configuration (for size reference)

[jlmitch5]

If I was you, I would probably go with whichever one feels the best and most inviting since it’s such a tight space, which my guess would be your option 3 if your head doesn’t push up against the ceiling.