Are you a room acoustic expert?

[String7th]

Then tell me what you would do with this room.


This is the control room and I'm tired of compensating monitor EQ for bad room sound. I know this is drawing is poorly made, it's not to scale but gives you an idea.

I plan to fill in the corners behind the monitors with carpeted plywood, creating an artificial wall with 45 degree angles instead of right angles. That may take care of some of the standing bass waves in those corners. I'm not sure if the vaulted ceilings help or hurt the room. There is an option of switching to a room that's a mirrored opposite with no vaulted ceiling.

I have 2'x3' panels of Auralex foam on the center of the left/right walls, at monitor height. 2 more panels on the 2 smaller walls in the back just outside the sink/closet entrance.

I've gutted the closet and use it as a guitar cabinet isolation booth. I've used cheap egg-crate foam to line the walls and ceiling. It only works for cardoid close mic'd applications. Back the mic away 4 inches, and you get horrible room sound.

Should I switch rooms to the non-vaulted ceiling?
Should I add more foam panels and where?
Should I re-arrange the desk setup to a side wall?
Will filling the corners with a wall help?

[brandondrury]

This is the control room and I'm tired of compensating monitor EQ for bad room sound.

I know of zero pros who recommend EQing studio monitors. I wouldn't advice this.

I plan to fill in the corners behind the monitors with carpeted plywood,

In all seriousness, this is about the worst possible thing you can do in a studio 99.999% of the time. If you are seroius about recording music, pick up the "Master Handbook Of Acoustics". You are about to waste a lot of time, money, and effort on a really bad decision. The word "carpet" in acoustic treatment is synonymous with suicide.

That may take care of some of the standing bass waves in those corners.

Room modes will laugh in the face of carpet. You need bass traps.

I've used cheap egg-crate foam to line the walls and ceiling.

Does it sound dull?

Should I switch rooms to the non-vaulted ceiling?
Should I add more foam panels and where?
Should I re-arrange the desk setup to a side wall?
Will filling the corners with a wall help?

All of these are can be answered with the book I recommended.

How much time have you spent moving your studio monitors around the room? Are they on stands or a desk?

Brandon

[ferguson66]

I haven't seen the book Brandon recommended but I do have this book. It is very easy to read and understand and has some example room models very similar to yours.

Amazon.com: Acoustic Design for the Home Studio: Books: Mitch Gallagher

[String7th]

I think I may have to go buy the books.
Sounds like I have no clue what I'm talking about when it comes to room acoustics.

I've already shopped around for bass traps, and they all are basically the same price. Any favorite brands?

[ferguson66]

I am going to start with this. It will probably give me all the bass traps I need (won't really know until I try it out) and I can add more of the 1' x 1' panels as necessary to tame the room.

Buy Auralex DS-2 Pro Designer Kit online at Musician's Friend

Buy Auralex Designer Series DST114 24 Pack online at Musician's Friend

I will have my control room and live room together for my home studio. it is 12' x 16'. I think it will work out fine. I've recorded in a similar studio and he was able to get great sound.

[brandondrury]

I'd rather get shot in the face than buy an Auralex product. 90% of their products do little more than provide extremely high mark up on materials that barely do any bit of good. They are great at absorbing high end reflections. So is a t-shirt on the wall. Auralex makes no product that I'm aware of that even remotely addresses the low end in the room to a level that is beyond "comedicly pathetic".

Check out the low end absorption coefficients for Auralex vs Rockwool. It's astounding just how little Auralex does.

I HIGHLY recommend doing some reading on this whole acoustics thing. If you are going to simply throw money at the problem without learning how it works, go with Ethan Whiner's Real Traps. Those actually do more than placebo.

If you want to use Auralex, be my guest, but you could do that with a few blankets and a little creativity for about 1/10th the price. Then again, they do look cool. If you are into that sort of thing, go buy some rims for your car.

Brandon

[ferguson66]

Well I am glad I posted something about it. You saved me some money and some glue marks on my walls. I have an idea of how I want to start to treat the room, I guess I need to do more research on what to treat it with.

My idea was to start with those and start tweaking from there. I'll check out the Ethan Whiner's Real Traps.

[ferguson66]

Ok, so ya. I went and read some stuff on Ethan Whiner's page and it looks like you can build low mid and high frequency traps that are MUCH better than sculpted foam products for a FRACTION of the cost. I owe you a night out with beers Brandon.

Very informative website. It would be much cheaper for me to build my own panels and experiment with them. Acoustic Treatment and Design for Recording Studios and Listening Rooms

And btw, I saw on the Real Traps website RealTraps - Home that they have a consulting service. You might ask them how much they would charge and what they do. The cool thing is that they will take the cost of their consulting off of a Real Traps purchase. But it look like you have to be serious about your room for this. For me I am going to try and build some of my own and give it a go with all of the info I have read in books and websites.

[brandondrury]

I owe you a night out with beers Brandon.

Wow! The ultimate of compliments! I'm glad I could help.

For me I am going to try and build some of my own and give it a go with all of the info I have read in books and websites.

Give it a shot. Just be aware that I also built my own and I'm not exactly sure I didn't completely screw them up! I'd expect you to be a better carpenter than me assuming you are human.

Brandon

[ferguson66]

Originally Posted by brandondrury

I'd expect you to be a better carpenter than me assuming you are human.

After building that entire studio building some wood frames will be a nice break. I just need to find a place to order the fiberboard that will ship it to me.