Members 144dB Posted May 3, 2012 Members Share Posted May 3, 2012 Hey all, The size and layout of a project studio is crucial, yet I find it really hard to find homes that offer suitable rooms. My fianc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted May 3, 2012 Moderators Share Posted May 3, 2012 One of the things to consider is cubic ft. The BBC design guidelines recommends a minimum of 1500 cubic feet to record voice. Any smaller and the resonance of the room gets into the lower vocal spectrum. Your's weighs in at 1056 cu. ft. Then there's the issue of the 8 foot ceiling. That's a resonant frequency of roughly 70Hz. This is why refection isn't the only concern for 8 foot ceilings, it goes right up into the meat of mix. And this is why bass traps have been such a hot topic the past 10 years. Studios are moving into the bedrooms of the world. I built mine in my garage and got it in just over the 1500 mark. But I've got an 8 foot ceiling. I do however have a big front room (18') with wood flooring and that is my main tracking room. So, getting a snake and VNC for laptop remote control is handy! The other consideration is the back wall distance. You want your first refection to be no shorter that 20ms. By strategic RFZ thinking and a mirror, you can kill those pesky ERs with absorption. But that back wall? Leave it reflective? are you ears at least 10 feet away form that back wall? If not, either redirect the bounce of that back wall, to lenthen its path back to you, with splayed panels or polys or diffusors, or use absorption. Bass traps and absorption under 20ms, roughly 10 feet, for any spot where you see your monitors in your mirror as it gets slid across your wall and ceiling.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted May 3, 2012 Members Share Posted May 3, 2012 Mine sucks. I track most things in a living room that is approximately 11 by 17 ft, although a good portion of it opens up into the dining room and kitchen, so it's not completely closed off. I use a lot of RealTraps and baffling to get past this, but it's challenging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tim Mayock Posted May 3, 2012 Members Share Posted May 3, 2012 I have 3 rooms all on the small side, one rectangle 12 x 21 x 7'4" with lot's of 703 and Hemholtz resonators in all the rooms. Consider what it costs to heat and cool a bigger space, pay taxes on a bigger house etc. I am quite thankful for what I have and have learned to make the best of it. This is not an "easy money" business. I have not a trust fund, but a saint of a wife just for putting up with my passion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Pigger Posted May 3, 2012 Members Share Posted May 3, 2012 Mine is my living room, roughly 16 1/2' x 14', packed with synths & recording gear which help diffuse it a bit. I have some decent acoustic treatment sitting in the garage that my landlord won't let me put up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BushmasterM4 Posted May 4, 2012 Members Share Posted May 4, 2012 30' x 32' live room 10' ceilings. 10' x 12' control / mix room Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryst Posted May 4, 2012 Members Share Posted May 4, 2012 15ft x 15ft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryst Posted May 4, 2012 Members Share Posted May 4, 2012 Mine sucks. I track most things in a living room that is approximately 11 by 17 ft, although a good portion of it opens up into the dining room and kitchen, so it's not completely closed off. I use a lot of RealTraps and baffling to get past this, but it's challenging. I read that openings to other rooms can actually work in your favor as the other open areas act as bass traps themselves. Not sure if it's true or not because most everything in audio is over my head. But I have 6 traps from GIK and 2 doorways without doors into my kitchen and hallway and my room is pretty accurate in the sense that whatever leaves my spot translates well to other places. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark L Posted May 4, 2012 Members Share Posted May 4, 2012 Mine's a small loft Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members philbo Posted May 4, 2012 Members Share Posted May 4, 2012 mine is about 40 x 25 ft with 10 ft ceilings, if you don't count the bar area. It sounds pretty good untreated, but I plan to put a 3 or 4 2'x8'x2" rigid fiberglass panels up, one over the mix monitoring area, one over the tracking area, and a couple other places. I want to suspend the ceiling ones about 4" down, and put dimmable LED strips on top for some additional indirect lighting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted May 4, 2012 Members Share Posted May 4, 2012 My studio is really a post-production suite/office, so the acoustics are really just there to get a decent monitoring environment. There's also an adjoining room where I record narration, I use a Primacoustic "shield" for the mic and close mic, so the acoustics aren't much of an issue. The room is also suitable for recording acoustic guitars, percussion, and other low-volume instruments. If I need a room with good acoustics, I don't even try to pretend that my post-production suite can equal a commercial studio. But really, so much work I do is remix, soundtracks, sound library development, audio-for-video, etc. that this works fine for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members A. Einstein Posted May 4, 2012 Members Share Posted May 4, 2012 no need to own a studio, never owned a studio, I hate to have a rucksack on, I want to go the the next best studio. In the radius of about 1200 meter I have five world class studios, one them with three concert halls size recording rooms, the newest of those studios has 25 Steinway, and several B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tim Mayock Posted May 4, 2012 Members Share Posted May 4, 2012 I will also say this the room is a component part of the total output of the music. The musicians are so much more important in the tracking process and knowing your environment is equally as important when mixing. I am biased of course, but world class records can be made in less than perfect rooms and have been since this stuff started happening. P.S. is was going to start out with "it aint the meat its the motion" but i am a gentleman I think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members electrochrisso Posted May 5, 2012 Members Share Posted May 5, 2012 I may well have the smallest at 10x10x7. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Temple of Light Posted May 5, 2012 Members Share Posted May 5, 2012 Right now 12.5' W x 30.5' L x 8.0 H. I Really wish I could bust the ceiling out and use my attic as acoustical space.The dimensions would then be quite ideal.However, the upside is my bedroom is the exact same dimensions as Les Paul's original echo/reverb chamber; it's the perfect acoustical chamber: I have yet to use it as such though.If it's good enough for John Lee Hooker, {who lived in this very room for years...} it's good enough for me.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members yump Posted May 5, 2012 Members Share Posted May 5, 2012 Hey all, The size and layout of a project studio is crucial, yet I find it really hard to find homes that offer suitable rooms. My fianc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark L Posted May 5, 2012 Members Share Posted May 5, 2012 I may well have the smallest at 10x10x7. Mine's much smaller Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members electrochrisso Posted May 5, 2012 Members Share Posted May 5, 2012 Mine's much smaller I was wondering about that when you said a small loft, but no dimensions given, well perhaps I have the second smallest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark L Posted May 5, 2012 Members Share Posted May 5, 2012 I was wondering about that when you said a small loft, but no dimensions given, well perhaps I have the second smallest. I probably have about 6' x 6' working room, but I have to watch my head on the sloping beams above I bet McCartney doesn't have these problems!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members electrochrisso Posted May 6, 2012 Members Share Posted May 6, 2012 I probably have about 6' x 6' working room, but I have to watch my head on the sloping beams above I bet McCartney doesn't have these problems!! Only when he gets in trouble with his missus and gets sent to the dog house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Huh? Posted May 6, 2012 Members Share Posted May 6, 2012 Only when he gets in trouble with his missus and gets sent to the dog house. Their dog house is probably bigger than my house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nerol1st Posted May 6, 2012 Members Share Posted May 6, 2012 Currently 23'X16' with a 11X13' room ajacent that also gets used for stuff... The downside is the stupid 7' ceilings since this is a finished basement so I find myself occasionally sneaking up to the living room for it's hardwood floors and vaulted ceiling. The basement is pretty dead and my living room is actually decently pleasing as an acoustic space. I used to work out of an 11'X12' room and took over the living room for drum tracking (a 10'X14' space). It sucked, buying a house was the best idea ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 144dB Posted May 6, 2012 Author Members Share Posted May 6, 2012 Thanks for the replies guys... For those with an unusually large space (e.g. BushmasterM4 or Philbo), I'd be curious if you're using a commercial space or your home. When I do buy a new house, finding a good space is a top priority. We must have looked at 50 or more homes in southeast Michigan, and I can think of only two that offered a really good space. The homes themselves might have had anywhere from 1,600 sq. ft. to 2,400 sq. ft. overall, but it's very rare that a single room (other than the master bedroom or living room) would be anywhere near 2,000+ cubic feet. One of them was a cape cod with a master bedroom on the first floor, so the second floor had a pretty awesome 23' x 18' x 8' space with wood floors (it sold before we looked at it). The other had a dugout basement area with >8' ceilings and good length/width dimensions. It was partially framed, so I could have converted it relatively easily. Basements can work, but I would only do it if I had a top flight sump system and good leak protection. It's also hard to find a tall ceiling in 1940-1980 homes, but many of the newer homes are being built with 9' basements (and you can usually do your calculations to the floor above, as opposed to the drop ceiling). So you might have 7' of usable space, but an 8' or 9' ceiling for mode calculations. Thanks again for the info. Todd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members philbo Posted May 6, 2012 Members Share Posted May 6, 2012 Thanks for the replies guys...For those with an unusually large space (e.g. BushmasterM4 or Philbo), I'd be curious if you're using a commercial space or your home. When I do buy a new house, finding a good space is a top priority. We must have looked at 50 or more homes in southeast Michigan, and I can think of only two that offered a really good space. The homes themselves might have had anywhere from 1,600 sq. ft. to 2,400 sq. ft. overall, but it's very rare that a single room (other than the master bedroom or living room) would be anywhere near 2,000+ cubic feet. One of them was a cape cod with a master bedroom on the first floor, so the second floor had a pretty awesome 23' x 18' x 8' space with wood floors (it sold before we looked at it). The other had a dugout basement area with >8' ceilings and good length/width dimensions. It was partially framed, so I could have converted it relatively easily.Basements can work, but I would only do it if I had a top flight sump system and good leak protection. It's also hard to find a tall ceiling in 1940-1980 homes, but many of the newer homes are being built with 9' basements (and you can usually do your calculations to the floor above, as opposed to the drop ceiling). So you might have 7' of usable space, but an 8' or 9' ceiling for mode calculations.Thanks again for the info. Todd It is my home; it takes up most of the lower level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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