Need Advice for Treating Acoustics in My New Home Studio

[mmyers]

Next, I hung the triangle panels in all four of the top corners of the room. These are 36 inch triangles.

I decided to do the hardest job first and get it out of the way, so I hung the ceiling panels (with the help of my trusty wife!)

I carefully measured for first reflection positions for all of my speakers, positioned a couple of panels directly above where I sit to work at the computer and also where I move back to the "sweet spot" in the room which is 38% from the wall with the windows and also three inches to the left of center.

To hang the panels, I am using a 4 inch L clamp from Lowe's which positions the panel exactly three inches from the wall. I mark each clamp at one inch and line the panel up with it and drill the screw into the wood frame. Notice in one picture there is my "frame template" that I use to mark where I want to line each panel up and then drill holes into the wall for the clamps.

[mmyers]

Notice I have changed to a 60 inch monitor that I use both as a computer monitor and home theater screen. I have also changed out my two JBL studio monitors with five Mackie HR 624 mkII speakers. Both of those changes made a huge difference.

Now, it was time for more acoustical testing with FuzzMeasure. Hey, things are starting to look better. Notice the difference in the low end. Still, more work to do...

[mmyers]

...And now for the walls...
I decided to stagger the wall panels at measurements of two and three feet off the floor. Also, we used an alternating color scheme of red and tan material on the panels. I was careful to position the first reflection points with the help of my wife and a mirror.

The corners in this room pose a problem because there are doors at three of the four corners so, instead of doing the triangular panel across the corner, I had to mount bass traps to the door and adjacent corner. On the one corner which doesn't have a door, I did it the same way just to keep things consistent throughout the room.

[mmyers]

I haven't done a FuzzMeasure test yet on this latest addition.

Also, we haven't hung any panels on the back wall yet. That will probably happen in the next day or so.

I finally set up my V-Drums last night. I've missed playing on them for the past month and a half.

I really, really wanted to put carpeting on the floor in this studio. I just like carpet and I have ALWAYS had carpet in all of my studios. Thanks to Stuart and others who convinced me that it would be acoustically better without carpet, I relented and kept the tile. So far, I haven't regretted it. I thought that the floor would still make the room too live and ringy. Hasn't happened at all. I'm glad I stopped by this forum.

Stay tuned for some more photos and test results. Thanks again to everyone who encouraged me and offered advice!

Mike

[gullfo]

looks really nice! good job!

you can use some small carpets as needed - under the drum kit, perhaps under your console. i'm wondering if raising the video monitor up and putting the center speaker on level with the other front monitors would be better.

[TomVan]

Hey Mike,
Looks great.
I dont think your monitor is big enough

What type of brackets did you use to mount your panels. It looks awesome
Peace
Tom

[mmyers]

Thanks Tom,
The L clamps that I used are from Lowe's. They are four inches which is perfect. You attach the clamp to the wall, allow three inches of space and then screw into one inch of the bass trap wood frame.

Mike

[TomVan]

Mike,
Sometimes the simplest things work out the best.
I have seen so many elaborate designs to hang the panels away from the wall but yours is truelly the easiest. And looks great
Plus I just love the huge monitor. As I get older the reading glasses dont work as well as they used to.
Peace
Tom

[mmyers]

I'm back with an update and more pictures.

We finished mounting the panels last night.

Looking back now, from the beginning, I took my original SketchUp design of this studio and stuck to it and hung every single panel just like I had designed.

Since checking in here last time, I only had the back wall and corners to go. Here they are...

The empty space to the left of my V-Drums is for my Yamaha acoustic drumset.

[mmyers]

...And now for some more acoustic measurements...

Looks to me that I'm in the right ballpark acoustically. I'd be open to any observations by those around here who are more knowledgeable than me about these results.

There is a HUGE difference between now and what I started with in this room.

I notice that when I sit on the "sweet spot" I get an incredible separation in the stereo field and an amazingly clean sound from all speakers.

I recently bought a new Sony receiver and I set it up to do a test (microphone included) which automatically sets the levels of all speakers so that they will be equal. Although the receiver has a number of different listening environments and eq settings, I left it at the "flat" setting.

[mmyers]

So, I guess its finally time for some serious music making in here!

Once again, I want to thank the many people who offered insight and advise, especially Stuart. I also want to thank Ethan Winer, although we never met or communicated, I used a lot of his advice on how to do this.

...Guess its time for me to pass the torch now to the next person... I hope that you end up with a great listening/working environment like I did.

Peace to everyone

Mike Myers
mikemyersmusic.com

[gullfo]

Nice Work Mike! (you can now update the photos on your web site to reflect this nice new space!)

[Ro]

great work, cool diary. hope it works out well!

[mmyers]

I finally got my acoustic drums set up. Here's a picture...

[gullfo]

how does it sound?