Brand New Studio Ready for Acoustical Tuning
Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2004 3:52 pm
Hi folks. I attempted to write on this topic in the studio construction forum, but along with not really knowing what I was trying to ask, as well as some surgery on the side, I really didn't stay on the ball about what I need to ask.
But here it is. I'm ready to do it from the bottom up. The studio construction is finished. The window has been installed (following Steven Klein's design combined with a ton of info I pulled off of this board), and the 2nd story insulation is finished.
The studio itself is a two room facility, small but comfy. It covers about 370 sq ft. The control room dimensions measure 14x11.5 ft, the live rom is at 13.5x15.5 ft. The walls were constructed using stadard and basic double wall designs, each wall consisteing of a layer of standard thermal insulation, a layer of Homosote, and Sheetrock drywall. The floors will be (not yet finished though) laminate wood flooring in each room. The control room has a 4.5x11.5 riser in the entire rear of the studio. This design was inspired by a local studio who had clients constantly saying that they coudn't see over his chair. The riser is built up 8 inches. This riser will be coverd with carpet only, the rest of the entire will be wood. The ceilings are 9 ft high with a popcorn finish. The only exception is over the riser, where, due to construction boundry limitations, the ceiling has just over a 2 ft 90 degree drop stright down that comes out from the wall 5 ft.
The questions I have to ask concerns the bass build-up in smaller rooms, early reflections resulting in colored sound, and overall room tuning. Currently, with no furniture or flooring and only the walls done, the rooms sound rather lively. Speech ha a very crisp tone to it, and there is a nice room sound with an ambience that seems to last over a second. I want to take advantage of this when I need to, but I need to have large gobos constucted to move around solo instuments like vocals, etc when I need a dry sound. The use of wall panels and resonation channels, diffusors, bass traps, and dampening materials are all on my mind as options.
Below are two of the drawings we put together for the constuction crew to see just as a reference of the final product. I have included some notes on them for you. The overhead drawing shows the control room with the riser in the back with the couch on it, but not the ceiling drop. (Refer to the side view for that). The live room has a large open space in the back that says "window." This was a previous window that was in that location. To preserve this, we simply built the double-wall around it, but not over it covering it up. We intend to build a "plug" to put in it's place. The we plan to cover up the area with hanging curtains (movie theatre style) or even a large acoustical panel made out of MDF board. Whatever it may be, that's my explanation for that problem-causing pain. The side view contains written notes that were quick notes to the construction workers.
Please review these drawings and make notes for them. The construction is complete and the rooms are how they will be. I had a strict contruction boundry and budget, and I had to conform to the family limitations as well as to the surrounding neighbors. Because of this, the main concern during construction was insulation from the outside neighbors as well as between the two rooms. But now that the 'framework' for acoustic treatment is laid, I need to consider what can be done to improve common problems with acoustics in smaller studios.
Thanks for your time everyone.
NOTE: Some of the drawing's written dimensions are not correct. The ones posted in this note are final.
But here it is. I'm ready to do it from the bottom up. The studio construction is finished. The window has been installed (following Steven Klein's design combined with a ton of info I pulled off of this board), and the 2nd story insulation is finished.
The studio itself is a two room facility, small but comfy. It covers about 370 sq ft. The control room dimensions measure 14x11.5 ft, the live rom is at 13.5x15.5 ft. The walls were constructed using stadard and basic double wall designs, each wall consisteing of a layer of standard thermal insulation, a layer of Homosote, and Sheetrock drywall. The floors will be (not yet finished though) laminate wood flooring in each room. The control room has a 4.5x11.5 riser in the entire rear of the studio. This design was inspired by a local studio who had clients constantly saying that they coudn't see over his chair. The riser is built up 8 inches. This riser will be coverd with carpet only, the rest of the entire will be wood. The ceilings are 9 ft high with a popcorn finish. The only exception is over the riser, where, due to construction boundry limitations, the ceiling has just over a 2 ft 90 degree drop stright down that comes out from the wall 5 ft.
The questions I have to ask concerns the bass build-up in smaller rooms, early reflections resulting in colored sound, and overall room tuning. Currently, with no furniture or flooring and only the walls done, the rooms sound rather lively. Speech ha a very crisp tone to it, and there is a nice room sound with an ambience that seems to last over a second. I want to take advantage of this when I need to, but I need to have large gobos constucted to move around solo instuments like vocals, etc when I need a dry sound. The use of wall panels and resonation channels, diffusors, bass traps, and dampening materials are all on my mind as options.
Below are two of the drawings we put together for the constuction crew to see just as a reference of the final product. I have included some notes on them for you. The overhead drawing shows the control room with the riser in the back with the couch on it, but not the ceiling drop. (Refer to the side view for that). The live room has a large open space in the back that says "window." This was a previous window that was in that location. To preserve this, we simply built the double-wall around it, but not over it covering it up. We intend to build a "plug" to put in it's place. The we plan to cover up the area with hanging curtains (movie theatre style) or even a large acoustical panel made out of MDF board. Whatever it may be, that's my explanation for that problem-causing pain. The side view contains written notes that were quick notes to the construction workers.
Please review these drawings and make notes for them. The construction is complete and the rooms are how they will be. I had a strict contruction boundry and budget, and I had to conform to the family limitations as well as to the surrounding neighbors. Because of this, the main concern during construction was insulation from the outside neighbors as well as between the two rooms. But now that the 'framework' for acoustic treatment is laid, I need to consider what can be done to improve common problems with acoustics in smaller studios.
Thanks for your time everyone.
NOTE: Some of the drawing's written dimensions are not correct. The ones posted in this note are final.