John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

I’ve just had my room completely gutted and want to turn it into a small project studio.
Whilst I have been reading up on acoustics and treatment techniques, I have absolutely no idea what would be appropriate for THIS room with its small dimensions or where it should go.

Its dimensions are 12 x 16 feet and its main use will be to record drums but will also have to double up as a control room. I will also record guitar, bass and vocals but that could be done elsewhere in the house if required. The ceiling is (thankfully) an unusual shape as shown on the attached GIF diagram and is 10 feet in height. The floor is thick concrete and the walls are plasterboard (breeze block behind it, then brick to the outside).

I generally record drums with a kick mic, snare and two overheads (AKG C414’s), which I suppose may be relevant to what treatment is best. I record into Pro Tools through a Digi 002 and Mac, which are on a workstation desk that is four feet in width.

The main pieces of advice or help I really need are:

1. Best positioning for drum kit and workstation in room (on diagram)
2. Floor surface – should I use wood or carpet – or both?
3. Walls – they are just plastered at the moment – should I cover them with a wood finish?
4. If anyone could tell me exactly what I need in acoustic treatment for this room (diffusers, dampening, bass traps, etc) on floor, walls, ceiling, windows, etc) and where it needs to go in the room diagram I would be very grateful.

As a side issue I need to buy some near field monitors.
I’ve always liked the sound of the Genelecs and am tempted by the 1031’s but don’t know if they are an appropriate size for the room and whether to go for the smaller ones, if anyone could advise.

Any help would be appreciated, as I don’t really know where to start and I hope to start recording some demos fairly soon.

Cheers,

Tom.

Tom - any of the control room designs you see on this site will fit into your shape. 16 x 12 is OK - you just need to complete the treatment. If your control rooms sounds OK then your drums will also.

cheers
john

Tom,

As a side issue I need to buy some near field monitors.
I’ve always liked the sound of the Genelecs and am tempted by the 1031’s but don’t know if they are an appropriate size for the room and whether to go for the smaller ones, if anyone could advise.

I have done a lot of auditioning of studio monitors, including the Genelec 1029,1030 and 1031, the Mackie HR824 and several others that I don't remember because they did not impress me or were out of my budget. In the end I decided I liked the sound of the 824s the most, I did not buy them because they ware cheaper. I found the bass of the Genelec 1031 to be somewhat hyped plus I found the overall sound a little fatigueing. The Genelec 1030 hand didn't offer the bass performance I was looking for.

In the end it's really up to you and ideally you would audition the monitors in your own control room. I'm sure you can do great mixes on either the Mackie or Genelecs, they are both great monitors.

Cheers John,
I'll look at this room as a control room with drums in.

I read through LaptopPop's design which is very interesting for me and also the 'Wall Units' page on your site. So I need corner units, side absorbers and rear abosrber then right?

The only thing I need now to get me started is decide where the computer and drum kit would be best placed in the room.

Can anyone suggest where is best on my .GIF plan?

And also shall I go for a wooden floor or carpet?

Ta.

I'd setup the workstation so it faces the bottom window and your speakers fire down the length of the room.

A timber floor would be preferable but you'll need to place a carpet under your kit.

cheers
john