John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

This might be a stupid question, (although I have been told there is no such thing ) But is there a general step 1 2 3 kind of thing to analyse a room and decide what kind of absorbtion you need to balance a rooms acoustics. John has kindly drawn up a suggested control room layout for me, and with the plethora of information available here, it's difficult to know where to start. Which absorbers/diffusers to build and put where.

Anywho, I think a pretty general ROAD MAP to successful room treatment would be an invaluable reasource.

Here's my pic for good measure:

O-K........ Hmmm. What about the best book then? An Acoustics for dummies kind of thing.

Nothing....? A link or links?

Gavin,

> What about ... Acoustics for dummies <

See the Acoustics FAQ, second in the list on my Articles page:

www.ethanwiner.com/articles.html

And you don't have to be a dummy to benefit from it!

--Ethan

Gavin,

Been thinking about your post - sorry for the delay in posting a reply.

Anyway, here are some good places to start:

For general acoustics information I would consult the Master Handbook of Acoustics by F. Alton Everest. The 4th edition is out and available through your favority online book supplier or library. I should note that my preference is for the 3rd edition if you can find it used or on eBay. (The 4th is chock full of errors and a lot of information regurgitated from manufacturer websites.)

For prediction of what the room will do, that won't be easy with a non-rectangular space. That's not necessarily a bad thing since - with the help of experts like John, Thomas, and others - you can usually forgo any in-depth modeling.

For measurement and analysis of the finished space, your best bet will likely be either ETF software from http://www.acoustisoft.com or the Studio Toolbox from TerraSonde. My preference is for the latter - it offers a LOT more than just acoustical tools, making it less of a "throwaway." See http://www.terrasonde.com for more information.

Finally, for references including treatment ideas, there are a multitude of Internet sources. Here is just a small sampling:

http://www.saecollege.de/reference_material/index.html (see sidebar menu)

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb98/a ... ofing.html
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar98/a ... ofing.html
and
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr98/a ... ofing.html

http://www.rbdg.com/newsroom/

For different manufacturers' takes on what you need, the best sites are probably:

http://www.auralex.com (:D My favorite! Especially note the FAQs, Case Studies and other technical lit.)
http://www.rpginc.com
and
http://www.tubetrap.com

I hope this helps you. Let us know how things progress.

Best regards,

Jeff D. Szymanski
Chief Acoustical Engineer
Auralex Acoustics, Inc.

Thanks for your reply's guys! Thats a lot of reading.... I think at the end of all this, plus building it all, I'll be qualified enough to write my own book! That is, if I don't go insane in the process.