Windows in Composing Room

[Composer14464]

Hi Everyone,

I'm a composer and I compose out of a studio on the 2nd floor of my home. It is a nice space for what I do here, which is mostly midi mockups. I have a 14.2 x19 "control" room where my composing desk, studio monitors and TV/computer monitors are. And I have an adjoining 28x19 room with my grand piano and lots of other instruments where I also track some session players sometimes.

What I'm hoping someone can help me with is my windows. In my "control room", I have 2 large windows right in front of my desk. I face the 14.2 wall; behind me is the sound lock into my space. My TV hangs from the ceiling in front of me.

I'm wondering if anyone has ever devised some sort of ingenious method for framing over windows like this, yet having some kind of door that blends into the wall that would give access to the windows behind for the occasional cleaning and repair. Or perhaps someone has a really good method of plugging the windows that also blends well with standard acoustic treatment.

This would accomplish 3 things: 1) It would (hopefully) reduce exterior noise 2) It would make the room dark and better for screening my work with clients 3) It would make it possible to put acoustic treatment on the wall in front of me.

I could just put in soundproof windows and blackout curtains and do some acoustic treatment on wheels, but I'd prefer a really sleek, built-in look. I can't close in the windows either, because I can't change the look of the home from the outside unfortunately.

Thanks for any help!

[Soundman2020]

HI there "Composer14464", and welcome back!

I'm not sure I understand the layout of your room, in terms of where the windows, doors, speakers, and mix position are. Maybe you could draw a diagram and post some photos, so we can properly understand where you are at, and what you want to do.

Or perhaps someone has a really good method of plugging the windows that also blends well with standard acoustic treatment.

There are methods for building window plugs, yes but they are usually done for the purpose of isolating a room acoustically, not for treating it. That's two different things. Do you need to isolate your room, or do you need to treat it?

1) It would (hopefully) reduce exterior noise

True! Windows are often weak points in a the isolation of a studio, so doing them properly can certainly improve isolation. But you only get improvement up to the isolation level of the rest of the studio. Isolation is only as good as the weakest part, so if your walls, floor, ceiling, doors, HVAC system or electrical system are not very well isolated, then it is possible that isolating your window extremely well, won't make any real difference. Or it might make a lot of difference....

3) It would make it possible to put acoustic treatment on the wall in front of me.

This is a control room, so I'm wondering why you need to put treatment on the wall in front of you? What acoustic problems are you experiencing at the mix position, that you lead to the conclusion that treating the front wall is the right solution?

In general, when tuning a control room it's a good idea to start by doing a proper acoustic test of the room, to see how it is actually behaving. Based on that, the path for treatment is often a lot clearer. Here's a post I wrote a while back, about how to do that using software called "REW".

- Stuart -