John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Hi everybody!

I posted this question before but it was in the wrong area, so here it is again:


This is my first post, although I´ve been reading here for months.
Unfortunately I don´t understand some of the technical/specific stuff you guys are talking about since I´m German, but I understand most of it, I think ...

So, here´s my problem:

In some weeks I´ll get a room in a really nice building with lots of nice people where I want to do some mastering, mixing and songwriting/producing.
The room will be 15 to 20 m² max, which should be 50-65 ft² if I´m right.

Since my budget isn´t the biggest and I´m neither a good DIYer, I was thinking of a more comfortable solution than handling the acoustics by myself.

I don´t think it would be realistic to build artificial walls & stuff or do ray-tracing, since I can´t see how long I will stay there at all...
And if I stay there longer, I can still do it.

So what seemed practical to me were the Primacoustic "London Z.."-Products.

Do you think that would be a good and complete solution?
Or just something to start with that has to be optimized?
Or not usable at all?

I don´t know if I should post a link here since I don´t want to advertise anything ...

But maybe you know them and have an opinion?

Thanx in advance!
Michael

update:

one offered room is 11,5 ft x 14,7 ft which is ca. 170 ft²

not to mention my calculations in the above post disqualify me for DIYing anyway



... seems primacoustic isn´t very popular?

and this is the product I was thinking about:

http://www.primacoustic.com/LZ15.htm

Maybe it would make more sense to make the rear wall absorbing?

Glad you caught your math - needed to multiply by 3.28 "just one more time"...

Those type kits are expensive compared to DIY, but anything you do along those lines will be better sounding than no treatment. If you will be "itinerant" in your location(s), maybe something more like the Auralex Maxwall" system would work better for you though; after UN-gluing those foam panels from walls the third or fourth time, I'd think they would be getting kind of "ratty" looking... Steve

Hi Steve!

Thanx very much for your reply!

I know this isn´t the most professional solution, but as I said, if I´ll stay there longer, I can still make splayed walls & stuff ...

You wrote:
after UN-gluing those foam panels from walls the third or fourth time, I'd think they would be getting kind of "ratty" looking

As far as I understood, the new Primacoustic panels are mounted on "Backings" - at least the "cloud 9". If not, I´ll maybe mount them on some thin wood and hang it on the walls, which would be better if I move or if something has to be adjusted.

Another thing I thought of is to build some movable absorbent gobos and put them on the rear wall.
I would use some simple & cheap foam (I think you call the structure "wiffles" or "knops" in English) on the wall itself and invest more on "pyramid-foam" and insulation for the gobos.
So I could rearrange everything like a small vocal- or drum-"booth" when needed.
When mixing, the gobos would be put on the rear-wall, maybe angled ("pseudo-splayed"), but I´m not sure about that point yet.

Do you think this could work? Or is this idea total crap?

I´ll post some details in the design-section when I´m finished with my thoughts...

Thanx a lot!
Michael

The idea of portable gobo's isn't crap, it's a very practical one; however, if you can find the material it is more efficient to use either rockwool or semi-rigid fiberglass insulation, the same thickness will give better results over foam. It is, however, harder to find in some areas than foam. Another plus for rockwoo, etc, is it's fire blocking ability and the highest class of fire retardance of any useful absorbent... Steve