Tips for a small rebuild of room?

[Magnus JohanssonParticipant]

Here is a picture of my current controlroom. It´s quite small but not a total disaster probably due to the different angles of the walls. Front wall with the windom is maybe around 3 meters. Sidewalls around 3,5 meters. What bothers me is the backwall, it´s not symmetrical as the rest is so.... if I build the red line wall then the room would be pretty symmetrical. At least the reflective areas as I see them. With all those angles, who knows what dead areas I have in my walls.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ssw8ut62gwok6ku/mycontrolroom.jpg
Would be cool if I could figure out how to embed a picture.. Working on it. (edit: gave up)
(Edit: found a way)

My question is: Should I also do something about the sharp corners in the back. Read somewhere that if possible, sharp corners should be avoided. I was just thinking as it would be easier to do it all in one go.

You might wonder why the room look like it does. It was build and used (maybe during 70-80s) as a speach studio, dubbing disney movies and alikes. Not that many angles in the liveroom:) Not symmetrical, as I read is "correct" for a live room.

• This topic was modified 8 years ago by Magnus Johansson.
• This topic was modified 8 years ago by Magnus Johansson.

[John BrandtParticipant]

Mange,

Well, your room is small but it can be treated. I wouldn't worry about the rear wall symmetry. But I would trap the heck out of it. You have a lot of space in the corners that you can use for trapping.

Note on sharp corners: Corners are excellent places for trapping! If you cut them off, like some crazy people would have you do, you lose the ability to trap there... Right there in the junction of two boundaries! Right where your traps will work TWICE as good.

That said; I recommend that you trap the rear wall straight so that the corners are deep and the middle area is about 8" thick. That should get you off to a very good start. You'll find that your phantom center image is more stable and focused.. and once you get the ceiling treated, the RT-60 will be so much better that you'll actually start hearing where the sweet spot is... and where it's not. 😉

Then... once you get the entire room treated, you'll be able to pace while you mix and things won't sound so different in other areas of the room. 🙂

No need to worry about diffusors in this small room. I think you're too close the back wall for them. But you probably don't need them.

The door on the left will probably need at least a 10 cm deep panel on it to prevent early reflections from there. In fact, I would treat the side walls and front with at least 10 cm broadband trapping. You can put slats on the front wall.

With every bit of treatment you apply, you will experience an improvement in your listening enjoyment. It's not going to make a shitty mix sound good, but at least you'll be able to hear that it's shitty! LOL!

All the best!
Cheers,
John

[Magnus JohanssonParticipant]

Wow, thanks for your ideas. I was just about to add some basstraps to those corners and build some kind of diffusor between them. Seem I would have wasted my time doing so. Thanks again.

I did a second image showing what I belive you meant for the backwall. You meant the whole wall? 8 inches thick "wall" of insulation?

[John BrandtParticipant]

Mange,

Yes, That's the idea. You'll want to add some wave guides in those corners... either fill completely or only wrap the wave guides with about 50 mm of R-11/R-13 fiberglass. Wrapping is easier, and will often produce better results. 🙂

Cheers,
John

[Magnus JohanssonParticipant]

Thanks John for all your input. I didn't see your reply for a couple of days. One last thing (if you're still around). Wave guide... I can't see what you mean. I only see those shapes around speaker tweeters. What do you mean by wave guide? Feeling rather stoopid now:)

[John BrandtParticipant]

Mange,

See the attached drawing. The wave guides are 3/4" MDF with about 2" of fiberglass stapled to them
Cheers,

[Magnus JohanssonParticipant]

Thanks again. Crystal clear now 😀

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