Room Design Help

omniface
New Member

Posts: 3

Room Design Help Sept 25, 2018 20:14:57 GMT peterbatah likes this

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Post by omniface on Sept 25, 2018 20:14:57 GMT

I'd like some advice for my room. See the attached image. This is a home office that I also use for mixing and recording vocals.

Dimensions: 13' x 10' x 8'

Physical Constraints

Window in the front right

Closet in the back (13' to wall, closet cuts into this)

Entrance back left

Thinking of using multiple panels in the entrance area for a little vocal booth with a swinging panel that will hang down vertically

Colors:

Black outline is closet with sliding doors, and the window in the upper right.

Bright green upper right is a vent on the ceiling

Bright green lower left is a light fixture high on the wall

Red are my thoughts on panel placement (2'x4'x4" DIY panels)

Black boxes are my computer monitors, which will be wall mounted in the center.

Dark green are my studio monitors

Brown in the middle is my desk

Blue and Black is me

Blue and light blue is a futon at the back of the room

Brown/Orange are diffusers possibly

My questions are this:

1) I'm torn between Roxul and Owens Corning insulation. The Rockwool 40 is little less cost, and seems to have better bass response than 703 based on NRC I've seen, but due to lower density I'm concerned about how flimsy it is? Am I better off using a more rigid one? I plan to build a wood frame for each. Is 703 and such stiff enough to forgo the frame altogether?

2) Should I go with thicker (6" or 8") panels in the two corners at the front?

3) Should I be placing some thick ones in the upper corners of my room too?

4) Should I use thinner panels on the walls with an air space? or thicker against the wall? I can probably use thicker and air spaces on the sides, but I'm concerned about running out of room front to back

6) I'm considering just filling my closet with insulation as a bass trap and leaving the closet doors off (maybe put a sheet over it for appearance). Is this a good idea? What can I use that is cheap in really large quantities such as this?

7) If I fill the closet, should I put any diffusers behind my head still? How much is sufficient? 12"x36"? 24"x36"?

Thanks!

Progress Photo 1

Last Edit: Oct 24, 2018 17:41:38 GMT by omniface: Added photos

Ethan Winer
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Posts: 788

Room Design Help Sept 26, 2018 16:55:48 GMT peterbatah and omniface like this

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Post by Ethan Winer on Sept 26, 2018 16:55:48 GMT

1) Yes, rigid fiberglass is a lot easier to work with!

2) Sure.

3) Of course!

4) Thicker with an air space is even better, but for a given available space it makes sense to use a thinner panel. So if you can give up only four inches, then use 2+2.

What happened to 5?

6) Yes! For that much volume even old clothes will do a decent job.

7. I probably wouldn't bother with diffusion, though it could help a little.

Ethan's Audio Book
The Acoustic Treatment Experts

peterbatah
Junior Member

Posts: 50

Room Design Help Sept 29, 2018 14:09:33 GMT omniface likes this

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Post by peterbatah on Sept 29, 2018 14:09:33 GMT

Sept 25, 2018 20:14:57 GMT omniface said:

I'd like some advice for my room. See the attached image. This is a home office that I also use for mixing and recording vocals.

Dimensions: 13' x 10' x 8'

Physical Constraints

Window in the front right

Closet in the back (13' to wall, closet cuts into this)

Entrance back left

Thinking of using multiple panels in the entrance area for a little vocal booth with a swinging panel that will hang down vertically

I will be following your progress closely as my room dimensions and needs are closely matched. Best of luck. Keep us posted.

Last Edit: Sept 29, 2018 14:10:00 GMT by peterbatah

It's better to burn out than to fade away!

slotunes New Member Posts: 1	Room Design Help Oct 1, 2018 13:04:50 GMT omniface likes this Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by slotunes on Oct 1, 2018 13:04:50 GMT Also following, also have a similar-sized room.

omniface
New Member

Posts: 3

Room Design Help Oct 1, 2018 18:56:40 GMT peterbatah likes this

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Post by omniface on Oct 1, 2018 18:56:40 GMT

Thanks all! Oops on the 5. That's what I get for rearranging my questions. lol

I'm going to purchase the insulation this week, and start building panels after they arrive. I want to have some insulation in hand before I dial in dimensions.

Some other "consultants" suggested forgoing the "vocal booth" and just recording in the larger part of the room. So I am now thinking that the diffusion will mostly be for that purpose, near the couch area.

I've got my 3 monitor set up going now, and tossed up a couple thin panels I have, since my room is otherwise bare at the moment. I'll see if I can keep adding photos as I go.

scontent-dfw5-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/42625789_10156810498619797_6875658495278972928_n.jpg?_nc_cat=103&oh=2557a242785b0f4d97bad2e6a645446a&oe=5C6124A1

rock
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Posts: 893

Room Design Help Oct 2, 2018 2:04:09 GMT peterbatah and omniface like this

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Post by rock on Oct 2, 2018 2:04:09 GMT

Every thing that Ethan said for sure! About loosing the vox booth, right, fagetabotit. If you treat your room with enough absorption, and don't need isolation, you can record with open mics in the middle of your room, away from walls and get good attenuation from room reflections. If you need ambience, reverb or echo, you can add them electronically in post.

omniface
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Posts: 3

Room Design Help Oct 24, 2018 18:07:52 GMT peterbatah likes this

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Post by omniface on Oct 24, 2018 18:07:52 GMT

Update. Finished the panel construction and hanging. Took a long time! I couldn't get access to a table and miter saw, so cutting the boards from MDF took quite some time with a circular saw. Using a saw guide helped a lot, but it was rather tedious having to remeasure each plank. I put some small corner covers on the front edges of the foam so that they would have a more flush edge when sitting in the frame (I didn't want to wrap the frame itself-just wanted an external frame). That was a pain in the ass, but I think it helped the aesthetics. Then I wrapped everything up in some red burlap and a black backing. The panels all pop into the frames, and can actually be used without the frames if you wanted.

I couldn't quite fit everything in so I have one extra 6" panel (that was meant for the floor corner in front) and one extra 4" panel (that was originally going to be a 2nd panel above the mixing position) in the corner by the door, mostly for storage. When the door is open, the door is parallel to the surface of the panels. I've run room tests several times and they don't seem to impact anything EQ wise (couldn't figure out how to do waterfalls in REW). I've tried sitting them behind my head and int some other positions as well, but they didn't really seem to impact anything further.

I did also tossed up a little bit of foam in the gaps between the back panels, just because I was getting a little flutter echo when clapping. Some diffusers would maybe be a good idea, if I can find a cheap design. I need to try recording some guitars or vocals there and see how thigs work.

I noticed that when I have my closet door open I get a bump in the 60 Hz region, that disappears when it's closed. Interesting. The REW pictures above are with the door OPEN. The bump goes away when the door is shut. Basically the low end looks like a rough high pass filter when it's shut.

At this point the room is a bit flatter overall, but I still have a pretty big hump around ~330 Hz (5-10 dB), and another big null at ~500 Hz (5-10 dB), with a lesser null (-5dB) around ~1.5 KHz. Thoughts on how to deal with those? I'm thinking maybe a couple small Helmholtz resonators tuned to 330 to help flatten that node, but I don't know what to do about the nulls for 500 and 1.5K.

Post by omniface on Sept 25, 2018 20:14:57 GMT

Post by Ethan Winer on Sept 26, 2018 16:55:48 GMT

Post by peterbatah on Sept 29, 2018 14:09:33 GMT

Post by slotunes on Oct 1, 2018 13:04:50 GMT

Post by omniface on Oct 1, 2018 18:56:40 GMT

Post by rock on Oct 2, 2018 2:04:09 GMT

Post by omniface on Oct 24, 2018 18:07:52 GMT