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[Magnet]

HI all,

I am building a new studio with 2 control rooms and 2 booths largely for Audio Post and 5.1 mixing and mastering.
the raw space is 14' x 42' all cinderblock. the plan is to create 2 control rooms that face each other with 2 booths in between that the two control rooms will share. We will attempt to keep the control rooms 16' deep and the 2 booths will share approx 8'x14' space for both booths to be created from.
My question is what kind of materials should we use on the walls for both control rooms and booths and how much of it. I thought of using rockwool or 703 all over the walls all around and cover it with fabric. But likely the back wall should have the 4" stuff and maybe we don't want to cover 100% of the walls? Of course budget is a major concern. We also want to incorporate 4 rounded wooden clouds from the old RCA studios that we will use in each control room as well. Help please.

Thank you
Magnet Mixerhands

[franman]

Magnet,

There's limits to how much "help" we can provide for a new design situation... usually folks will post some specific plans and/or sketches and the resident experts will bounce ideas back and forth...

The questions you pose are a little too broad for brief answers... look through some earlier posts about treatments.. My general thoughts and approaches are clearly (repeated) posted in numerous other threads. Then, if there are some specific questions or solutions you want to ask about... fire away!! Okay? Thank you....

[Ethan Winer]

Magnet wrote on Mon, 27 November 2006 22:11

what kind of materials should we use on the walls for both control rooms and booths and how much of it.

This is a deep subject, and a complete answer requires far more than will fit into a single reply here. The short version is:

* Broadband (not tuned) bass traps straddling as many corners as you can manage, including the wall-ceiling corners.

* Mid/high frequency absorption at the first reflection points on the side walls and ceiling.

* Some additional amount of mid/high absorption and/or diffusion on any large areas of bare parallel surfaces, such as opposing walls or the ceiling if the floor is reflective.

--Ethan

[Magnet]

Thank you Francis and Ethan,

I know this is a deep question and i really appreciate your effort.
My initial thought for these 5.1 control room walls which are currently cinder-block was to put 4 inch 703 or rockwool on all walls from floor to maybe 8-10 feet up and then cover the walls with fabric. Using this much 4" is likely very costly and maybe i should just use the 4 inch stuff in the corners and the 2" in the middle of the front, back and side walls. The floor will be carpeted. In addition we have 4 of these rounded wooden clouds from RCA and the The Clubhouse studio that we are thinking of using as well if you think these are a good idea. First to try to keep this a simple as possible i'd like to get clear on wall treatments. where to put them and what do you think roughly the raw treatments will cost. Each surround control room's raw space will be roughly 14'x16'. As you can probably tell i'm no whiz at this stuff and i really appreciate your patience and assistance. Foutunately i will have great people helping me with the construction. I just need to fuel them with your great advice.

Thank you
Magnet

[Ethan Winer]

Magnet wrote on Thu, 30 November 2006 21:44

Using this much 4" is likely very costly

Well, let's keep this in perspective! How much are you spending on gear and on the building itself? And how much do you plan to earn the first year? Hopefully in that light $1,000 for rigid fiberglass is a drop in the bucket!

> i'd like to get clear on wall treatments. where to put them <

See my Acoustics FAQ for a good start:

www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html

> As you can probably tell i'm no whiz at this stuff <

You basically have two choices: Spend the time and effort to learn enough to do this yourself, or be prepared to hire someone like Fran and/or buy the treatments from a company like mine where such advice is included. I'm not trying to turn this into a sales pitch for either of us! But I don't know of any way to get truly expert one-on-one advice for free and without making a substantial effort on your own too.

(I hope nobody here feels the above is out of line. )

--Ethan