VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

FinMac · Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2016 1:56 am Post subject: Cloud question

Recently got inspired by both Rick Riley, and his incredible new studio build out, and by Lance Blair´s blog about using your office as a recording space.

So, I both made some panels, and bought some panels. The wall that I intend to face is the one with panels from GIK, which look a bit better than mine Smile

At the moment, above the place where the mic will be are 2 panels that act as a cloud. I have 2 more panels but am not sure where to best place them.

I could continue those panels as a line, from wall to wall, above my head, or create a square with the remaining 2 panels. Each panel is 60 by 60 cm.

Any thoughts as to which would be the best solution acoustically ?

Thanks for your advice !

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tk6znhf699a01w8/Cloud%20question.JPG?dl=0
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heyguido · Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2016 6:03 am Post subject:

What's behind you? And, how reflective are your other surfaces? Are you planning on addressing the wall directly? Or off-axis?

Much to consider. My first answer off-the-cuff would be to enlarge the cloud, based on what I see in the pic.
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todd ellis · Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2016 6:27 am Post subject:

i would place the other two panels next to the existing panels - making a square above you & see how that sounds.
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FinMac · Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2016 6:42 am Post subject:

Thanks Don for the comments.

What is behind me (about 12 feet) is my office computer and desk, and one diffusor on the wall. They will be blocked off with 2 large Bass Traps on stands. On the left of me are some windows and a door that will be covered with sound absorbing curtains. That is part of the last step.

The plan is to have a mic stand holding a small LCD monitor, 2 monitor speakers on stands, and perhaps a mac mini around the floor in front of that wall with the Finnish Flag on it, as well as a mic on a stand.

The room is about 135 square meters of space, (15.4 feet by 8.8 feet). The ceiling is almost 8 feet high.

This is still a work-in-progress Smile

I intend to continue with the Cloud, but wonder about exactly where to place the last 2 panels. Should the cloud be like a Square, with the 4 (60 x 60 cm) panels above me, or should it continue as in a line of 4 to both edges of the walls ?
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www.scottsvoiceover.com - An American voice in Finland

"If you want to get to the top, you have to get off your bottom". (Unknown)

FinMac · Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2016 6:44 am Post subject:

Thanks Todd!

That is exactly want I wanted to know Smile

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www.scottsvoiceover.com - An American voice in Finland

"If you want to get to the top, you have to get off your bottom". (Unknown)

heyguido · Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2016 11:44 am Post subject:

Yup. Square. Todd beat me to it. Looks nice, btw.
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Don Brookshire
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vkuehn · Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2016 1:07 pm Post subject:

The question you are asking about where to put the last two squares may not be so much a question of acoustics as it is artistic taste. There is a tendency in the males of the species to want to line things up like soldiers in formation.

I think my friends who bill the really, really big bucks to come and measure and then design a concert space or a worship space would tell you that the primary issue is getting the correct amount of square feet (or meters in your case) covered with acoustic material. Whether you line them up like members in a marching band or citrus trees in an orchard, or whether you scatter them about the room randomly like the last few leaves off the tree in the recent storm may be more a matter of personal artistic taste, not a matter of acoustical engineering.

Look around the room and ask yourself: "What looks good to me?" Go for it!

vkuehn · Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2016 1:17 pm Post subject:

A second observation about your room: From the early days of recording and broadcasting one of the guides many people followed was that room dimension ratios were important. No CUBE. You don't want a room 8 x 8 x8. The resonant frequency in all three directions would be the exact same frequency. The room is like a guitar string: It wants to resonate at one particular frequency. Not a good thing.

The old-timers wanted a ratio like 8 x 10 x 12.5. Better yet, they like 8 x 12.5 x 20 even better but for broadcast studios being built new in the 1930s and 1940s that could be a very awkward size to fit into an existing structure.

In reading design articles today I don't see much attention paid to this topic. Today we just say: We will so cover the room with acoustic material dimensions won't matter. (Doing an acoustical over-kill.) You have described your room as being (in feet) approximately 8 x 8 x 16. That room begs for a book shelf or a storage armoire for mics and spare equipment sitting somewhere out toward the middle of the room at an angle to keep those dimensions from ganging up on you.

FinMac · Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2016 4:14 am Post subject: Good room ratio

Thanks Vernon for your comments.

One of the reasons that I decided this space might work out well is that I watched a series of 4 videos by Ian Shepherd on building out a studio space.

Granted, his is for a different purpose, but some of the principles must be the same.

In the first video he mentioned that using a rectangular room is much better than a square one. He believes that using a room with the length to width ratio of 1.62 is best.

https://youtu.be/525GgzmJZns?t=1m47s

He did not mention the height of the room at all.

I have to correct the information I put out earlier. The length of the room is 14.4 feet, the width is 8.8 feet, with the height of 7.9 feet.

But my room is pretty close to the l.6 ratio, so I decided to go ahead with this project Smile

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www.scottsvoiceover.com - An American voice in Finland

"If you want to get to the top, you have to get off your bottom". (Unknown)

Lee Gordon · Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2016 10:10 am Post subject:

A rectangular room is better than a square one, but a rhomboid room can be better than either.
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vkuehn · Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2016 10:35 am Post subject:

Thanks for the link. I watched the video and when I find some time I will go through the rest of his series. I was fascinated by the his theory of where the 1.62 number comes from. A more artistic observation on object-shapes where the origin of mine is a dry, non-sexy bit of math which delivers 1.59 as the guide number. Whoop-tee-doo!

He dealt with his less-than-perfect room dimensions with the understanding that build-out will change his original dimensions. He didn't explicitly say it but I think he understands then that the furnishings of the finished room will help disrupt the build-up of any standing wave resonance.

The only criticism of his plans, his "gospel" that I have is that he seems to ignore the third dimension of the room, as though the physics of sound only work on a horizontal plane and that sound traveling up and down does not need to be considered. Maybe in one of his other videos he will address that.