What should I do with my studio (Pic inside)

[FireFab]

Hi, I want to know what should I do with my home studio to improve it.(PICTURE BELOW)

Gear:
-11Rack /w Pro tools 10 (Waves Plugins)
-Monitors JBL LSR308
-Audio-Technica AT4040 & AT4041
-Rode NT-1
-Shure SM57
-M-Audio keystation49
-Headphone Audio-technica ATH-M50

For my acoustic, the black panel are made by myself using Roxul Safe N' Sound. And there are some acoustic foam (I got more but didn't know where to stick it).

I mainly do Pop/Acoustic/Rock song. I want to know:

- What should I do to get a better acoustic treatment ?
- What should I buy next for my studio ?
- Any good tutorial book/video about recording or mixing ?



If you want to get any idea about how I sound, check out my youtube: Youtube.com/F2DProduction

[albee1952]

I thought somebody would have offered something by now, but since nobody has, and I can't help myself, this is just one person's 2 cents:

The foam behind the JBL's and in the windows is not doing much to speak of, so I would remove it, fill the window cavities with ROXUL and then make some more panels to cover the wall behind the speakers. Then I would try pulling the entire workstation away from the wall by another foot or so(this should improve the low end with any rear-ported speaker).

How thick are the curtains? if they are heavy velour, that's good. If not, I would back them up with some sound-proofing blankets and also add this to block off the stairway while you're working.

Next, I would look into a nice "channel strip" for recording vocals and acoustic guitar(I think your mics are good enough for the moment). Maybe an ART Pro MPA and ART Pro VLA II(2 channels of preamp and compressor) would be a solid "budget" package(these inexpensive boxes hold their own against a lot of more expensive gear). You might also send that Rode to oktavamod.com for his "U87" mod(I had a pair of NT1-A's done by him a few years ago and they sounded stellar).

As to what to buy for the next studio, (again, just my 2 cents) I would probably look at a better/bigger interface(keep the 11R as its a good guitar piece). You have lots of options there but knowing WHAT you will want to record, will steer the choice(if you want to record drums, then you will want at least 8 channels). Also, if(great big IF) you want to use UAD plugins, I highly recommend the Apollo series(its really the only way to TRACK with the plugins as any other interface, coupled with a UAD card, will induce too mach latency for tracking).

[Bookerv12]

Yeah,
I just helped a friend with a very similar room with similar treatment and the biggest instant improvement was taking down all of the Auralex and re-arranging things.
Like Albee said, it doesn't really do anything except weird out the high end.
Now, it is true that in Star Trek the Next Generation, there is black Auralex all over the transporter room, and that is hundreds of years in the future.
So, I would hold onto it to leave to your great, great.... grand kids.

Make or buy as many 4"-6" thick bass absorbers as you can and get them around the room, especially behind the speaker area and also on the ceiling.
Do what Albee said and pull the speakers away from the wall.
You can make a good listening environment, it just takes some planning and treatment.
The smaller the room, the more planning.

Good luck

[YYR123]

Originally Posted by Bookerv12

.........it doesn't really do anything except weird out the high end.

agreed

[Thousand Words]

After you improve your room treatment, better speakers will make a huge difference. Not just in how much you enjoy sitting in the chair, but how long you can before fatigue sets in.

[albee1952]

Originally Posted by Thousand Words

After you improve your room treatment, better speakers will make a huge difference. Not just in how much you enjoy sitting in the chair, but how long you can before fatigue sets in.

Personally, I am a solid believer in the JBL's having owned both the 308's and the 305's. More solid speaker stands with high-quality isolation platforms(like the PrimeAcoustic isolators) could help. Beyond that, I would also send the NT1A off to oktavamod.com and have the "U87" mod done(its really worth it)

[Barry Johns]

Originally Posted by albee1952

Personally, I am a solid believer in the JBL's having owned both the 308's and the 305's.

By far the best bang for buck monitors out there!

[mrhappy1997]

I'm curious about the handle on the stairs? Is the bottom step a drawer/ mic locker? ... stairs hinged? Decoy? Secret Bat Cave entrance??

[YYR123]

Bat cave....it has to be the bat cave entrance.

[Emcha_audio]

A lot of people are really knocking off Auralex things, if it didn't work for you fine, but from first hand experiece, they do help.

This is a studio I built a while back and the auralex really helped controlling the room.



There's more things (from auralex) that are not shown like the quadfusor I had at the ceiling in the back of the room that I filled halfway with some roxul. And other bass traps and wedges on the back wall.



The curtain we're two folds of 32 once magic velour FR from rosebrand for a total of 64 once of curtain per side of the window, needless to say I had to reinforce the window frame so it would support the 50 pound curtain.

curtain absorption specs

the desk was custom made for a projectmix I/O but a digi 003 would fit in it too, don't need that desk anymore so..