Hi. PREMISE: I'M NO ACOUSTIC EXPERT

EDIT: disregard everything, check out the next posts because I'm moving to another room, thanks to my super friendly owner

I want to move my PC and keyboards to my basement/garage.
This thing is huge, here's a little scheme


Basically it's the only place where I can use these bigass monitors my father gave me more than ten years ago (they are, like, 30 years old and still work fine). The problem is: the space is too huge. Currently, it's filled with junk, bags and old clothes, but I plan on rearranging everything.
I have a few tables and other stuff I can use to fill the room, but I have no idea what's the best place where I can put my desk and my monitors. From what I understand and know, the speakers should be diagonally towards me, not too far, not too close; they are huge, though. What would be the best way to use this basement? Also, the best way to not make the sound go in the upper rooms? Because, I don't live alone sadly (I won't mix at 0dB at 3 AM of course, but still...)
I can't buy anything because I have no money at the moment, I just wanted some tips from somebody "a bit" more expert than me in this field. I don't want an engineer professional super quality result, I just want something more than a small room and cheap speakers.

If the scheme isn't clear, the window is basically not just a window, it goes upwards and opens to the outside floor. (Can't really explain well, sorry). The thing in the left bottom corner is kitchen stuff, and I can't move it. All the other stuff (table, shelves, etc) I can move them freely so I didn't draw them. The system goes across the whole room so I can place my desk literally everywhere (given my cables are long enough).
EDIT -- there are 2 doors also; and the bottom part leads to the car park and I don't think it's interesting enough to draw, it doesn't really matter I guess (prob. I'm wrong, lol)

I will, of course, switch between speakers and earphones; I just fear that the sound will come with A LOT of reverb and will make me go nuts when trying new sounds/mixing.

I know a lot of you will envy me for this but I live in /campaign/ the countryside, so no problems for neighbors :D (but still, there's people upstairs)

Hope this didn't come across THAT noobish, but sorry, I don't know much about room treatment and stuff. Besides, it's quite cool down there and there's no internet cable, so more positive points for moving my stuff there.

 

Last edited: Jun 27, 2016

@Backtired .. congratulations on your new room . What are the dimensions in either feet or meters. The space looks really, really small on the page here. LOLWhen we can see what it looks like it will be much easier to get good ideas and help you plan your dream into reality. Fotos are more than welcome and would help immensly. Also don't forget to measure the height of the ceiling. Speak to you soon.

 

Sorry I'm dumb! I noted them down but I didn't include them in the paint drawing.

Height 2,70 meters
Width 6 meters
Length 9 meters

Photos will come probably next week, when I will have finished cleaning and removing all the junk people accumulated throughout the centuries

 

Wow, enough space to even record a band. Come back at us with those Fotos and we shall talk again. Lots of people will chime in. Have fun clearing it all out. Since you are broke keep your eyes open for any construction sites or people refurbishing houses. There is so much stuff that people toss that you can utilize to build things you need. Rockwool, wood, and other things are so many times just there for the taking. When I lived in NYC I found enough good wood to build a queen sized loft bed 6 feet high, a desk, gobos and made frames for the Rockwool that construction crews threw away. Baby You'really A Rich Man Too!!!

 

I'll offer you a bit of info that might (Or MIGHT NOT) be helpful.

Here in the UK we get egg boxes shown below.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=e...=lKJrV_ycK8fMgAa7oojYCg#imgrc=6XvAgixNtJGwJM:


If where you are, you get them made from the same materials, get enough to fill the whole room and glue them to the walls. That will give you EXCELLENT soundproofing.

 

Egg boxes have absolutely no soundproofing attributes! unless they are packed with a certain type of foam that has the properties to ether absorb of deflect sound waves, they have literally no effect what so ever.

 

You must be using the wrong boxes then because I have seen, or rather heard proof with my own ears.

 

Sad times. Well not "completely" sad times. This morning I started cleaning up and doing stuff. Before going upstairs, I met the owner of the building (which is a far, far relative of mine) and he asked me what I was doing. I explained him I wanted to bring my PC downstairs and benefit of the huge speakers and the room bla bla bla. Well long story short I can't anymore, but he told me that I could use this other room (which STILL needs to be cleaned from all the junk which is in there). This room is way way smaller, but it's normal size compared to other rooms I have seen. Basically the new plan would be the following:
- Move PC, desk, keyboard and small speakers downstairs in this new room
- While I can't use the big speakers, the basement in which they are is near the new room, so it's just a matter of seconds of exporting a file and go check it out

Now my main question totally changes. I need a pair of studio monitors below 200 € (that's the MAXIMUM I can spend, like literally; so ideally 125-150 € would be already a good deal). I just want a flat response/balance speakers that don't boost basses. Yes, I do have neutral headphones and yes, I have another set of small speakers; but I kinda want to upgrade to something a bit more serious (hence the name of the thread lol).
What would be a good frequency response in speakers? Can you suggest anything good with qualities as above?

Note that I will probably treat the room LATER on (with cheap stuff of course ^^). Also, there's not much going on in the room after I clean it up (literally only a cabinet, a window similar to the one described in the other room and nothing else). Also I'm not that worried about the treatment because, as I said, I will be testing the stuff on the huge space AND on multiple sources

Sorry for the amateur-ish post :p (Measures will be in next posts, as I can't at the moment)

 

Well i have been in several bands and also had my own drum practice room years ago and @Sylenth.Will.Fall is right,it does make a big difference.
Especially the mid/high range can really be tamed with these boxes.
Now,there are better solutions but they are also a lot more expensive.

 

You're correct. This egg box thing is a myth. Ask any acoustics engineer or acoustics expert...Or maybe just google it.

The only thing these things are good for is to collect dust and house insects.

I've said it around here before, but I'll say it again. Don't rely on forums to design your rooms's acoustics. This is a complex field and most people are simply not qualified to give their opinions about it. You will end up throwing money down the toilet.

 

RMorgan,you are so wrong about this,have to disagree with you.
I have plenty experiences with live music and practice rooms,from low budget sound proofing to high quality panels.
Egg boxes do work.
There are better alternatives,sure, but involve a lot more money.
I dont like em personally but saying they dont work is plain wrong.

 

Read this.

https://acousticalsolutions.com/egg-cartons-get-egg-on-their-face-in-acoustics-test/

Test results:

https://acousticalsolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/119331333376024.pdf

There's a bunch of scientific info about it on the web, including plenty of laboratory tests.

Here's a video about it as well:

Acoustics is a science, man. It's not something subjective like a lot of stuff in music. Plenty of tests have been done about this and they're pretty conclusive. Egg boxes/cartons are useless as acoustic treatment. Period.

R.

 

Last edited: Jun 23, 2016

Besides being a producer im also a drummer,i can tell a difference when i hit the cymbals in a room treated and not treated with egg boxes.

 

Well, laboratory equipment way more accurate than your ears placed in environments way more controlled than the rooms you're used to rehearse can't.

Like I said, it's science, man.

 

Mr Bean makes more sense than you, and he doesn't even speak!

Why do you suppose when using EQ, top producers use their ears alongside technology, as opposed to technology alone?

 

Just for information,did you play in any bands?Let me tell you,a big drum set in an untreated room is unbearable.
Yes,you wear headphones but sometimes when testing the drum kit you dont and in a flat room with not treatment,man
its a f-ing nightmare.

 

Man, this is like comparing apples and oranges...It doesn't make sense to go down that route.

Like I said, music is subjective. EQualization is subjective because it's highly dependable of human perception of what it takes for something to sound "good"...(With the recent advances in AI, soon enough we'll have auto-EQ plugins which will be able to do the job, possibly better and faster than us..But we're not there yet)

Acoustics, on the other hand, is science. Material absorption, diffusion and other acoustic qualities do not depend on subjective interpretation and perception. These qualities can be measured with extremely high accuracy by machines and tests that, besides being specifically designed to perform such tasks, are not subjected to perceptive distortions like the placebo effect.

It's been a long time since I last played in a band, but I had my days, for sure...

Anyway, that's why I advice people to never look for acoustic treatment information on music forums...Musicians are too stubborn (you know you are, dude...) and will often ignore scientific evidence if it goes against their already established opinions.

R.

 

Last edited: Jun 23, 2016

Are you a religious person RMorgan?

 

Well, I don't know how this would be relevant to this thread, but no, I'm not...I would classify myself as an atheist, although I'm not particularly fond of the term itself.

 

RMorgan, you usually make sense here and you yourself advocate personal experience and testing versus the industry which is in it mostly for the money,now why would you preach something yet ignore the same arguments you yourself use,makes no sense at all.
You are basically telling us a lab test is superior to users who have a lot of field experience.
I have said my peace.