Hello,

I am wanting some advice on studio setup and desk positioning...

I have to share my bedroom with my studio, and that makes thing awkward space wise...

At the moment I have the desk against the longest wall, however it used to be in the bay window...but I had to move it due to light getting in my eyes and giving me headaches.

Unfortunately for me on the other side of the longest wall there are a set of massive mirror wardrobes, which really doesn't help acoustics wise...

My only other option is to put the desk the opposite end of the bay window, however there is a radiator there...it being winter at the moment this is also awkward for me as we have the heating on and I hate a frozen studio...

My only other option is to wear loads of jumpers...

What would your advice be to putting the desk in front of the radiator?

The desk being where it is now isn't doing anything for acoustics as I am getting incorrect feedback on mixes as the bass bounces between the mirror and the opposite walls so I compensate on the mix...

It is getting to the point now where I am rapidly loosing interest in making music as the lack of space is really starting to get me down.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Mar 13, 2023

Hi @GreyMakesMusic, about the bay window with de light: a blind or curtain? To the mirror cabinet: quite a nightmare, can not
you put a curtain of Molton (stage curtain see thomann) in front of it that you can move when you are not making music.

www.thomann.de/gb/stairville_curtain_500g_m_black.htm & www.thomann.de/gb/backdrops_and_stage_drapes.html

 

Rule is you always have your desk positioned so the sound travels down the longest wall…therefor by the time it hits the wall the sound waves haven’t that much energy left in them. If I am simply to keep my desk where it is now the nervy will just keep bouncing off each wall

 

There is a Mac release of Sonarworks SoundID Reference you might want to try. You do not need their kinda expensive microphone, but you should look into what mics will work best if you do have to get one. It is one of the best options for room correction, short of doing anything physically to treat the problems.

I have never had to deal with a mirror, but Beat16's idea, or even a very heavy blanket should deaden it some.

Always check your mixes in good quality headphones that you are used to. The idea of room length, really doesn't mean that much when it comes to bass. The wavelength is so long, it might surprise you. A "Big" room in a house is usually about 25 feet. Google's example:

How long is a 60hz wavelength in feet?

The wavelength of any frequency may be found by dividing the speed of sound (approximately 1100 feet (or 34 meters) per second at sea level) by the frequency. Thus the wavelength of a 60hz sine wave would be approximately 18.3 feet.

 

Last edited: Mar 13, 2023

Being by the radiator sounds like a bad idea... my initial thought is be by the window and cover it, both for light and sound reflection reasons.

 

People have told me that before, but I don't want to spend the rest of my time sitting in a darkened room like some vampire

 

The only solution I have come up with sos far is using the NX head tracker, with Abbey Road Studio 3 and other plugins, but by the time I listen to it on speakers after using the headphones, my ears haven't adjusted and it just sounds all wrong anyway

 

You should check the software out. https://www.sonarworks.com/soundid-reference. There is a release from Trazor on Sister site or a regular demo on official site. The try before buy price is right, so to speak. "Head tracking" is going to fine tune your fastball; room correction will get you in the correct ballpark. All software is going to have limitations to how much/what can be fixed. It's not magic. SoundID will be one of your best available options for released Mac titles.

 

Last edited: Mar 13, 2023

What kind of musician are you? Anyway, guess only you can decide which of a number of problematic choices you wish to go with.

 

Okay, so...

Probably not the reason (not entirely at least) why your mix isn't translating well. Not the mirror at least, if you're talking about bass the mirror is probably the least of your problems if a problem at all (might actually be helping you a bit actually).

If i had to guess i'd say the problem is that now your listening position is near a bunch of solid walls. There's a a few workarounds to that, but i'm not sure it'll be practical, i'm having trouble imagining the room but here's my best shot:

If that's the case then yes, putting your listening position near the radiator could be a good idea acounstically speaking, since the window behind you could act like an absorber for the problematic area (since thinner materials tend to let low frequencies pass through), but it would still be better if the listening position was near the window since the closest big reflective wall (not considering floor and ceiling) would be further away and less of an issue.

ANYWAY. That's all hypotetical, here's something you should try out: Get everything out of the room, leave only what you're not willing to move. Put a speaker on a corner and play a professionally mixed and mastered song that you know very well. Walk around the room (or better yet, sit around the room, in your chair) and look for the spot where the bass sounds most ballanced (no notes stick out and such), tends to be near 1/3 of the lenght or width of the room, but not always. That's it, that's your spot, although 80% of the time people are like "but that's like half the usable space on my room!"...Well, yes. If it's too inconvenient, find the "less worst" spot on a part of the room that's more convenient to you. It's not going to solve all your problems but it'll make a big difference. THEN use calibration software if you still feel the need to do so.

Or just sell your monitors and get a couple of quality headphones. It may get you better results than using monitors with such limitations.

You don't have to. A heavy courtain would be ideal, but if you don't want to get too dark, and too bright hurts your eyes, just put a semi-transparent courtain that blocks just the right amount of light, even if a light courtain is not the best for acoustics, these spots might be the best anyway. Possibly noisier though.

I never feel confortable putting anything near a source of heat. But if you absolutely must, make sure it's not TOO close to anything, and make absolutely sure it's not touching anything and that there's no way it could possibly touch anything by accident.

 

Oh, wait! It's you!!!!

Nevermind, ignore the drawing.

 

That drawing is much safer than a space heater.

 

Yeah been meaning to get back to you actually…update photo on how the studio looked for a while after your amazing render, yet again thank you for your help

 

Nice.