Small room with a small budget!

M

Mikeimus

New member
Hi there!

I'm currently at uni with a small budget. My main focus is to produce EDM, and to DJ a little bit. I have already managed to invest in:

- Good headphones
- M-Audio Bx5 D2 Monitors
- Foam pads for speakers to go on to (Bass was going through my desk previously!)
- Midi Keyboard
- Decent Computer
- a DAW

But I have a couple of questions to help me continue my small studio.

Firstly, I've done a lot of research into room acoustics, and it turns out I have almost one of the worst possible rooms - built in desk at a bad angle, wooden floors etc. What can I do to improve my room acoustics cheaply? I see products on amazon for cheap prices for acoustic foam and bass traps however I really do not trust the low prices, even though the reviews are good.

The second question is similar - Is it worth investing the 200 pound or so into acoustic treatment if it only does a half arsed job, so to speak?

Note, I am not asking for help to treat my room, hence why I haven't provided any photos. I'm trying to figure out what is worth investing in at this stage, and I need to be pushed into the right direction.

Alternatively, I understand I could mix on my headphones primarily.

Thank you!
 
Wooden floors aren't as bad as you think but I'd spend half the cash on a nice rug - The other 100 quid should be spent on getting trashed with your uni mates - maybe a date with a fitty and can of squirty cream...

You're probably moving out of that room in less than 2 years (if not sooner) don't worry bout it.
 
If you have good headphones, then room treatment doesn't even factor in. However, good headphones don't create mixes that translate as well as good speakers in a treated room. Yet good headphones are significantly cheaper than good speakers and treating a room.


The worst sounding room for bass response is a cube. The worst sounding room for noise isolation is one with thin walls and a cheap door. The worst sounding room for imaging is a room with non-symmetrical side-walls. The worst sounding room for clarity is a small room. You may have several of these problems.


If you are doing critical work over your monitors, not headphones, then yes: 1) it's definitely worth treating the room, and 2) a little treatment is a lot better than none.

If your speakers are several feet away from the walls, isolated from vibration, and positioned in a perfect equilateral triangle with your head, you're heading in the right direction. And if you can absorb the first reflection points with 4-6" of material, you'll get a lot of improvement. You may not be able to get a flat low frequency response and an even decay time across all frequencies on a budget, but you'll be significantly closer to sonic accuracy just by treating the first reflection points.


The price of the product shouldn't have much to do with the quality, but the material makeup does. If you're buying foam wedges that average 1-2" thick, it will only absorb the highs. Yuck! But 4-6" of rigid fiberglass will absorb down to the upper bass range. You can buy stuff like this from RealTraps, maybe GIK, or you can make it yourself with stuff from the hardware store. If you don't buy brand-name Owens Corning fiberglass, but instead get rockwool or something like it, you can definitely make some real progress on your limited budget.
 
about room
I don't really think it is really necessary to make a perfect acoustic, you just want to reduce some of the resonance and reverb but I would not try to make the room 100% DRY ,

about speakers
I would be comfortable to work with 5 inch speakers, for the budget however I think it would be really good idea to look for used speakers and subwoofers so if you can somehow bring more low frequencies

about midi
I don't know if you play keys too much and you may want 5 octave midi
but I would be really comfortable with 3 octave midi
I am not exactly comfortable with 2 octave midi because sometimes you may just like to jump up and down on the octaves and that kinda limits you
but I am a guy who likes to take my laptop and midi when I go to friends and things like that so 2 octave midi is a better option to take it easier with me where I go ,
 
There is many DIY projects for building your own acoustic treatment that can be found on Youtube and gearslutz. I would skip the foam pads as they only absorb higher frequencies. With a small room you want as much bass trapping as possible. Do it once, do it right is my motto. :)
 
Feather_Music said:
Do it once, do it right is my motto. :)
Click to expand...

While I'd normally agree wholeheartedly... OP is in rented, student accommodation. Simply not worth it.
He'd be better off buying a chucking his student loan on a few nice toys - and sorting his room after Uni in a gaf he plans on staying in on a more longterm basis.
 
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