Old dairy queen! Ideas for creatively treating this space?
Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 12:57 pmI've just moved into this new space - it's an old dairy factory and this upstairs space has a really good vibe, thanks to the abundance of natural light flooding in. I'm renting and therefore not at liberty to start knocking up air-tight acoustic walls and the like so I am trying to creatively think of ways to treat this room without having to construct large separating walls and in an effort to maintain the open and airy warehouse feel that it has. It will serve mainly as a composing suite and mix room. Mix room? "But Dave that has to be acoustically dead..." Yeah, I know, but the compromise was taking this space over the much smaller and depressive room to the left (of this one, which as it happens is our bedroom) so I won out on the room and now have the task of making it sound reasonable.
I might jump over to John Sayers' site and ask around there for some practical solutions, but I though't I'd post some naked pictures here and see what kind of ideas I get back. The photos show a high ceiling including two peaked junctions as was the case of so many of the old warehouses in the day, and I guess that is an advantage to a point. They've left the metal beams exposed which give it a nice aesthetic but more than this it's probably a good chance to hang some custom-made baffles overhead - a largish one over the mix position and a few smaller ones spread out. I've got a bunch of broadband acoustic traps I made which I will somehow incorporate into the room, I'll be having to make loads more I feel. I also may build a false wall which backs straight onto the corner wall of the bathroom - wood frame with insulation and fronted by fabric (like the smaller baffles you may see in the pics). Even thought of constructing some kind of clear perspex swivel gate that comes out from the corner wall to block off some of the sound from the monitor height down. Big ideas, though. And I have no idea of how effective perspex is in an acoustic context. Anyway..
The last layout pic is an option I've been thinking about, where table/desk will be, lounge, large broadband trap I previously made, etc. And also because the room is too big to show everything in one photo. In no way is this to scale, this was whipped up in under 5 minutes in MS paint. Paint! So, go easy all you to-scale aficionados! Keen to hear what you think.
Cheers,
Dave
I might jump over to John Sayers' site and ask around there for some practical solutions, but I though't I'd post some naked pictures here and see what kind of ideas I get back. The photos show a high ceiling including two peaked junctions as was the case of so many of the old warehouses in the day, and I guess that is an advantage to a point. They've left the metal beams exposed which give it a nice aesthetic but more than this it's probably a good chance to hang some custom-made baffles overhead - a largish one over the mix position and a few smaller ones spread out. I've got a bunch of broadband acoustic traps I made which I will somehow incorporate into the room, I'll be having to make loads more I feel. I also may build a false wall which backs straight onto the corner wall of the bathroom - wood frame with insulation and fronted by fabric (like the smaller baffles you may see in the pics). Even thought of constructing some kind of clear perspex swivel gate that comes out from the corner wall to block off some of the sound from the monitor height down. Big ideas, though. And I have no idea of how effective perspex is in an acoustic context. Anyway..
The last layout pic is an option I've been thinking about, where table/desk will be, lounge, large broadband trap I previously made, etc. And also because the room is too big to show everything in one photo. In no way is this to scale, this was whipped up in under 5 minutes in MS paint. Paint! So, go easy all you to-scale aficionados! Keen to hear what you think.
Cheers,
Dave
