New Studio: Is my room too small to get good sound? - AcousticsInsider.com

If you’re just about to set up a new home studio and the only option for a room you’ve got is on the small end, then I’ll bet you’ve wondered:

Is this room TOO small?

Is it even possible to get good sound in a room this size?

Or is it a lost cause and you should go looking for something else?

Well, as so often in acoustics, there’s no real black and white answer to this question.

It’s more of matter of understanding what you’re getting yourself into with a certain room size and realizing where you really need to focus your efforts if you’re going to make it work.

In today’s video I want to show you how we classify a room as "small“ in the first place, what you need to be aware of if that’s what you’re facing, and the number 1 thing you need to focus your efforts on, above anything else, to get good sound out of a small room.

Related blog post on Acoustics Insider:

Resources in this video:

Acoustics Insider - Home studio acoustic treatment techniques for audio professionals, but without all the voodoo.

Acoustics Insider on Social Media:

Jesco Lohan - Mixing Engineer

[juanmillaruelo]

In a small room you can't expect miracles. I would settle for a mid to NEAR FIELD scenario with a FIXED listening point, a basic TRIANGLE, no speakers in corners, a comfortable armchair and not too much energy pumped into the room. Rearranging may prove necessary to find the optimal points. Beware of troughs/nulls. There may be a huge peak a meter away, but if it's out of your listening point you can disregard it. Move out of troughs.
Then, possibly damping or bass traps to absorb surplus bass, particularly behind and around the speakers. Or consider rolling off bass a bit by EQ. In a small room there will be "room gain", "tuned" by moving the speakers a bit closer or farther from the wall, or using a foam plug, total or partial in the backports to tame the beasties..

[mynamemylastname]

I have a small room but it sounds fantastic. I mixed up full absorbers, (5") with some of these absorbers with slats to reflect the hight frequencies. So in basic I made the lows harder to reflect. Keeping the highs give it a less dead sound.

[michaeldmoch]

Please consider that „size of a class room“ can mean very different things for people around the world, and is very vague in any case. A range in meters/feet would be more helpful

[davidkulmaczewski]

All the great, rational, and evidence-based info on this channel *really* highlights how much snake oil there is in most other similar videos. I've been working on a spare bedroom studio for about a year, and this place is the absolute best.

[AM-uimc]

So I went through all your videos, very valuable stuff! Thank you for putting this out there. To sum up this channel: fix your listening position and do broadband absorbers.

[asianguy]

The size of the average classroom?!!! In the US, that’s huge!! Enough for 30 people.

[ELISHACAEZ]

Warm Audio had a studio tour recently and they showed off this ACTIVE BASS TRAP. It's like black magic or something tbh but apparently they work, you plug one in and you hear a difference, and if it isn't enough you buy another and it works better.

[notaensilencio]

Realistic and scientific. I really appreciate these kinds of videos that are tremendously realistic, and this is the info that it's worth. New subscriber.

[juanmillaruelo]

I'm going to startle quite a few people. The smallest possible room is a headset, and you can find "nirvana" with a GOOD one.

But furthermore I experimented with audio plugins that allowed me to "dial in" the size of the virtual room and its sonic characteristics. Space, proportions, echo, blend of "dry" and "wet", and other details. The results were stunning.

It's something that I fooled around with for fun in the weeks of 'shelter in place' with time to experiment, enjoying music ...with a twist ;-) NOT something to adopt and use. Definitely unserious.

[reeenplay]

I have a room 2m x 4m and 2.5m high with a round ceiling is it possible to use this as a homestudio?

[keithmoriyama]

I used to own a professionally designed and built from scratch recording studio constructed by an elite high end acoustic studio engineering firm-- Pilsner and Associates-- Toronto There were two control rooms and both sounded excellent. However, Control room B which was a bedroom sized, squarish, with high ceiling was an after thought-- an extra room good enough for editing. I don't have the dimensions anymore but, it looked all wrong like a small 10' square bedroom. But, sounded fabulous. I don't know why; it just did.

[adrianelogsdon]

I have been in two "pro" studios, several home studios, and my three personal studios. One bed room control room, one "standardized" ( scientific equation type shape) control room and one odd designed control room. My new "standardized designed" control room is still being set up and so I don't know what is will produce, but it sounds great just being in it. The two pro studios, each not very advanced based on todays standards, had completely different sounds equaling completely different products. The best sound and product came out of a very shallow and very wide control room. Large JBL 4333 speakers were their only monitors. The mix in that room was exactly the same in my home stereo and my car stereo. So obviously the room size and shape have very little to do with the finished product.

[astral_brain]

My previous studio was microscopic being 1, 5 x 3 metres size with a room height of about 2, 5 metres. With acoustic treatment the frequency response was as good as the studios Jesco is showcasing after treatment. The secret is understanding how to fit in huge bass traps in such a small room. For instance, I filled up the whole area under my desk with porous absorbent material, only leaving some space for leg room in the middle. Also, there was plenty of space in under the ceiling. I had 70 cm (more than 2 feet) deep bass traps both front and back in the room as well as a cloud over the listening position.

[Gcm]

I found this video was helpful and explained very well. I'm just starting to get into acoustics treatment. Thank you for passing along your knowledge

[bingdong]

Very good discription, thanks. All the home theater guys seem to think they're REW will fix anything

[giongiorgio]

@Acoustics insider
Sir would you mind share info on the absorb/diffuser panel right behind you?
Thx, super video as always 🎩♥️

[danielk.]

These videos are Pure GOLD! Thanks a lot for sharing!

[CYBRCRP]

School classrooms are pretty huge, I don't think I know a single person with a spare room that size. Sounds like you'd have to set up in your living room or something to get that kind of space.

[quinosonic]

Man, I really like the approach "what can you expect out of what you have and how can you get the most out of it with the least effort/$". That's what I need!!! and I think you're on that track, so... new subscriber and hope to check on your stuff soon.

[mikebauer]

My NYC apartment is both acoustically too small and financially too expensive. Luckily, the byproduct of living in my recording area is that it is filled with stuff so it sounds fairly good.