I've just started looking at selling my place in the city and moving to the burbs. With my baby boy due in a couple of weeks my girl is insisting we get a larger place, which I like the idea of too since my studio has become the soon to be nursery.

So, with that in mind I intend to build a dedicated studio in the new house and was wondering what the "ideal" room size is...if at all. I know different size rooms can work well, but is there a certain size or dimension that is ideal for sound? I expect to treat the room properly, but there must some type of "ideal" to look for that will help with this.

Any info is appreciated, thanks!

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Originally posted by cammaxwell I've just started looking at selling my place in the city and moving to the burbs. With my baby boy due in a couple of weeks my girl is insisting we get a larger place, which I like the idea of too since my studio has become the soon to be nursery. So, with that in mind I intend to build a dedicated studio in the new house and was wondering what the "ideal" room size is...if at all. I know different size rooms can work well, but is there a certain size or dimension that is ideal for sound? I expect to treat the room properly, but there must some type of "ideal" to look for that will help with this. Any info is appreciated, thanks!

It's actually a really difficult question to answer, there's no set size as such, but there are at least a few pointers I can give you.

1, Make sure it's not square - it can get really annoying trying to figure out standing waves and modal problems in a symmetrical room.

2, Try to avoid low cielings - they can really cause listening position problems from splash.

3, Try to avoid Basements - everyone thinks "oh great it's got a basement, that will make a great studio". Aside from the fact there's usually less outside noise in a basement, they're often the worst rooms in the house to have a studio in (often tile or concrete floor, low ceilings, hard wall surfaces, no natural light (it can get to you after time), etc.)

4,Think about rooms which don't have a lot of interference from outside noise sources (i.e have windows that open on to busy street) - our brains tune out exterior noise but that means it will also tune out certain things in your mixing or production, not to mention it's a distraction and forget recording anything if there's bad outside noise.

I general it doesn't have to be huge, just somewhere that is hopefully rectangular or other shape (not completely square), and not with really low ceilings.

the perfect size for a studio would be a equalateral circle. THe sound would be reflected infinitely for high dynamics and signal to noise ratio

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Originally posted by cammaxwell With my baby boy due in a couple of weeks my girl is insisting we get a larger place

Congrats once again my friend

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Originally posted by DJ RANN It's actually a really difficult question to answer, there's no set size as such, but there are at least a few pointers I can give you. 1, Make sure it's not square - it can get really annoying trying to figure out standing waves and modal problems in a symmetrical room. 2, Try to avoid low cielings - they can really cause listening position problems from splash. 3, Try to avoid Basements - everyone thinks "oh great it's got a basement, that will make a great studio". Aside from the fact there's usually less outside noise in a basement, they're often the worst rooms in the house to have a studio in (often tile or concrete floor, low ceilings, hard wall surfaces, no natural light (it can get to you after time), etc.) 4,Think about rooms which don't have a lot of interference from outside noise sources (i.e have windows that open on to busy street) - our brains tune out exterior noise but that means it will also tune out certain things in your mixing or production, not to mention it's a distraction and forget recording anything if there's bad outside noise. I general it doesn't have to be huge, just somewhere that is hopefully rectangular or other shape (not completely square), and not with really low ceilings.

Thanks, I was actually thinking to put in the basement but maybe I'll use a bedroom now. I like the idea of the basement because I could have easily built a special room (room in a room actually) but the low ceilings is something that I don't think can be avoided.

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Originally posted by Nick Cenik Congrats once again my friend

Thanks buddy!!!!

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In my point of view ,
perfect size for a studio would be a equilateral circle. The sound would be reflected infinitely for high dynamics and signal to noise ratio .
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An obvious consideration that hasn't been mentioned is how much gear and furniture do you have, or plan on having, in the studio?

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Originally posted by cryophonik An obvious consideration that hasn't been mentioned is how much gear and furniture do you have, or plan on having, in the studio?

One must always carefully consider the GAS to CAR (Cubic Area Ratio) when considering new studio space.














Do you see what I did there?

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Originally posted by orTofønChiLd the perfect size for a studio would be a equalateral circle. THe sound would be reflected infinitely for high dynamics and signal to noise ratio

uh no. hypothetically speaking here, the perfect size of a studio would be no size. a studio that is completely in open space would yield the best results (there's nothing to reflect off, bounce off, absorb, etc). Treatment exists to get a room w/ walls, studs, ceilings etc to sound as transparent as possible. sound leaves the speakers and never returns.

but hypothetically, you would have to sit at least 14 feet away to hear a frequency of 40 hz which would require a pretty big fucking monitor.

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Originally posted by Mad for Brad but hypothetically, you would have to sit at least 14 feet away to hear a frequency of 40 hz which would require a pretty big fucking monitor.

But realistically speaking humans don't hear 40hz, they feel it.

And hypothetically speaking the best studio would be an infinite space but there would need to be no floor so everything would have to levitate ideally.

@cam - congrats again man. Bear in mind you can make a basement work with a lot of adjustments just you really stack the odds against you if it has the problems I listed (hard wall and floor surfaces, low ceilings etc).