Attic Room Studio Build

[Luke W]

I've recently "finished" my studio build that I've been working away at on and off for the last couple of years, and thought it may be of interest to some people on here. The room is in an attic, and the setup is centered in a dormer, so there was a lot of interesting shapes to work to! Because of these interesting shapes and the layout in general, I went for a complete self build, so it may be of help to anyone who's thinking of making some acoustic panels or starting on a similar project.

I know it gets said on here a lot, but the difference this treatment has made really is like night and day. I've gone from working mainly with headphones to having a room with a precise, balanced sound, decent imaging, and a pretty reliable low end considering the size of the space, all for less money than you could spend on another mic...

Bit of a disclaimer:
Although I'm competent in the fields of audio and woodwork, I'm by no means an expert in acoustics (quite the opposite!), and I'm sure there are things I could have done better or more effectively. I wouldn't want to set anyone off on the wrong path so I'd welcome any feedback here along the way.

First couple of pictures, from empty space to working room. I'll get started on digging through and uploading the others.

The Room:


The Result:

[Music Wolf]

That looks very neat. It certainly puts my DIY / woodworking skills to shame

[Eddy Deegan]

I love the colour scheme of dark wood and purple

[Folderol]

Looks very cosy and inviting - a lot packed in there too

[Martin Walker]

Bravo Luke - I agree with Eddy that the purple/wood colour combo looks gorgeous!

Martin

[Luke W]

Thanks all, much appreciated

I've sorted though some photos from early on, I think it's safe to say I took far too many along the way... More will follow as I get them uploaded.

First up were some traps for the back wall corners. Because of the combination of the window and the narrow space it wasnt possible to go from floor to ceiling with 600x600 triangles, so I decided to go up to the height of the window sill and then make some seperate panels above that which angled outwards to meet the edge of the window.

A few pictures of the framing/rockwool:





And a couple of them in place:




The bases are MDF, and the rest of the framing is some standard 2x1 and 3x1 planed timber. There were a few times along the way where I used materials purely because I already had some off-cuts or spare bits laying around, and I fancied saving a few quid whilst using up some old bits and pieces.

The Rockwool is RW3, and I used a combination of 100mm and 50mm slabs.

[Watchmaker]

ah, this is killer. Nicely balanced and symmetrical!

I especially appreciate the video monitor placement - I hope you don't mid me shamelessly stealing that from you. I also really like the unfilled rack spaces and patch bay. room to grow!

it looks a bit like the shou sugi ban technique on the baffle sides - a nice touch

[Luke W]

Thanks

No problem, steal away. That is how I finished the timber for the framework, well spotted, although I'll admit to not knowing the name of the technique! It makes cheap timber look much more presentable.

[Luke W]

Next up is the start of the sloping ceiling, another frame made up from 3x1 and 2x1 big enough for a whole 1200mmx600mm slab of Rockwool.

Start of the frame:


Test fit and a new temporary job for some mic stands:


Mounting plate and some wire to help stop the Rockwool sagging.:


Rockwool in, and panel fixed.

[Martin Walker]

Love that clever use of mic stands as temporary trap supports Luke!

Martin

[James Perrett]

Love that clever use of mic stands as temporary trap supports Luke!

As a tip to other studio builders who are thinking of using heavier panels - get yourself a panel lift. They're essential for fixing plasterboard on the ceiling and also useful for keeping plasterboard panels in position on walls.

[Luke W]

Thanks, Martin! Did the trick...

I'd second James' advice for anything that's heavy though, I've used those lifts for doing plasterboard ceilings before and they're beyond helpful.

Should have some more bits and pieces to post up here in a little while.

[Luke W]

Next up, some side panels for the "mirror points". A simple rectangle frame to hold one slab of 1200x600 slab of 50mm Rockwool.

This is an example of somewhere that I used some old off-cuts to do the job. I made the outsides of the rectangular frame from some leftover MDF, which isn't the right choice of material at all, but knowing how I was planning on mounting the panel to the wall, as well as knowing I'd be framing up the outside seperately anyway meant that it didn't really affect the overall result, and I just wanted the stuff out of the way! The sensible thing to do is to just make the whole frame from timber, it'll be easier, stronger and generally less hassle.

Cutting some strips to size;


Braces in:


Mounted in place:

[Sam Spoons]

Excellent pictures Luke, and a lovely job all round. I had, sort of, planned to take more pics of my studio refurb but just got impatient to be getting on with the job

[Eddy Deegan]

Following with interest as I'll be doing something similar soon myself. The photos of the construction are really good to see

[Luke W]

Excellent pictures Luke, and a lovely job all round. I had, sort of, planned to take more pics of my studio refurb but just got impatient to be getting on with the job

Thanks very much. I try to get as many as I can with most projects, I do tend to end up with some gaps where I got carried away and forgot to take some though.

Following with interest as I'll be doing something similar soon myself. The photos of the construction are really good to see

Glad it helps

[Luke W]

The next stage was some panels above the corner traps that came out at an angle to meet the window frame, although it's not much of an angle it meant I could get an extra 50mm of Rockwool in at the deepest end.

The start of a frame:


Test fit:


Rockwool in and frame fixed :


Shorter version for underneath:


Sides finished:

[Hugh Robjohns]

Nice work, and I'm sure a lot of people will find the constructional images very helpful.

H

[Luke W]

Cheers, Hugh. I hope so, I've found the forums very useful over the years so it'd be nice if some help could go back the other way for a change!

Onto the next stage, finishing the sloped ceiling panels. I wanted the edge of the panel to sit completely flush with the ceiling rather than be bordered by a timber frame, and the angle of the pitch roof made the cuts rather interesting. I started out by marking out where the panel should sit, and taking some measurements along where I wanted the braces to sit. I like just cracking on with a saw as much as the next person, but some planning and paper definitely helped here.

Marked out:


The simple half of the frame:


I then clamped that half in place, and double checked measurements for the braces.

Angles on the edge of the braces:


Because of the odd angles, I cut the braces slightly longer than necessary and then trimmed down the straight end once the angles were fitting nicely. This allowed a bit of room for error, and cutting off the other end at 90 degrees is a far simpler task than trying to shave a few mm off of the angle you've just got to sit nicely...

Another test fit with the braces attached, the longer one does fit, but gravity is doing its bit. Honest:


You can never have too many clamps:


A couple of shots with the rockwool in:



Final test fit:


These came back down as they were getting fixed together and placed up as one panel once I'd got the fabric on. I also got another few slabs of rockwool behind them before fixing them in, so at the deepest end theres around 250mm.

[Folderol]

That's some serious carpentry there - those angles would drive me off screaming

[Watchmaker]

You can never have too many clamps:

Secret sauce 101.

[Dennis J Wilkins]

Hi Luke,

Looks very nice and I expect it sounds fine. You've set up significant treatment symmetrically left to right, and the odd room/ceiling angles should help disperse standing waves. If you get a chance you should try Room EQ Wizard to view frequency and time domain performance. Really helps to see just what is going on at the primary listening position and a few feet around it. You might get some rear reflections from the windows which was an issue I had until I added the hanging panels I showed in the Studio SOS article in April (2019). It does cut out the nice view and natural light, but in my case I wanted the room light-tight for photo work, so I didn't mind! In your room, heavy drapes might do the trick if you find any comb filtering issues from rear reflections, and you could open it when you're noodling around with your guitars and don't need mix/mastering level room response.

I hope you really enjoy it!

[Luke W]

Thanks, Dennis. I'm planning on giving REW a go out of interest, I'd like to have measured the room first as well to get a comparison but my lack of patience got the better of me. The window has got some curtains now, but any good that's done has probably been reversed by the two screens! I've made sure they're back behind the monitors as much as possible to minimise any issues, and it seems to be a good compromise. There's still two skylights in the rear wall/ceiling so natural light is still available.

[Luke W]

That's some serious carpentry there - those angles would drive me off screaming

Thanks, I find that things like this always look more daunting than they are though. Measure twice and all that...