Project room acoustics advice needed

[kdale1]

Hi, I have a challenging space that I'm using mostly as visual art studio and some for tracking guitars, keys, rough mixing etc. Rock music. The big challenges are that 2/3 of the space I need to leave untreated so I can have blank walls for making paintings etc; and the ceiling is 7' and drywall finished-- it's a partial sublevel in a split level house.
I'm attempting to paste a floorplan image here for reference:

http://www.daleinglett.com/floorplan.html
Roughly 12x22x7 feet.

Monitor placement is an issue: they have to be within 1 foot of the wall; not symmetrically set in the room because of a doorway; and the first reflection points are at a window on one side and some irregular stuff with a door and studio art wall on the other side.

FYI I generally stick an amp in an adjacent closet and mic it there or run IR's.

I sent a request to Auralex via Sweetwater so we'll see what they recommend.

questions:
Will ceiling treatment make enough of a difference considering the sidewall reflections are going to be an issue?
Rug?
Will doing some treatment in the portion of the space that isn't art studio be enough or will the rest remain a reverberant ringing boomy mess?
what size monitors? I currently have 1st gen Alesis M1's. Probably overkill in this space.
Should I abandon hope on this and commandeer some of the living space in our house?

thanks for any feedback.

[kdale1]

Image link didn't work; here's a link:
http://www.daleinglett.com/floorplan.html

[Sam Spoons]

Ceiling panels will certainly help then I might consider some free standing 'gobos' placed at the mirror points when mixing. Also could you use an absorbent room divider between the table and the listening position, it needn't be full hight as long as it effectively breaks a reflection path between the monitors, listening position and the walls in the art side of the room. That lot will definitely make a significant improvement over the bare room, it won't be troubling Abbey Rd but will be much better. Then get some decent headphones, I have AKG K702s, for critical mix duties and you should be able to get decent mixes.

The other alternative could be to switch the room around and put the audio desk and gear at the other end but if the art work is the priority I understand if that can't work for you.

[kdale1]

Thanks Sam. Definitely my AKG k240's sound far superior and less fatiguing than the monitors in the bare space.

[Sam Spoons]

Any treatment is better than none and the first three panels make the most difference, I have 10 in my 4 x 4 m room and am about to add another 6 at which point I'll have as many as it's practical/reasonable to fit. For mixing I think I'd be pretty with the big one behind the monitors and the four mirror points (sides, ceiling and back wall) but for rehearsing and recording more is better.

[Drew Stephenson]

I'm with Sam in that any treatment is probably better than none, something on wheels will likely serve multiple purposes, and a good set of headphones are your best friend.

[resistorman]

Gobos can also give you extra vertical surface to hang art on

[Hugh Robjohns]

questions:
Will ceiling treatment make enough of a difference considering the sidewall reflections are going to be an issue?

No. It'll make a difference in subduing some of the overall room reverb time, but you would need to treat the entire ceiling, not just the recording/mixing end.. and even then it won't help with the major lateral mirror point reflections.

Rug?

Same as above.

Will doing some treatment in the portion of the space that isn't art studio be enough or will the rest remain a reverberant ringing boomy mess?

The latter!

If you could build a movable wall of full height acoustic panels to screen off the art end that might help, but it's never going to be great...

what size monitors?

The smaller, quieter and closer the better! Headphones would be good...

Should I abandon hope on this and commandeer some of the living space in our house?

I would, yes.

[kdale1]

Thanks for all the replies -