If you’re recording in any space, you need to do a proper acoustical treatment. There are several factors that will determine the kind of treatment you need to do. For a custom studio acoustic treatment plan, give me a call or send us a contact request. There are two key questions we ask our clients before making recommendations.

Question One: What kind of recording are you doing?
The type of sound you’re dealing with will affect how you treat the space. For instance, the approach is completely different if you have amplified sound. Are you recording podcasts, vocals, or a full band?

Question Two: What is your space like?
What recording spaces are you working with? Do you have a vocal booth? A drum booth? What is the size of each room? Your acoustical treatment will be different in a live room from a control room. A vocal booth and a drum booth will also be treated differently.

Optimal Reverberation Time IN A RECORDING STUDIO

A proper acoustical treatment is the clean, blank canvas you need for your masterpiece to exist on. The premier recording equipment, the unprecedented talent, and the mixing genius are the vibrant colors on the canvas that allow you to create hit after hit. If you’re investing in the best, you need the best sound control. The reverberation time (RT60) of each room is going to be handled differently to optimize the recording experience. Here is a quick chart to understand target reverb time in a recording studio:

You need to remove reverb before you record by acoustically treating each recording space for the optimal reverberation time. You can digitally add effects later when you mix the sound. Subsequently, when it comes to mixing, you want to have optimal sound in your control room to best interpret what you're mastering. If you’ve ever heard your barber say, “I can cut it off, but I can’t put it back” you understand the sentiment. Reverb just works in the inverse. That’s why it’s essential to treat each room acoustically first and adjust digitally later.

EMBRACING DIRECT SOUND AND TAMING REFLECTED SOUND

When you make a sound, like strumming a guitar or singing, that sound travels in two ways: directly to your ears and indirectly by bouncing off surfaces like walls, ceilings, and floors. Direct sound is the sound that travels straight from the source (instruments, voices, etc.) to your ears. It’s unaffected by the room, so what you hear is pure and true.

Reflected sound is the sound that bounces around the room, creating echoes and reverb. This is where acoustical treatments come in. The shape, size, and material of your room will determine how these reflections behave. Too many reflections, and your sound becomes muddled; too few or poorly managed reflections, and your room feels dead and lifeless.

ACOUSTIC TREATMENTS VS SOUNDPROOFING

If you want to isolate the control room, the live room, and any vocal or drum booths from one another, we refer to that as soundproofing. You need to read our recording studio soundproofing article for the how-to of keeping sound from leaking from one room to another.

In this guide, we’re talking about your recording studio acoustics — perfecting the sound within each room of your studio by controlling reflections, reverb, and echo, so the sound quality is pristine. Soundproofing and acoustics work in tandem to create a professional recording studio.

Read this article for more on doing an acoustic treatment vs soundproofing.

No, there is not one room that is more important to acoustically treat than another, so don’t ask! There will be no choosing favorites! Each room is handled differently, so let’s break down how to acoustically treat each room one by one. There are several factors that go into what each room will need, so this is more of a general road map. For a custom studio acoustic treatment plan, you can give me a call or send us a contact request.

LIVE ROOM ACOUSTICS

Some might say that this is “where the magic happens”, but it depends on who you ask. At the very least, this is where the talent comes together to create something beautiful. Your optimal RT60 is between 0.8s-0.9s. It’s key to remember that there are no true first reflection points in a live room, as the sound in here should be natural and balanced. You’ll achieve this by evenly spreading absorptive material around the room to control reflections.

Second Skin’s selection of acoustic panels are your best friend. 2” thick material should be used to help with the amplified sound in the room. If you'd prefer foam over fabric wrapped panels, we also have fire rated acoustic foam that can be used safely in a commercial setting, but only place it where it won’t get bumped into. Foam is always fragile.

The next thing you want to include in your space is bass trapping to help manage low-frequency build-up. Place the bass traps in the corners, especially where the walls meet other rooms. This will help keep any tricky bass frequencies from transferring energy from space to space.

The last item on the menu is your diffusers. Adding diffusers in will help evenly scatter sound waves and reduce harsh reflections to make the room feel much larger and more spacious. This is pertinent in smaller rooms like a 12’x20’ room.

CONTROL ROOM ACOUSTICS

The control room, sometimes called a sound booth or mixing room, is the place of refinement. Your target RT60 is between 0.6s-0.8s, but control room acoustics are a bit more nuanced than just reducing the reverb time. There are two keys to consider: your monitor setup and where the listener(s) will sit.

Regardless of what kind of monitors you’re using, the first place to add absorption is behind the monitors and beside the monitors. Next, you’ll want to concentrate on the first angles of reflection, adding absorption relative to the listener. You should cover the first reflections from near field monitors on the side walls and back wall relative to the audio engineer. For large playback monitors used for clients and guests, you will also need to cover the first reflections on the side walls and back wall relative to where they would sit in addition to where the mixer sits.

The other key to getting the acoustics perfect inside your control room is hanging acoustic clouds throughout the room, specifically over the mixing console. That sound board cloud should be the size of the sound board or bigger. Lastly, but certainly not least, is enhancing the spaciousness of the room with diffuser panels. This is particularly important if you have large playback monitors and additional seating for clients or guests.

VOCAL BOOTH ACOUSTICS

Acoustically treating your vocal booths may be the easiest thing to do. The goal is to eliminate reverb as much as possible, so the deader you can get it in there, the better off you’ll be. Just stuff as much thick absorptive material in there as you can and let the mixer do the rest. Be sure to cover both the walls and ceiling. Our EcoVerb™ cotton panels are the most absorptive products out there. You can also use our budget-friendly, 2" thick EcoVerb™ Roll, which has a protective black facing for a blackout effect. If this vocal booth doubles as a booth for small instruments, add diffusers in there to help make it feel like a bigger space.

DRUM BOOTH ACOUSTICS

For your drum booth, you’ll be dealing with a wide range of frequencies. You want to keep the low frequency RT60 in the 0.4s-0.6s range. To do so, use thicker absorption, like 3” or 4” thick panels on the ceiling and walls, and bass traps in the corners.

You still want it to feel slightly alive in there to avoid drummer fatigue. Adding diffusers can help with that, and they will also help scatter the high-end frequencies you’ll get from the cymbals.

HOME STUDIO ACOUSTICS – MULTI-PURPOSE ROOMS

If you have one room that you’re using for just about everything — recording on one side and mixing on the other with a vocalist in a closet (hopefully!) — this is considered to be more of a home studio setup. You have to account for everything, so treat it like a live room with evenly spread absorption, bass traps for low frequencies, and diffusers to create a sense of space. If your vocals are being recorded in a closet-turned-vocal-booth, get as much absorption in there as possible.

We talk more in-depth on the subject in our DIY home studio acoustic treatment guide. Check it out!

Recording at a professional level requires a lot of specialty knowledge to do right. Second Skin Audio is fully equipped to help you get the perfect sounding recording studio, so you can make the highest quality content! Reach out to us for an acoustical analysis and a custom plan to make your recording studio the best it can be!