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Acoustics Assignment

Student: Victor Daniș

Lecturer: Andrei Constantinescu
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Introduction

Building my own production studio has always been a

priority on my bucket list. The acoustics course not only
prepares us for upcoming difficulties one might encounter while
trying to achieve a balanced sounding room, but it also gives us
the opportunity of creating a business plan that goes hand in
hand with the theoretical aspects we learned.
In the following pages I will be describing the ideal
production, mixing and mastering room that I’ve been working
on for the past couple of months. This room’s main purpose
consists of me creating and mixing electronic music, so I will
rarely use more than one microphone. I will also measure the
room modes (theoretically) based on the existing room’s size
and I will conclude with acoustic treatment and costs.

Room dimensions and treatment

Length - 517 cm
Width - 390 cm
Height - 275 cm
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Based on room dimensions alone, we can easily tell that I will

be dealing with a small to medium sized room. Because I lack
the necessary equipment to give an in-depth analysis of my
room’s acoustic features, I will estimate the RT60 using an
online calculator.
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With an average RT60 of 0.3 seconds, the Schroederfrequency

is around 147 Hz. The Bonello distribution is on the good side,
having a gradually ascending number of modes per third.
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(27 Hz - 180 Hz)

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Because I will be producing music that is extremely bass

heavy, my main concern would be treating the modes within the
sub-bass and bass regions (pretty much everything that I have
listed above).
In order to treat the concrete walls, I will cover them with
acoustic foam and a heavy textile material. Even though this will
lead to a smaller size, having a well treated room will give me a
huge advantage over other producers. In order to deal with the
low frequency issues, I will add around 150mm of absorption on
the front and back wall and 120mm on the side walls. To reduce
bass adding up, I will position the monitors at roughly 35% of
the room’s length. Adding Hofa bass traps in the corners of the
room would also significantly reduce low frequencies. For early
reflections I would prefer using absorption rather than diffusion,
so I will manufacture acoustic panels out of a porous material
that is at least 150mm thick. I would leave an air gap between
the panel and the wall for a more efficient absorption of the
lower frequencies. For the back wall I will buy a couple of
Auralex diffusers.
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Costs

Acoustic treatment
Hofa bass trap x4 = 620 euro
Homemade acoustic panel x6 = ~100 euro
Auralex diffuser x2 = 240 euro
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Hardware
Mackie XR824 x2 = 880 euro
IsoAcoustics stands = 180 euro
Arturia AudioFuse = 485 euro
EV RE20 + Fethead = 600 euro
Roli Seaboard Rise 49 = 950 euro
Native Instruments Maschine MK3 = 600 euro
Nektar Panorama P1 = 200 euro
TRS and XLR cables = ~ 30 euro

Software
Bitwig Studio = 350 euro
Native Instruments Komplete 11 = 1000 euro
Spectrasonics Omnisphere 2 = 500 euro
FabFilter Total Bundle = 900 euro

Total = 7635 euro

In order to invest this amount in a production, mixing and

mastering room, I need to make sure that I will at least get my
money out of it. My plans, however, aren’t as accurate as the
modes calculated above. I was thinking about working online, as
a freelance audio engineer and I was also planning on starting a
career as an independent music producer. It is quite hard for me
to estimate the amount of money I can make with this set-up as a
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producer, but as a freelance engineer I would charge at least 25

euros per hour of mixing or mastering (the price would depend
on the complexity of the project). Taking the worst case scenario
into consideration, I should be able to get back the investment in
about 300 hours of mixing/mastering online.