Acoustics / Studio Design

Computer noise can be a major problem in the computer-based studio, especially where instruments or vocals have to be recorded in the same room. This soundproof cabinet with in-built cooling system is designed to tackle such noise.

The SOS crew head to the 14th floor of a London tower block to help a pair of readers improve their drum sound.

Can you tell me how I should go about painting my acoustic foam panels? They are currently white and rather ugly!

These acoustic panels not only offer sonic improvements over simple acoustic-foam treatments, but are also very easy to install.

We help television composer Dave Lowe transform a cavernous-sounding spare bedroom into a usable home studio.

I recently moved house and, having now set up my equipment in a new room, I seem to have lost all of the bass end. My monitors are set up as they should be and my setup worked and sounded fine at the last house, but now for some reason the bass is only prominent at a point just behind my head in my normal sitting position. Any suggestions?

Setting up your studio in a cube-shaped room isn't a very good idea, as Pete Keen and Nick Smith found out to their cost. So the Studio SOS team set off to Kidderminster to help find some solutions to the inevitable acoustic problems.

The SOS team help Peter May to brush up his drum sounds and put more life into his mixes.

I've been encountering some problems with standing waves in the room were I do my mixing. The bass response is very uneven and I'm considering investing in some acoustic treatment, but I don't really know were to start. What are my options?

During the October 2003 AES Convention in New York, the SOS team managed to make it to Amityville to help reader (and SOS Forum regular) Glenn Bucci with his recorded guitar and bass sounds.

There's little use spending money on fancy mics, processors and plug-ins if your speakers are badly placed and your room's frequency response has more peaks than the Himalayas! So here we'll be looking at practical ways to improve your recording and listening environments.

The SOS team visit reader Dave Stevens' home studio to sort out a chesty vocal sound, investigate a mystery digital buzz, and hand out some mastering tips.

Dave Wraight had been having trouble with his mixes, despite twice upgrading his speaker system, so the SOS team set about diagnosing and treating his monitoring problems.

Recording in a converted attic, Tom Fox was having serious problems with his acoustics while recording drums, so the SOS team drove over to Yorkshire to sort things out.

We check out these integrated kit solutions to room-acoustic problems in the project studio.

Although we don't usually cover commercial studios in Readerzone, Andy Cross's small Zoo Audio studio has found its way here because it is one of the few studios in the country to contain an Esmono recording booth.

The SOS team rushes to the rescue of a reader in Somerset suffering from boxy vocals, a weedy mix, and a dodgy tweeter.

Most SOS readers seem either to be setting up a studio or refining their existing setup, and could save money and hassle by doing much of the wiring and installation themselves. We explain how.

Another reader's studio gets the benefit of expert SOS staff attention. This month, it's the turn of Tim Way, whose mixes sound fine in his own studio, but don't travel well.

Most SOS readers spend a lot of time considering what equipment to buy, and learning how it works. But it's also important to consider the ergonomics of your studio if you're to avoid the possibility of painful, and surprisingly common, strain injuries.

I have a brick shed out the back of my house which measures 10 feet by 8 feet inside, and I would like to make a little...