Near Field Monitors (This shouldn't take too long, right?)

You might consider doing some lurking at the recording.org studio construction/acoustics forum and maybe the John L. Sayers forum.  FWIW, the materials for some diy acoustic treatment aren't too terribly expensive.  Mainly mineral wool or fiberglass insulation and some framing.  I've actually had more trouble coming up with the fabric to cover absorbers than the rest of it.  Ended up buying burlap from Wal Mart and I'm dying it myself.

 Ok, now I'm just laughing hysterically! I had no idea it was such an exquisite nightmare of a room! This is too funny. Yes, please, by all means send me a rough idea of what would most certainly be better. Would this little bit of construction be built inside my room, or would I be better off trying to dedicate another room in my house to be my studio? I can't wait to see what you're sending me!

No, it's a potential fix for the room you've got, rather than a suggested move. Believe it or not, I'm aware of one west London company that actually produces decent masters from a space with a similar shape - it's not impossible at all, but there are a few things that definitely will need fixing, especially in terms of the bass response.

The roof in the mastering room doesn't slope to quite the same degree as yours, and I don't think that even what they've done has optimised the room to the extent that it could be - but nevertheless, they get consistent results from it - apparently. Note that you can't see the apex of the roof...

You can't actually see any treatment clearly in this picture, but there is some.

Steve, a couple of years ago you gave us the first of what you hoped would be a series of articles on room treatment.  Are you likely to continue this?

Paul

I wish I'd popped in here last night. I would've just taken a pic of my room. It's similar to this one, but
like you said, the ceiling doesn't slope as much. I'll post it later tonight when I get home.

THANKS!

Steve, a couple of years ago you gave us the first of what you hoped would be a series of articles on room treatment.  Are you likely to continue this?

It has always been my intention to - but a lot of things keep getting in the way. I mean, I'd do some now, but I have to go to the dentist, and I'm pretty sure that I'll end up spending the evening in pain (root canal treatment on dead tooth), and that's not conducive to writing anything. And then I have to de-rack some equipment so that I can do a recording on Saturday, with minimal kit, in a place that's awkward to get to. And those are just some of the larger things. When you add it all up, I'm amazed that I manage to do anything that takes longer than half an hour at all!

But yes, I will try to get back to it.

Why wouldn't you wanna work after a root canal? Jeez, you're milking this a bit, aren't ya?

Alert the trolls to stay away for a day or two!!!   

Why wouldn't you wanna work after a root canal? Jeez, you're milking this a bit, aren't ya?

Absolutely - for all it's worth!

(Actually the dentist has decided to fix everything in a different order, so the painful bit has been delayed, and I can do the de-racking instead.)

Steve, this is my room. It seems to be about as wide as the room you posted, but as you mentioned my ceiling slopes more.

This is my room...my albatross...my curse.

Stuff you should do:

Get the monitors at least a couple of feet out from the walls (in both directions if they are in corners), and then sit in your preferred mixing position. Imagine mirrors on all the walls and ceilings, and work out where, if they were there, you could see reflections of the monitors from where you are sitting. At each of these places you need at least a single 2x2 sheet of Auralex, or equivalent. So that's going to be on the side walls and sloping ceilings, mainly. Don't worry about the wall behind the speakers so much - that's less likely to be an issue. You may need some more Auralex treatment on the ceiling as well, but mostly it will be at the monitor end that it's needed - you don't want to overdampen the room, otherwise it will become oppressive.

The other thing you should do is to install bass traps in the corners of the room. The cheapest way of doing this is to buy bales of rockwool insulation, stack them up on top of each other until they meet the slope of the roof, and then put some sort of thin screen in front of them. The good thing is that you can leave the rockwool baled up in its protective sleeve - it will absorb just as well like this. You need it baled, because it needs to be that diameter in order to intercept a significant part of the long wavelengths that are causing problems. I'd do this in all four corners, and even then there's hardly going to be enough, I fear. It's virtually impossible to over-trap the bass in a room, FWIW.

Just those two things alone should improve the situation with your monitors no end. If you need more, then we have to consider the wall behind you when you mix, and that might need more subtle treatment - possibly in the form of some dispersion, although that's not that cheap.