Home Studio Acoustic Treatment Guide
Four steps, in order: find your room's bass modes, set up the desk and monitors, trap the corners, then treat the first reflections and the ceiling above your chair.
Step 1: Understand Your Room Modes (Standing Waves)
Room modes are standing wave resonances. In standard 4m × 5m bedrooms converted to studios, axial modes produce bass peaks (+12 dB) and nulls (-24 dB) between 30 Hz and 200 Hz.
Calculate the axial, tangential, and oblique mode frequencies of your own room with the room mode calculator.
Step 2: Position Your Desk & Studio Monitors
Position your mixing desk along the shorter wall facing down the length of the room, and form an equilateral triangle between the speakers and your head. A common starting point for the chair is 38% of the room length from the front wall. It holds best in a plain rectangular room, so check it against your room's modes from Step 1 (where the 38% rule breaks).
Step 3: Install Tri-Corner Bass Traps
All room modes meet at maximum acoustic pressure in 3-way vertical corners. Installing 4" to 6" thick straddled porous bass traps in all vertical corners provides maximum low-end absorption.
Step 4: Treat First Reflection Points & Ceiling Cloud
Specular reflections off side walls and ceiling create comb filtering. Use our first reflection calculator to position 2" or 4" thick broadband panels on side walls and hang a ceiling cloud directly above your chair.
Design your complete home studio in 3D: enter room dimensions, place absorbers, and simulate acoustics in your browser.