Studio Acoustics Question

[holyears]

My office at work was just moved into a small 3-room facility (@ 550 sq. ft total) that used to be a radio station. I'm going to be using it as a recording studio ( one room as an office, one as a control room, one as the tracking room). The place has carpet EVERYWHERE, all the floors and all the walls. The ceiling is the standard drop-in ceiling tiles about 8' high. Where do I begin with the acoustics? Should I take all the carpet off the floor and put in hardwood - or just add some strategically placed treatments?

Any input, advice, or links to other sources of info would be greatly appreciated. I'm hoping to have this somewhat decided in the next day or so before I move all the gear in. Thanks...

[Pietro]

The drop celing is going to be a nightmare. put heavy acoustical tiles in it if you can at least.

Sounds like the rooms will be pretty "dead" sounding. Get a great reverb.

[holyears]

Yeah, I think "dead" was the goal for the radio station, but the studio sounds a bit strange to me for tracking music, some serious flutter going on.

Would you recommend the heavy tiles for both the tracking room and the control room? Any links you would recommend to see how much these tiles run for? Thanks!

[UnderTheGroove]

I would suggest you do some research. The John Sayers message board is a gold mine for this type of information: http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/index.php

I'm no expert, but I would remove the carpet, put in some hardwood floors, and plan on adding a lot of bass traps in the corners and traps at the first reflection points. You may be able to put the drop ceiling to use as well. Of course, budget and the size of the room are both going to be big factors.