How To Build A Listening Room Where You Can Relax
Music: the magical wonder that has the power to mesmerize us, enchant us and even soothe us. Music is literally everywhere; from the melodious sounds of the nature all around us to the excellent tunes produced by great composers to the exceptional songs from great singers of our time. We all like to listen to music and for most of us, it’s an essential part of our daily life. We listen to it on our commute to our office in the morning, we blast it through the entirety of our workout session and we like to listen to some music even when we are working in an office environment. Music and melodies are always with us and that’s why it has the power tolift our spirits no matter how we feel. A day without music just feels empty.
Our mood and music
As you might know from personal experience, music has the ability to alter one’s mood. Have you ever plugged in your earphones and listened to your favorite jam only to feel happier and motivated after the end of a tiring and particularly bad day? Or have you listened to the soothing sounds of nature while meditating or doing yoga and have felt a peace and quiet inside yourself? The reason is simple: there’s scientific proof that music can have a deep effect on a person’s mood.
Depending on what kind or genre of music you listen too, it can have different effects on your mood. Some tunes or songs can make you feel happy while others can make you feel blue. Similarly, some songs can stimulate you to complete another set of push ups when exercising while others will make you to just sit back and relax. In fact, the right kind of music can help you relax and rejuvenate after a long day by helping you to reduce the stress that you feel as the result of the daily hectic routine.
Music is very effective in reducing daily stress
While some like classical music, others prefer more modern tunes. But no matter what your preference in music may be, you can enjoy yourself and reduce your stress at the same time by doing the simple task of listening to music.
Music can help reduce stress from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed. If you don’t believe that then just try to listen to the tunes that you like the best, the next time you find yourself in one of these situations and you will definitely feel more relaxed: you find yourself in the traffic that is moving at a glacial pace and you are just stuck there; you are having a hectic day at office and the work just won’t stop; you are in the line at a counter or a filling station that is moving way too slowly; when the surrounding ambient noise is downright irritating and when you are feeling anxious for any reason.
No matter what kind of music you enjoy, you can’t enjoy them to their fullest without using the right gadgets. For some, the right pair of a high quality earphones will do the trick as they can be easily carried anywhere and used with relative ease. Moreover, in recent years, earphones or headphones have gotten really great at reproducing high quality sounds so that the listener can enjoy their music. But for those who want to have an incredible experience while listening to some extraordinary tunes, nothing short of a home listening room will do.
Listening Room 101:
So what exactly is a listening room, you may ask?A listening room is a dedicated room where you do all your listening of great music. So why won’t any ordinary room suffice? Because a listening room’s design is what separates it from any other ordinary room: it is built and then furnished in such a way to have the best quality of sound that you can get.
There’s more to a listening room than just that: such a room is built with the idea to have a place to relax while listening to the subtle tones and nuances in the music of your liking. It is a place where you can spend an hour or two after coming home and you can appreciate music in all its glory, it’s a place where you can just sit back, close your eyes and feel all the stress melt away thanks to the awesome melodies that are playing.
While you can’t carry a room for listening to music in your backpack like earphones or a portable speaker, the experience of spending time in such a room just can’t be replicated.
What makes a listening room great?
So why can’t you just buy a new music system, throw it in the corner of your room and call it a day? For starters, your bedroom hasn’t been built for enjoying music. It has been built for sleeping and that’s why it won’t do. Make no mistake: a music room where you can actually relax has to be built from scratch. While many factors affect the end result and hence the quality of a music room, there are some things that you just can’t ignore if you are serious about building your own listening room:
Dimensions of the room:
The dimensions of the room play a very important role when it comes to building a relaxing listening room. The room needs to be big enough to hold all the equipment and furniture that you are going to put into it with feeling claustrophobic. But that’s only one part of the story: another that will affected by the dimensions of the room is the damping that you will need. The amount of damping also depends on your liking too. The goal is simple: to make sure that the resonances and reflections are neither too much nor too little. With damping, you will have to find the sweet spot that feels right to you. Both overdamped and underdamped rooms are problematic.
Wiring and mounts:
No matter what music system one ends up with, there will be a lot of wiring used in the room. In addition to that, mounts, stands, posts and shelves etc. for different equipment like speakers and other related devices also need to be build. Having the wiring run through the wall or under the carpet not only looks way better but is also efficient. Similarly, having a shelf for all the music listening equipment saves one the trouble of running long lengths of wires between the devices. Another thing that’s necessary is to place all the equipment like UPS or heating or cooling equipment at one side of the room so that there isn’t a damaging effect on the damping and resonance of the room by the noise that is made by them when they are running. Having a shelf or a cabinet to hold all the music is a great idea too.
Furnishing and decor:
The furnishing and décor of a place are very objective, what may work for one person may not work for another. That’s why a good listening room will have the decorations that are in accordance to the taste of the owner. The only important thing is to remember is to have enough comfortable listening room furniture where one can just sit back and relax. Along with the music that is played in a listening room, the interior design also plays an important role when one wants to have maximum relaxation in such a room. So now that you know how you can have a great listening experience while listening to the pieces of music that you have always liked, the next question you may be asking is how to build a listening room. Building such a room will require a lot of work so you need to be a hundred percent certain that you want to build one. And if you are still not one hundred percent sure that you need to have listening room in your home even after reading how it can help you relax then stop right here and read again from the beginning. So now you have really decided to build a dedicated listening room, here’s what you need to do:
1. Choosing the room:
A listening room can’t be built without a room. You may have a spare room that isn’t used much and you can turn that into a listening room where music can help you relax. If that’s not the case, then you might have to build a new one. You can divide a room in two or if you have some space in your house, you can build one there. As mentioned above, the dimensions of the room are critical. While you may be hindered by the available space that you may have on hand, there is a ratio that you can follow: 1:1.14:1.39. The first number denotes the height of the room, the second is for the length and the third is for the width. These dimensions will work in most of the cases but in the end it all boils down to two things: one, how big you want the room to be and two, how big a room can you build.
2. Choosing the materials:
Depending on what room size you end up with, you will have to choose the right materials that you will use to cover the walls and the ceilings. Minimizing resonance isn’t any easy job and you may have to try several times to get it just right. Similarly, you will have to minimize reflections. That means that you may have to use absorbing materials to line the room. The lower the resonance and reflections in the room, the better.
See more: how to soundproof a room
3. Getting the right sound system:
You can’t really do any listening without having a great sound system. A good sound system will be costly but you can’t have a great experience without spending some cash. There are numerous sound systems in the market that you can choose from. An important factor when you are making the choice will be your budget and, to some extent, the size of your room and how you want to design it. Your speaker setup can vary from a simple two speaker setup to more advanced setup that includes several speakers, woofers and subwoofers.
The position of the speakers in the room will also come into the play so, once again, you will have to do some hit and trial to get the position of the speakers relative to the sitting position in the room right. A good point to start is to have the speakers and sitting position in the form of an equilateral triangle and from there you can modify it according to your needs.
5. Getting the right furniture:
Last but not the least, the furniture that you put in the room should be comfortable. Remember the goal is to have a relaxing experience while enjoying music and you can’t really do that without having something comfortable to sit in. A comfy chair might suffice but you are better of getting a sofa. That way, when you don’t feel like sitting, you can simply lie down on the sofa while still enjoying yourself.
So there you have it: you not only know how a listening room can help you to relax after coming home from a long day but now you also know how to build one. If you just keep in mind the points that have been mentioned above then you will have a listening room of your own in no time. So just finish the project that you are currently working on and take up building a dedicated listening room as your next project.