Barbara,

As far as I know a rectangular room need pose no problems as long as its 
size conforms to the generally accepted ratios:

<http://www.roommodes.com/image1.jpg>

Indeed, many a fine-sounding room has a rectangular floor plan --yes, 
parallel walls and all.

Curved walls are much harder to predict, and as far as I know generally to 
be avoided.

A good resource is Walters-Storyk's web site. I saw John Storyk speak at 
AES in NY --he was great!

<http://www.wsdg.com/dynamic.php5?id=resources/technology/fundamentals>

Good luck!

Marcos

--On Thursday, March 30, 2006 3:07 PM -0600 Language Laboratories and 
Archives <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> At 12:27 -0800 30/3/06, Mike Richter wrote:
>> Language Laboratories and Archives wrote:
>>> The Language Labs and Archives at the University of Chicago is
>>> undergoing major changes. One of the results of the latest floor
>>> plan is a recording studio (which can double as a class
>>> room/conference room!) with a curved wall: let's see if I can draw
>>> an approximation:
>>
>> I gather you are opting for a rectangular box design. That is by far
>> the best choice for setting up standing waves. Unfortunately,
>> standing waves are a very poor choice for recording or playing back
>> audio. The problem is that bass response varies steeply with
>> frequency and with position in the room. The effect is that for one
>> note, position X is overwhelmed while Y is almost silent; for
>> another tone, the strengths are reversed.
>
> Thanx for the input. I inherited a rectangular box in my current facility
> (and everything I know about doing live recordings has been through
> osmosis). In general, people have been satisfied with the results (we do
> have a curtain along one wall, and the walls are not particularly
> reflexive) This will be at another site on campus and it is being
> squeezed in where they have room. (All, or nearly all of the recording
> will be voice.)
>
> Barbara



Marcos