By Westin Gillis

One of the key elements of building a recording studio is the acoustic quality of the rooms being used.  Sometimes a room may feel too small or the echoes in the room will change depending on where the listener is in the recording space.  This can be very problematic for recording, mixing, and mastering, which is why our team decided to build our own custom skyline diffusers.

Diffusers are used to spread sound evenly across a room and create standardization within the space of a recording studio.  In the case of a rap studio they can be used in the control room to make sure that the sound is evenly balanced.  You also may come across them enhancing the acoustical environment in the live or iso room of a professional studio specializing in live band & multi track recording.  At Hilltop Studios, all of our diffusers are made completely by hand.

Of the different types of diffusers that exist, we decided to build quadratic skyline diffusers.  This diffuser varies slightly from other diffusers because it is commonly used to direct sound.  While it is true that most diffusers make smaller rooms seem bigger, these skyline diffusers in particular can also direct sound based on how they are placed in a room.  This is because they exhibit a hemispherical diffusion pattern, which can give the engineer the power to change the sound of the room based on the placement of the diffuser.  When recording rap or hip hop, it can give the vocal track a more natural feel.

One of the other reasons we decided to build our own diffusers had to do with customization and control over quality.  All of our materials were bought locally in Boone.  We were able to choose the wood that we worked with as well as the different ways to sand and finish the final product.  The diffusers ended up being roughly 2×2 feet, coupled with the fact that each is built with dozens of pieces of wood at varying lengths, some diffusers can become quite heavy.  For this reason we chose a lighter wood to account for our heavy use of the item.  Using denser wood, one diffuser can start to weigh upwards of 75 pounds.  This becomes an issue when using dozens of diffusers. On top of this, building our own diffusers came with the option of choosing the size.  Most skylines come with a similar wood, pattern, and depth.  We were able to use the formula in order to shrink the size of some of our diffusers, leaving us with more space in our recording and control rooms.

When you build a recording studio in an area like Boone, space has to be maximized. One of the key reasons we chose to build a skyline model is reflected in that reasoning. Unlike the models that can be bought from leading manufacturers, our custom diffusers are easily movable.  This gives us the ability to change the room on a whim, which would not be possible with the industry standard.  The other reason for our decision is based in effectiveness.  Many diffusers that can be bought today are a type of plastic.  For instance, the T Fusor and popular pyramid diffuser are generally designed without a dense material, leaving the owner with the responsibility of filling the empty space behind the hollow diffuser with fiberglass or fabric.  We decided that wood would be more effective and match with our local and natural approach.