bass traps

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2003 12:33 pm

I'm a musician from Utah. I just finished building a sound room in my basement. The room is performing it's function to keep sound in however;
it sounds terrible. I've been looking at your plans for bass traps and was wondering if I could attach some particle board or plywood on the back side(adequately caulked) to make them portable? Would this destroy theirfunction? Also would putting fabric over all the traps (to make them more uniform in appearance) hinder their performance?
I also looked at your REALTRAPS web page. I would prefer to just buy the traps there; but being on a very limited budget and being a finish
carpenter by trade I thought I might be able to build from your original plans with some minor adjustment's.
Also my room is 16ft X12ft (small, I know) How many, and what types of traps would you suggest? If it makes a difference our set up is more for band practice than recording, thou I would very much like to pursue recording when my budget allows more equipment.

I would very much appreciate any advice you can offer.

Thank you,

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2003 2:42 pm

I have a very similarly sized room. Ethan's bass traps have helped quite a bit with the clarity of the bass and the drums. I started with 8, 4 of the mid bass and 4 of the low bass, installed in the corners. If you look at ethan's realtraps web site (www.realtraps.com) he explains where to place them and how many to use. I'm going to build the mid/high absorbers next.

If you want them to be portable you can back them with 3/4" plywood. Make sure they're airtight.

You should not cover the bass traps with cloth because the wood panel must be free to resonate. The cloth will hinder this. But, you can paint them or stain them.

I'm sure Ethan will add great gems of wisdom to this thread as well... the traps are well worth it and a godsend for those of us who can't afford to spend thousands of dollars on acoustic treatment for our home studios.

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2003 5:02 am

"You should not cover the bass traps with cloth because the wood panel must be free to resonate. The cloth will hinder this. But, you can paint them or stain them."

According to Ethan (correct me if I am wrong please)you can, as long as you take care the cloth not touching the panel anywhere...
cheers,
Bob

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2003 8:25 am

Ryan,

I see you already got good answers to all your questions. I'll just add that eight traps is a minimum for a small room like that, and a few more will do an even better job.

--Ethan

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