Okeydokey, I'm tired of not being able to hear anything in my studio. It's a spare bedroom with nice square walls and a closet with a building structure that resonates merrily with any bass coming out of my monitors.
I'd like to acoustically treat it. I don't want it live. I want it DEAD :)
FF
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Originally posted by Faeflora:
What's the cheapest way to make my studio as dead as possible? Should I cover the walls with a double layer of packing blankets?
And, how can I control the bass in the room?
Thanks :)
FF
Get some Owen Cornings 703 2-inch rigid fiberglass bats cover them with burlap and place generously through out your room. I'd suggest a double layer in back of the monitors and you can gain some extra bass traping by placing them at an angle in the corners of the room. If it's not dead enough, keep adding more. It's inexpensive and goes up a lot faster than building other types of traps.
Originally posted by MPlancke:
[QB]
Get some Owen Cornings 703 2-inch rigid fiberglass bats cover them with burlap and place generously through out your room. I'd suggest a double layer in back of the monitors aQB]
I like the burlap idea :D. Where could I procure this Cornings 703? Home Depot? With "place generously" do you mean on the walls?
I read that fibreglass insulation also works nice for cheap. So do packing blankets? I'm not sure where to buy packing blankets though. Suggestions?
Originally posted by Faeflora:
I like the burlap idea :D. Where could I procure this Cornings 703? Home Depot? With "place generously" do you mean on the walls?
Yes, on the walls. You can glue it there or use some long drywall screws to fasten it.
Building material places usually stock the stuff. If you can't find it, give Owen Cornings a call and they should be able to tell you were to find it.
I read that fibreglass insulation also works nice for cheap.
The rigid stuff is much easier to work with and has better acoustic properties.
Mark's got the right idea. Owens Corning 703 is rigid fiberglass, and you can usually get it in 1-2" depths, in 2x4' sheets. You won't find it at Home Depot or anywhere like that, but there is probably a commercial insulation distributor or two in the phone book that will have it.
If you use burlap, you should do one of two things- either cover the 703 panels first with some thin polyester quilt batting, or use two layers of burlap- one layer isn't enough to keep fiberglass particles out of the room, IMO.
Like Mark said, put them across each corner, floor to ceiling, forming a triangle- stick some loose insulation or extra bits of 703 behind them for a little additional low end absorption.
If you have a lot of clothing in the closets, and you have vented bifold doors, then you probably actually get some low end control from that already, as well as a little diffusion- just keep the doors closed.
Then, put panels of 703 (doubled to 4", if you want- it'll be a little more balanced absorption) on the side walls and ceiling, a little forward of where you sit. This will kill the first reflections from the speakers/side walls (this placement can be fine tuned by having a friend run a mirror across the wall, and hanging panels anywhere you see your speakers in the mirror, from the mix position).
Maybe put a couple of panels on the front wall, probably behind the speakers, and that will probably do it- you want a *little* bit of life left in the room. It should be pretty tight at this point.
3M Super 77 (Home Depot) is a spray adhesive that works really well for adhering the cloth, and sticking two panels of 703 together. I wouldn't ask it to stick 4" on the ceiling, though- stick with 2" up there.
If you don't want this to be all that permanent, get some really long finishing nails (tiny heads) and pound them an inch or so into the wall, leaving 3" sticking out. Two or three per panel, and you can just push the 703 onto the nails and it will stay just fine. This is a good thing to do in the beginning anyway, as you may want to do some fine tuning.
Also, be careful if you decide to do thinner things like packing blankets- the thinner/closer to the wall a treatment is, the less it absorbs down into the midrange, so if you do a whole room with thin stuff, you're going to end up with no top, a ringy midrange, and no low end control at all.
Other than that, check out (where you can join a mailing list), [url=http://www.auralex.com,]www.auralex.com, and The Recording Studio Design Page (search that title- it's Malcolm Chrissholm's site). Also, go buy The Master Handbook of Acoustics by F. Alton Everest, and/or one of the Jeff Cooper acoustics books.
Good luck, and let us know how it goes!
Originally posted by Faeflora:
Okeydokey, I'm tired of not being able to hear anything in my studio. It's a spare bedroom with nice square walls and a closet with a building structure that resonates merrily with any bass coming out of my monitors.
I'd like to acoustically treat it. I don't want it live. I want it DEAD :)
FF
Originally posted by Jon Best:
Mark's got the right idea. Owens Corning 703 is rigid fiberglass, and you can usually get it in 1-2" depths, in 2x4' sheets. You won't find it at Home Depot or anywhere like that, but there is probably a commercial insulation distributor or two in the phone book that will have it.
If you use burlap, you should do one of two things- either cover the 703 panels first with some thin polyester quilt batting, or use two layers of burlap- one layer isn't enough to keep fiberglass particles out of the room, IMO.
Like Mark said, put them across each corner, floor to ceiling, forming a triangle- stick some loose insulation or extra bits of 703 behind them for a little additional low end absorption.
Thank you very much! This sounds like a cheap effective method. I will try the polyester coating.
Originally posted by Jon Best:
Mark's got the right idea. Owens Corning 703 is rigid fiberglass, and you can usually get it in 1-2" depths
If you don't want this to be all that permanent, get some really long finishing nails (tiny heads) and pound them an inch or so into the wall, leaving 3" sticking out. Two or three per panel, and you can just push the 703 onto the nails and it will stay just fine.
I put my 2'x2'x2" Burlap-covered 703 panels up with twine & picture hangers. I made an "X" pattern on the back of the panels, and where the "X" crosses, it hangs from the wall. This also allows me to prop them ~2" out from the wall, which is reportedly a good thing to do (extending the lower frequency absorption).
It's a clean and effective way to work in an apartment or any place you don't want to mangle the walls. (IMO)
Regards,
Graham
Well, if it's quilt batting, it won't- if it's regular polyester cloth (think 70's pants), it's going to be reflective across at least some of the high frequency band. Any tightly woven cloth (ie, you can't blow through it) is going to reflect some part of the high end, instead of letting the air motion through to be absorbed.
Originally posted by Faeflora:
why and how would polyster mess with my high frequncies?
these links may help:
http://www.ethanwiner.com/basstrap.html
http://www.auralex.com/ -check out "intro to acoustics" link button