Advice on temporary room treatments.

[DefenderOfRock]

Hello everyone.

I do a lot of demo quality recording for my friends and local artists, and often take my setup to their houses and reharsal spaces to record them. Needless to say, most of these rooms all have less then desierable acoustical environments (that is, they sound really bad!).

I was wondering if anyone here had any tips or advice on ways to make average basements and bedrooms a bit less sucky sounding, temporarily (ie, no permanant instiallations, screws, nails, etc) I know that I am already severly limiting the sound quality I can attain by haveing the above criteria, but there has to be some way to temporarily remedy a room, right?

I would appreciate any advice anyone could offer or point me towards! And, if need be, I can get a bit more specific. Thanks a ton in advance!

Carl Anderson

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

Hello Carl and welcome to the bbs. That's a good question. If it were me, here is what I would do. I would build 8 portable broadband absorption panels and folding stands, and 4 portable corner bass traps. If built correctly, you can build flexibility into the system by using 2 panels high for gobos. Let me draw these up and get back to you in a day or so. Nice little project for about $250, and you will have great flexibility for portable acoustics. Actually, I know of one person(pro) who does field recording in clubs etc, who takes 4 Quadratic Residue Diffusers where ever he records besides a couple of absorbers. If your interested I'll draw these too.

The broadband absorbers are a combination of 2", 3" and 4" thick x 24"W x48"L panels of either Owens Corning 703 rigid fiberglass, rockwool or other mineral wool products, mounted in fabric covered lightweight frames with a 1/4" or 1/2" ply, mdf, or OSB. or . Same with the corner absorbers. The QRD's will take some precision cutting and assembly, but I'll give you a list of parts. All these could be on wheels, but not necessarily so. But it would be a good option although fairly expensive. Maybe over time. Anyway, I'll be back.
fitZ

[Dani Pace]

Why not take some 3/4 plywood cut into panels (2'X6' would work in most places) cover them with high shag carpet, then hinge them together in sets of three. These will fold flat for transport and set up in seconds and can be used in various ways...portable isolation booth(s), baffels, somewhat effective traps for corners and probably a few other uses. Other materals could probably be used (rigid fiberglass, 1/4" plexiglass etc..) but the hinge part makes makes this idea work, portability and quick set up is an advantage to any accessory when moving to various locations. If you try this let me know how they work, the idea sounds reasonable but i haven't tried it yet.

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

Why not take some 3/4 plywood cut into panels (2'X6' would work in most places)

IF your needs included isolating instruments, this is a good idea in ADDITION to the acoustical solutions I previously mentioned. However, carpet will absorb very little except at high frequencies. And that is NOT to negate this idea. Portable isolation gobos are very handy if you have the ability and transportation to move these. These would be highly useful especially if they were on wheels. Most real gobos have a reflective side and an absorption side for flexibility. But if absorption is the goal, 2" is the minimum thickness I would suggest.

BTW, I didn't mention the use of 3/4" ply, nor the use of hinges, as your question was in regards to treatment, of which you need to distribute the absorption panels around the room to increase the effectiveness. And 3 hinged panels of 3/4" material is quite heavy, hence the wheel suggestion. But by all means build these if you need them, They are handy for isolating instruments from each other or vocalists from the instruments.
fitZ

[DefenderOfRock]

Hey guys, thanks for the responses. I have done a bit of reasarch (which I should have done beforehand) and I think my solution might be a combo of your two answers.

The rooms I record in are relativly small (bedrooms, basements, livingrooms, etc), so I think I should be fine with just a few panels of 703 to take care of slap and flutter echoes and for rudimentary instrument/vocal isolation. Since I cant effectivly measure and calculate each room I record in, Ill just play around with placement of the panels. Ill prolly just make like 5 or 6 of them and keep them in the trunk of my car and use them when needed.

I do have a question about mounting 703 on walls. Because my applications are temporary, my game plan for mounting the panels would be hanging them from curtain rods, etc., or small stand mounts. Are absorbsion panels still effective when setup free standing/hanging like this, or do they have to be rigidly mounted?

Thanks again for any advice ya'll can offer. Its all much appreciated!

Carl