Bass Traps on the ceiling?

[Pruneau]

Hi Folks, here is a beginner question. I am moving my home studio to a separate room, which is good. It is a small room, with lots of stuff inside, which is probably not as good. I do not have any wall space left for decent acoustic treatment, and I was thinking about some basstraps and a low/mid diffuser. Can these be mounted against the ceiling as well? With the same effect?

Thanks for reading!

[DDev]

The best place for bass traps is in corners, so you could bridge the ceiling to wall corners with traps that would be effective.

As far as the diffusor goes, if the room is fairly small it probably won't do much good. You will probably have better luck with hanging an absorptive cloud from the ceiling. This could be as simple as a few pieces of mineral wool or rigid fiberglass wrapped in fabric and suspended by wires a few inches below the ceiling.

I'm sure someone else will have other suggestions as well, but these will be a good start for you.

Darryl.....

[jonnyc]

Bass traps won't do you any good on the ceiling, you want to bass trap where the bass waves "stand". I'm not an expert at all but I have read up on the subject on an almost daily basis. I'm almost positive the low frequencies only build up in the corners, I actually stuck my head in a corner once while mixing and yeah the bass build up was very evident. Not so much anywhere else but the corners.

[apl]

See www.realtraps.com

[applejax]

jonnyc, I'm going to have to try that tonight LOL... Just stand in a corner when I'm mixing...and if someone walks in they'll think i'm nuts LOL

[applejax]

Wow...I just went and tested that... it's really cool. I move my head INTO the corner and MORE BASS....move it out like 10 inches and it's GONE! Really cool.... Could this be used to test where there should be more basstraps placed?

[apl]

Originally Posted by applejax

Wow...I just went and tested that... it's really cool. I move my head INTO the corner and MORE BASS....move it out like 10 inches and it's GONE! Really cool.... Could this be used to test where there should be more basstraps placed?

You should try sticking your head in a toilet!

[COOLCAT]

i thought the toilet thing was a reverb thread..
altho i've heard some bas reflections in my toilet, now that you mention it.

apl, did you try bass traps in your toilet?


yeah,man... the physics of sound is amzing stuff. frkn crazy. i get obsessed then i chill out when i realize its just sound waves and molecules moving around.

[apl]

Originally Posted by COOLCAT

apl, did you try bass traps in your toilet?

I've flushed a few tropical fish.

[COOLCAT]

Originally Posted by apl

I've flushed a few tropical fish.

let me guess what kind of fish?

BASS...

heheheahardyharhar

jC.. its crazy sound waves and nodes ain't it. i'm an old newbie, and just realizing how volume can move the 315hz warbling wierd stuff away from my sitting position... just don't ask me where the warbling-nodeness went!!

[applejax]

Coocat, I'm doing physics right now (a grade 12 advanced physics) anyways...yeah we're doing sound and waves and everything right now...and i'm just in love! lol... I've decided that I'm gonna do electrical engineering and i cant wait because a bunch of the sub courses have sound and a bunch of cool stuff...

[apl]

Originally Posted by applejax

Coocat, I'm doing physics right now (a grade 12 advanced physics) anyways...yeah we're doing sound and waves and everything right now...and i'm just in love! lol... I've decided that I'm gonna do electrical engineering and i cant wait because a bunch of the sub courses have sound and a bunch of cool stuff...

The University of Illinois's Electrical Engineering program has a music program.

[jonnyc]

Yeah AJ that is a cheap way of figuring out where you need bass traps. I know there's a thread here somewhere where this is gone into in detail. I'm not really any kind of expert, I just do a lot of experimenting so when treatment time comes I'm ready. I used to also think I wanted my mixing desk as an island in the middle of the room. An article I read on here kept me from making that mistake, turns out dead center of a room makes the bass pretty much disappear. I didn't believe it til I tried and sure enough as soon as a took the last step into the center, it was gone, could hear a thump but no low end.

[COOLCAT]

this months RECORDING mag has a bit on this stuff, pretty good....
not as cool as Ethan Winer's which has DIY bass traps.
but the article makes an attempt at explaining calculations.

applejax..
i work at the University of Texas at Dallas...very highly respected EE programs, much supported by Texas Instruments of course and many many others.

the sound and physics stuff is very interesting....calculations are good and can expedite figuring something out instead of ignorantly going about things ( i speak from exp. on the latter)

but never underestimate the power of the force, er...i mean your ears...
and the future lies with the ones who think outside the box and try new things and push the envelope... its the ssheep that follow the NS10;s or whatever you want to call it, ignoring all advancements... but thats cool if its someones comfort zone, baaaaaa baaaaaaa baaaaa

[Todzilla]

My studio has homemade corner traps, ceiliing mounted Weineresque bass traps, a mid low diffusor, the whole schlemeal. My theory was if I used enough different techniques, something was bound to work.

Seriously though, I am quite pleased with the resulting sound.

Check my pixs: www.toddejones.com/huge.html

[bpape]

Hi guys. I just found this forum but hang out lots of other places.

Maybe I can assist here a little bit. While it is true that the best place for standard absorbtive type bass 'traps' is in the corners, the same is not necessarily true for other types.

A slotted Helmholz absorber or a membrane based sealed panel type may be placed in other places.

The membrane types should be solid against a boundary - the ceiling qualifies.

The Helmholz is very commonly used on the ceilings. Think about putting a slanted set of slats across the whole ceiling. Run the slats side to side. Start at the rear with them being maybe 2" from the ceiling. End at the front with them being maybe 6" from the ceiling. Absorbant cotton or fiberglass behind. AND along the way, randomly change the spacing between the slats from say 1/8" to 3/8" or more. The slot width and the cavity depth control the frequency to be absorbed. By varying both, you get a nice broadband bass absorber that functions in the entire room space without losing any floorspace.

Bryan

[applejax]

Coolcat, thats pretty cool... I want to go some wheres "far" just to get away...but budget wont allow for this... so i'm doing Bachelor of Science in Engineering...which I can do right here in my home town at University Of New Brunswick Saint John... and it's just the "intro to enginneering" or w/e...and then master in electrical engineering. I cant wait... we're doing all the sound stuff right now...and we've been doing like 3 weeks of it...MAN it's great... and I'm also taking an "electrical wiring" course just as an elective. Anyways thanks

PS - isnt it true... (i think Rick FitZ was the one who said this or I could be wrong)... But isnt the reason why people call guys "recording engineers" because they all USED to be electrical engineers and it just stuck? Cause legally your not allow to advertise yourself as a "recording engineer" (i forget why...but my a good friend of my family is a electrical engineer and also he records ALOT and does live sound...and hes REALLY REALLY smart with all the technical stuff and makes sweet recordings anyways he told me about this...and this is what the whole PROFESSION thing is about too.. like only DOCTORS...ENGINEERS...preists and something else? are the only "professions" by law or w/e? well thats what it is in Canada)...but of course we all say it just because it stuck (as RE's)? And I guess if you call yourself an engineer...when your not actually "certified" or w/e by the engineering union or w/e something happens? I dunno lol

[Ethan Winer]

Hi Bryan,

> I just found this forum but hang out lots of other places. <

You following me around? Careful or I'll report you as a stalker!

But seriously...

Folks, Bryan is the real deal. A really nice guy who also knows a lot about this stuff. And since he's probably too shy to say this, I'll say it: Bryan's company Sensible Sound Solutions sells rigid fiberglass and other acoustic materials that every DIY person here needs.

--Ethan

[Pruneau]

THanks a lot for the great tips guys! I think I know which way to start of in now.

Cheers!!

[bpape]

Not stalking you Ethan . Just stumbled across this site while doing some research online. And thanks for the kind words.

Sorry I won't be able to make it to AES this year. Saving my time away from the business for CES.

[BajoElSol]

Originally Posted by apl

See www.realtraps.com

You don't need to play music and stick your head in a corner to experience it. Just sing a note and gradually walk from the centre to the corner and notice how the note changes from normal to very bassy.