How will unfinished basement walls affect my sound?

[devilsgirth]

My basement isn't finished, so you can still see all the fiberglass (pretty sure it is fibre glass) insulation between the wall joists. I have a plastic sheet covering the walls and I was wondering what this insulation will do to the sound of my room because I have absolutely no idea, thanks.

 

[Farview]

The insulation is good, the plastic will reflect higher frequencies. If you covered the plastic, or just the insulation with fabric, you would be in pretty good shape.

 

[mjbphotos]

Plastic is typically put over fiberglass as 1) vapor barrier (to keep moisture out of the insulation); 2) fiber barrier (to keep the feberglass particles from the room). What's on the otherside of the wall? Taking the plastic down and putting up a 'breathable' cloth will help with sound a little (no high frequency reflection that the sheeting does).

You've posted pictures before and some suggestions were given for setting up your room. Where are you now on the project?

 

[devilsgirth]

Alright thanks guys. Hey mjb I am still researching haha. I have definitely taken all your helpful advice into account but I just want to be absolutely certain and confident with my planning before I start spending money, I don't want to rush it. I'm still getting others opinions and reading a lot of posts on here and gearslutz. Everyone unanimously agrees on setting up in the basement, which I also agree with but I'm hesitating because I'm 23 and will, hopefully, be moving out within the next few years, so I don't know if I want to spend a lot of money on basement-specific treatment if I'm just going to move out afterwards. Pool table costs 275 just to move it, and that's if the guy can use dollies. If he can't he has to take it apart and reassemble it and that's closer to $600.

 

[DM60]

If you make your treatments in frames and hang them or place them where you need them. Then when you move, you a can take them with you. You can start by making 6-8 high reflective treatments that just hang down from the ceiling for the walls, do base traps and put a rug on the floor. adjust from there.

I would not remove the plastic as that is what is keeping your basement from becoming most and mildewy when the walls sweat. I would rather have a crappy sounding room than mildew in my basement/equipment.

Make frames, use you preferred filler, cover with fabric and you have already taken positive steps in your sound treatment. IMO main thing is to get it controlled as much as possible. So you can predict it and work with it. Once you know the room, you could have an EQ template that you use to bring it into tolerance for further processing.

 

[mjbphotos]

Yep, what DM60 said - make bass traps that you can hang, move around and use in a different place later. As to moving the pool table - get 10 friends over, lift and move. $275 to move it across a room? Someone's taking advantage of you.