What are some good options to make Bass Traps from?

[Mongoo]

I want to invest in some DIY room treatment. Right now I'm in a cluttered room about 15'x17'x8 approximatively. I've been reading the sticky post, but am not understanding it all the way. I see things like 703, 706 etc. Ridged fiberglass, or rockwool, etc. 2", 4" etc.

So hears what I need to know. For bass traps, am I suppose to hang a 4" thick panel in the corner facing the room or buy what ever thickness and cut it up into peices & glue it into a 2'x2' square and hang that in the corners? What material is best for bass traps? I would like to get the most I can out of at least a somewhat complete DIY Room Treatment setup for like $100-150. Thats what I can spend right now.

I already have some 4" wedge foam in 2'x4' panels. Where would you recommend I place these? I have 4 of them.

Also, is using this DIY room treatments Fire safe? Do I have to watch out for particles in the air with these? What if they're cut to make Squares? or do you just buy whole 2x2 sheets or what? What material should they be wrapped in? I've heard burlap, but read cloth in the sticky.

I'll keep reading the sticky, but all know how with how to make these bass traps, and things I should be aware of when doing that are appreciated. Some pointers on what material to use would be good to so I can start looking for a distributer.

Thank you

 

[pandamonk]

I want to invest in some DIY room treatment. Right now I'm in a cluttered room about 15'x17'x8 approximatively. I've been reading the sticky post, but am not understanding it all the way. I see things like 703, 706 etc. Ridged fiberglass, or rockwool, etc. 2", 4" etc.

So hears what I need to know. For bass traps, am I suppose to hang a 4" thick panel in the corner facing the room or buy what ever thickness and cut it up into peices & glue it into a 2'x2' square and hang that in the corners? What material is best for bass traps? I would like to get the most I can out of at least a somewhat complete DIY Room Treatment setup for like $100-150. Thats what I can spend right now.

I already have some 4" wedge foam in 2'x4' panels. Where would you recommend I place these? I have 4 of them.

Also, is using this DIY room treatments Fire safe? Do I have to watch out for particles in the air with these? What if they're cut to make Squares? or do you just buy whole 2x2 sheets or what? What material should they be wrapped in? I've heard burlap, but read cloth in the sticky.

I'll keep reading the sticky, but all know how with how to make these bass traps, and things I should be aware of when doing that are appreciated. Some pointers on what material to use would be good to so I can start looking for a distributer.

Thank you

The foam would be good on the back wall.

You want a 4'x2' panel at least 4" thick in the corners for bass traps.

Rigid fiberglass etc, has very good fire-ratings, it's just the fabric and frame you gotta worry about. Just spray the fabric with fire-retardant and it should be fine.

The fabric should hold all the particles, and any particles in the air will settle quite quickly. Even without fabric, the material won't release particles unless moved around etc. The material is not carcinogenic, but is an irritant so wear gloves and a mask when making the panels.

There are a lot of good materials for bass traps. As long as the coefficients compare well with 703, you should be fine. Here's a list of coeficients.

Most fabrics will be fine for wrapping. As long as the weeve is tight enough to hold the fibers, but you can still breathe through it a bit if held to your mouth.

A guy on here bpape(brian) sells fiberglass, etc. here. His 3.5" bulk pack acoustic cotton is probably the best buy, imo. It's made from recycled denim, so is not an irritant.

You want to treat all four corners, the side and ceiling reflection points and the back wall minimum.

 

[Mongoo]

Acoustic Cotton made from Recycled Denim

Thanks Pandamonk,

I've been looking over those links. Question on the bulk acoustic cotton; Wouldn't that be a fire risk? Cotton burns pretty easy doesn't it? Also, are we to just assume that the NRC's for the bulk cotton is the same as the acoustic cotton bass traps he sells? He mentions that all the bulk cotton can be compressed 25%, wouldn't their density change their coefficients? If you compressed the 5.5" it would turn out to 4.125" thick, maybe thats what is done to make the bass traps he sells, I don't know.

You get twice as much for $50 more at 2" less thick for the 3.5". Have you tried making corner pieces with these at all. Like cut 8" off down the long 94" end, making the two original pieces (8 total in the package) into one 24" wide piece, one 16" wide piece, and one 8" wide piece that could be stacked to make a step pyramid to fill in the back of the corner. Then you'd have 8" of the corner bass trap that was 11.5" thick if you didn't compress it. I don't know if this is a better or worse approach to utilizing the air space that would be behind a singular panel.

Comparatively, @ $180, you'd get 8 of these makeshift 24"x47" corner pieces which is about $22.50 a piece. If you didn't do this though, wouldn't 3.5" be too thin just to slap up a single panel, especially since it's not compressed? Question is then would the make shift step pyramid bass traps work better or worse than the uncompressed 5.5" bulk kit just used as singular panels which would be $50 cheaper total and have a lot fewer cuts to make and be simpler to construct; One 24"x47" panel (5.5") would be $17.50. On the other hand if the 3.5" panel itself would be good enough for handling bass absorption than you could use the 4 other sheets for anything else in the room, in that case a 3.5" 24"x47" panel would only be $11.25. This of course is all only for the absorbing material without any wrap or cost to assemble. How do these prices stack against some of the 703 or comparatives out there?

Do you actually use the acoustic cotton or just been eyeing it for now? If you do, what's been your experience with it and it's results. I've never heard of using acoustic cotton for absorption, though it's interesting. Is there more info out there, user reviews/opinions, independent testing on this, that can legitimize it's use for recording room treatment?

If anyone else has used these too, please chime in with your opinions.

Thanks again

 

[pandamonk]

Thanks Pandamonk,

I've been looking over those links. Question on the bulk acoustic cotton; Wouldn't that be a fire risk? Cotton burns pretty easy doesn't it? Also, are we to just assume that the NRC's for the bulk cotton is the same as the acoustic cotton bass traps he sells? He mentions that all the bulk cotton can be compressed 25%, wouldn't their density change their coefficients? If you compressed the 5.5" it would turn out to 4.125" thick, maybe thats what is done to make the bass traps he sells, I don't know.

You get twice as much for $50 more at 2" less thick for the 3.5". Have you tried making corner pieces with these at all. Like cut 8" off down the long 94" end, making the two original pieces (8 total in the package) into one 24" wide piece, one 16" wide piece, and one 8" wide piece that could be stacked to make a step pyramid to fill in the back of the corner. Then you'd have 8" of the corner bass trap that was 11.5" thick if you didn't compress it. I don't know if this is a better or worse approach to utilizing the air space that would be behind a singular panel.

Comparatively, @ $180, you'd get 8 of these makeshift 24"x47" corner pieces which is about $22.50 a piece. If you didn't do this though, wouldn't 3.5" be too thin just to slap up a single panel, especially since it's not compressed? Question is then would the make shift step pyramid bass traps work better or worse than the uncompressed 5.5" bulk kit just used as singular panels which would be $50 cheaper total and have a lot fewer cuts to make and be simpler to construct; One 24"x47" panel (5.5") would be $17.50. On the other hand if the 3.5" panel itself would be good enough for handling bass absorption than you could use the 4 other sheets for anything else in the room, in that case a 3.5" 24"x47" panel would only be $11.25. This of course is all only for the absorbing material without any wrap or cost to assemble. How do these prices stack against some of the 703 or comparatives out there?

Do you actually use the acoustic cotton or just been eyeing it for now? If you do, what's been your experience with it and it's results. I've never heard of using acoustic cotton for absorption, though it's interesting. Is there more info out there, user reviews/opinions, independent testing on this, that can legitimize it's use for recording room treatment?

If anyone else has used these too, please chime in with your opinions.

Thanks again

Don't worry about it being a fire risk. It has been sufficiently treated to fire-safety standards.

Compressing it would change the coefficients, but unless you are thinking about superchunks(search this), then that's nothing to do with what you want.

He contacted the company that makes it and they made the 4" panels especially by compressing i think.

I've not used this. I wanted to, but the shipping was too expensive to the UK, unless i bought in huge bulk. I'd love to have used it though.

With the 8 almost 8' panels, I'd half them to 4'x2'(well 47"x24"), giving you 16. This should be sufficient for the side and ceiling reflections(3), double thicknesses in corners(8), behind your monitors(2), and 1 more on the ceiling and side walls(3) or as gobos, with your foam on the back wall.

The airspace behind a panel improves the panels effectiveness anyway. Filling this space would improve it a bit, but I think you'd be better doubling it at the front. The thicker the absorption(and air gap) the deeper it will absorb. An air gap is a free way of improving the bass absorption.

3.5" is fine for everything, even the bass traps, although if you have enough material, I'd suggest doubling it.

Brian also sells 703. I've worked the cotton out as $11.75 per 3.5" 4'x2' panel. The 2" 703 he sells works out as $11.50 per 2". I'd rather pay $.025 for the extra 1.5". That theoretically almost doubles its effectiveness, although the 703 is denser and they are different materials. You're probably better talking to Brian about it.

If you fill a cupboard with clothes and speak into it, it's really dead sounding. If the fabric is deep and dense enough it will work really well at absorbing. So the acoustic cotton definitely will work. How much it works, you'd have to ask Brian. I saw coefficients years ago, but they were doubtful. .94 at 125Hz for the 3.5" or something like that. The 5.5" should be similar to the compressed 4". The 4" is denser which is good for bass, but the 5.5" is thicker which is also good for bass. I doubt the 3.5" would be much worse than 703 at 3-4" though. Sheep wool and hemp seems to be quite good too, if your into eco-friendly/natural products like the cotton.