Finishing building basement - sound dampening

DarkCide

Member
I finished building my basement. The floors are Bamboo hardwood and the walls are sheetrock. The ceiling is 9' tall.

I am looking for ideas/design to dampen the echo in the room. I will probably get the acoustic foam from thefoamfactory.com but not sure which exact foam to get the placement of the foam.

Would appreciate any design ideas.

 

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No no no, not foam!

Foam does nothing for low and mid-low frequencies. It will reduce slap-back echo, but leave all the low stuff bouncing around causing mud in your mixes. You need full frequency trapping (sometimes called bass traps).
 
No no no, not foam!

Foam does nothing for low and mid-low frequencies. It will reduce slap-back echo, but leave all the low stuff bouncing around causing mud in your mixes. You need full frequency trapping (sometimes called bass traps).

So bass traps in each corner and foam on the walls?
 
So bass traps in each corner and foam on the walls?

No, forget the foam for now! With proper placement of bass traps, you will also get rid of slap back echo. 4" thick or more or superchunks in the corners. 2" (OC 703 or OC705 or equal) in the points of first reflection and ceiling cloud over your mixing position. Back wall and side walls may need some 2", but as your room is quite long, the read wall may benefit from a diffusor.
 
No, forget the foam for now! With proper placement of bass traps, you will also get rid of slap back echo. 4" thick or more or superchunks in the corners. 2" (OC 703 or OC705 or equal) in the points of first reflection and ceiling cloud over your mixing position. Back wall and side walls may need some 2", but as your room is quite long, the read wall may benefit from a diffusor.

You know where I can get pre-covered OC 703? Not looking to spend the time to covering them myself.
 
No, forget the foam for now! With proper placement of bass traps, you will also get rid of slap back echo. 4" thick or more or superchunks in the corners. 2" (OC 703 or OC705 or equal) in the points of first reflection and ceiling cloud over your mixing position. Back wall and side walls may need some 2", but as your room is quite long, the read wall may benefit from a diffusor.

I went with GIK Acoustics,,, They gave me suggestions, and I worked within my budget. So I can actually improve a bit at a time, with reference and a plan.
Send them a copy of your room info. You can create a free account and create and save your room using their Roomle page.

Here's my Roomle plan. Roomle Planner
It doesn't show the 2 Bass Traps with their reflex technology behind me.
Your room is similar to mine. Because of the space we actually will have a better go than most, dealing with lower frequencies.

My room has good translation, and can still be improved. I'm not using Acr2 or Sonarworks Reference 4, though I have them and their required mics. I use their mic(s) to set up, but used REW software.
You'll want a decent omni-directional mic with its Calibration. Then just use your interface, level and response match the monitors, then grab some frequency graphs of your room. GIK can help you with this also I believe. They are really an all out, top service, in my opinion. They assess and discuss then gave me an update to my Roomle, using my prior purchased Treatments with new placements for this new house studio. I am adding as I go because it is larger. Using GOBO treatments we can put them anywhere needed at any time. I move the rear ones to record sometimes.
I find in hindsight having GIK acoustics follow me from place to place invaluable. I learned quit a bit before contacting them to begin with a few years ago. So I felt very comfortable knowing they were giving the best of options. I spent about $900 on the old house studio treatment. 10'1" x 16' x 8'2" and it translated so well. Very comfortable listening position, not cramped and confining.
THis new room is a little more lively, but a very good listening position with this setup. I was happy with the low end in this larger area, much more workable as I add Corner Traps... Working on the ceiling isolation a bit for now, but it's even rather workable for my situation. Nice surprise, because I thought this room would take a lot just to get started.

Have fun with it,,, It's free, informational and helpful, as well as there in the furture. Most of all it's a successful team to tame and tune a room for audio purposes.
 
You know where I can get pre-covered OC 703? Not looking to spend the time to covering them myself.

What part of the planet do you call home?
Nice space.

G

As for covering OC.
If you can stick a pillow in a pillow case,you can stick some compressed fiberglass in a gunny sack.
la-linen-combination-game-sets-burlapsack-1pk-natural-64_1000.jpg
 
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Most fabric is fairly open weave apart from velvet and serge, which have an impact on HF, so a lot depends on your panel's performance without the fabric. If the panels are working well and you don't want extra reduction in HF pick the lightweight fabrics and they'll have practically no impact on the sound performance. If you need a little more help in the HF end, then serge will work pretty well. Velvet is just horrible to work with and make look nice, as it's prone to sagging, unless you use it curtain like, to hang over the panel, hanging from the top.
 
I always hate to see these threads at this point in the build. "I just built a super reflective room, now what do I do to fix it?" Well, you could have asked us (or anybody) how not to build a reflective room to begin with. You have probably already installed most of the materials that you actually needed to make it sound pretty damn good, but in the wrong order, and now you're going to spend money and time and space installing even more material. I am sorry to put it that way, but it seems like you've got as good advice as you can get at this point, and I just wish more people would do some research beforehand and save themselves some trouble.
 
I always hate to see these threads at this point in the build. "I just built a super reflective room, now what do I do to fix it?" Well, you could have asked us (or anybody) how not to build a reflective room to begin with. You have probably already installed most of the materials that you actually needed to make it sound pretty damn good, but in the wrong order, and now you're going to spend money and time and space installing even more material. I am sorry to put it that way, but it seems like you've got as good advice as you can get at this point, and I just wish more people would do some research beforehand and save themselves some trouble.

relax
 
I always hate to see these threads at this point in the build. "I just built a super reflective room, now what do I do to fix it?" Well, you could have asked us (or anybody) how not to build a reflective room to begin with. You have probably already installed most of the materials that you actually needed to make it sound pretty damn good, but in the wrong order, and now you're going to spend money and time and space installing even more material. I am sorry to put it that way, but it seems like you've got as good advice as you can get at this point, and I just wish more people would do some research beforehand and save themselves some trouble.

We're you been all these months? :D

OK...so while I do agree with your sentiment about asking BEFORE you build and that folks should do research first...
...I don't think his situation is all that dire. :)

I mean...in a typical studio room build, you're going to end up with drywall for the mass. I've got a build happening right now, and the final layers the contractor is putting up for me will be drywall, and then I take it from there to "tune" the room. Granted, in my case, I'm doing a room-within-room build from the ground up, so there will be really good sound control, but without getting into some more esoteric wall construction for acoustics, and without having deeper wall/ceiling cavities to do that, you don't have a tone of options but to "start" at the drywall, which is almost mandatory by code in just about every state...or some other type of fire retardant surface construction.

I guess what I'm saying, is that given his situation, he's at the place where most people would end up at in a home studio build.
I mean...what else would he have done to the room that would pre-treat it acoustically during the wall construction, in your opinion?
I am actually curious, because like I said, I'm going to end up with a finished room-within-room, but the inner surface will be a couple of layers of drywall...and then I will add some trapping as needed.

Anyway...I think with the OP's situation and that of most home studio builds...it might be wise to bring in the gear and furniture, see what you have then...before just putting up treatment all over.
Oh...and yeah, foam is only good for the HF absorption, and might be OK here-n-there...to cut out some flutter echo, but you need broadband, and the bass traps as your main thing.
 
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I’ve been playing Sims FreePlay on my phone instead of hanging out here while at work. ;)

Every advice I’ve pretty much ever seen from people like Ethan Weiner and other actual acousticians is that when you have the chance - when you’re building from scratch and on purpose as a studio - you build the walls “inside out”. If you actually need the mass of Sheetrock for isolation purposes, you put it on the outside surface or between the studs, then put your chosen insulation inside that with soft fabric to cover. This way you’ve already got absorbtion between sources and receivers in the room and the hard heavy reflective surface and don’t have to build any new absorbtion. If that’s too dead, then you can look at diffusion or just a few reflective panels which can be as simple as like a little wood paneling rather than all the work and materials framing and building broadband absorbers.
 
Every advice I’ve pretty much ever seen from people like Ethan Weiner and other actual acousticians is that when you have the chance - when you’re building from scratch and on purpose as a studio - you build the walls “inside out”. If you actually need the mass of Sheetrock for isolation purposes, you put it on the outside surface or between the studs, then put your chosen insulation inside that with soft fabric to cover. This way you’ve already got absorbtion between sources and receivers in the room and the hard heavy reflective surface and don’t have to build any new absorbtion. If that’s too dead, then you can look at diffusion or just a few reflective panels which can be as simple as like a little wood paneling rather than all the work and materials framing and building broadband absorbers.

Mmm...I'm using the Rod Gervais "Home Recording Studio" 2nd Edition book for some basic guidance, and TBH, there's nothing in it that suggest doing an "inside out" wall structure build. All the wall build diagrams and options are about layers of drywall as your inside "leaf"...and then there's a section about treatment applications after that.

I think if you even tried that...if the build was being done by permit and with licensed contractors...you would have all kinds of code issues by not having a drywall as your inside layer.

And you're right...if you did the "inside out" wall, it would certainly be a pretty dead room...so then you're stuck doing "reverse" treatment to put some liveliness back and get a good balance. I think most people would be much more comfortable (even if they weren't dealing with a permit build) to do the more standard approach, and then apply treatment afterward.

For a serious commercial studio...it's another world. The building footprint is usually bigger and allows for both code building and treatment in the wall cavity.
Speaking of that...there was/is one acoustic supplier that I spoke with that was offering an acoustic solution that was built into the walls. They provided the panels, and then your contractor installs them into the wall framing..etc.
I asked...what about the need to install drywall to meet code...and he said, yeah, you would still have to do that. I then asked, so what's the treatment inside the walls going to do...:D...and after that the conversation kinda went into some theoretical realm of the fantastic, that it would still provide some LF help.
Mind you...that system, just for the panels for a typical 20x30 room would have been over $25k...:eek:...and you get to install it, not them, so if it don't work, it's going to be on your installer, not them.
Needless to say...I'm not going that route. :p

Can't speak for the smaller spaces...but in my studio build, the size of the space and the total volume will not require anywhere near the amount of trapping as a small space does. I'm going to focus mainly on diffusion to start...and then just fill in with some absorption as needed, but I will also include fairly hefty LF traps for the two back corners, which I already have (along with some broadband traps). I think I will end up with broadband traps more up on the cathedral ceiling than I will on the walls, as the saltbox shape of the room with the cathedral ceiling should push a lot of that sound up in there.
It will certainly require a bit of experimentation. :)
 
Yeah Idk from codes. That varies with jurisdiction and all of whatever else. I’m sure that one could make it work one way or another. I’m basically renting, so my solutions have to be at most semi-permanent.

My live room is half wood paneling over insulated stud wall over concrete, half just wood paneling on studs between rooms, and I’d love to just yank most all of the panels off, but kinda can’t. The space is big enough, though, that it’s not generally a big issue in actual practice. Like I just keep sources and mics away from the walls a bit.

I didn’t really mean to be a dick in my first post above. I’m not sure how you get to this point in a build and start asking these questions though. That’s like a pile of money and time that I frankly couldn’t swing it I wanted to, but if I thought I might, I’d have to have it planned pretty much all the way through before I even started. In fact, I have a “pipe dream” plan for when the money starts to fall out of the trees.
 
I’m not sure how you get to this point in a build and start asking these questions though.

Yeah...it can save a lot of headaches...wasted time and resources.


...for when the money starts to fall out of the trees.

What kind of trees and where do they grow?
All I get around here are dried up leaves...which I spent most of the last couple of days cleaning up. I didn't see even one dollar.
 
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