Studio Building-If you had to do it all over again...

If I had to do it all over again, I would put a four inch air gap between all my bass traps (corners excluded) and the wall. Air space should improve performance. It may only be a db or two, but this is a game of inches. Every little counts.
(as the actress said to the Bish.....)

Dave.
 
If I had to do it all over again, I would put a four inch air gap between all my bass traps (corners excluded) and the wall. Air space should improve performance. It may only be a db or two, but this is a game of inches. Every little counts.

Why an air gap? Not disagreeing, I'm just curious as I'm totally new to sound treatments.
 
Why an air gap? Not disagreeing, I'm just curious as I'm totally new to sound treatments.

There's a science behind it...but the gap helps better trap the LF coming in and then going back through the trap. The 4" thing is just the most common, because people won't/can't give up more space to have the traps sticking out say...12'...etc...though there is a point where the gap too big...like once you get out to around 24", it';s less effective.

It works against the wall too...just not as efficiently for LF trapping. You want to make the LF work more through the trap, which is what slows/traps it.
 
Why an air gap? Not disagreeing, I'm just curious as I'm totally new to sound treatments.

You'll notice the built-in gap behind most corner traps, such as the one sold by Acoustimac. Unfortunately, when you buy a standard 4" trap most dealers don't include hardware to mount the trap off the wall. Some may provide kits but they usually cost extra. You can do it yourself with a little effort, though.

The air gap is also typical for DIY corner bass traps which straddle corners. Usually, this gap runs close to a foot. But, practically speaking, it's really determined by basic geometry. You can see this if you take a piece of wood and lay it evenly across a room corner. This creates a triangle of a depth that is determined by the width of the wood you use--If that makes sense. Tenth grade Geometry for me was in 1974, If I recall correctly. :D

I've heard people argue that the straddle trap can be augmented by attic insulation. In other words, filling the triangle. Does it work? I don't know. I've never tried it, tested it, or seen test results. But it's worth looking into. Personally, with your room, I would look at the super chunk approach. Just Google "super chunk bass traps" and you'll quickly get the idea. :D
 

Attachments

  • mbt_0000_d3600c.jpg
    mbt_0000_d3600c.jpg
    62.9 KB · Views: 12
As I understand it, sound absorbers work on particle VELOCITY not pressure and at a rigid interface, aka "wall" the particle is necessarily zero so any absorbent material AT the wall is doing next to sweet FA.

You could of course just make the absorber deeper and touching the wall but that would be largely a waste of material. The gap gives you about the same performance but with less material. Or, looked at another way, about the same performance with less absorbent.

Dave.
 
As I understand it, sound absorbers work on particle VELOCITY not pressure and at a rigid interface, aka "wall" the particle is necessarily zero so any absorbent material AT the wall is doing next to sweet FA.

You could of course just make the absorber deeper and touching the wall but that would be largely a waste of material. The gap gives you about the same performance but with less material. Or, looked at another way, about the same performance with less absorbent.

Dave.


You need traps that work with pressure(high pressure equals zero particle velocity) in the corners.
Foam works with particle velocity transferring to heat.

G
Screenshot_2019-04-15 Sound Reproduction.png
 
You could of course just make the absorber deeper and touching the wall but that would be largely a waste of material. The gap gives you about the same performance but with less material.

Dave.

Another way of looking at it is just cost. Less material is less money. OC 703 is fairly inexpensive but you'll end up paying close to $100 for six 2" panels by the time they're delivered. Stacking three panels to for a six inch trap, and then stacking two such traps, means that a typical trap straddling the corners will cost about $100. And that's without fabric or a frame. I'd guess that filling the air gap with 703 would probably use up as much as half to three-quarters of an additional box.
 
I probably stated this in another thread, but it's worth repeating: My first corner traps (6" of OC703 stacked floor to ceiling) didn't work as well as I would have hoped. I replaced them with a variant of the super chunk approach. In my case, I used 24x24 squares of R-30 insulation (The standard off the shelf stuff from the big box store). These squares were stacked into frames with a support in the middle which keeps the insulation from becoming compressed and changing it's density. I built two for each corner and then stacked them. Building two makes them a lot easier to move should that day ever come. So, if I had to so it over again, I'd probably start with super chunks.
 
Another way of looking at it is just cost. Less material is less money. OC 703 is fairly inexpensive but you'll end up paying close to $100 for six 2" panels by the time they're delivered. Stacking three panels to for a six inch trap, and then stacking two such traps, means that a typical trap straddling the corners will cost about $100. And that's without fabric or a frame. I'd guess that filling the air gap with 703 would probably use up as much as half to three-quarters of an additional box.

True. Sound absobers are also used inside speaker cabinets to reduce the internal standing vaves that would otherwise exit as a "honks" at various frequencies. Many decades ago one of the first true experimenters with hi fi speakers was G.A.Briggs of Wharfedale fame.

He determined that the least good place for the material (Bonded Acetate Fibre then, Superseded by "well teased, long fibre wool at the high table of hi fi) was, as was the norm, stuck to the inside cabinet walls. He found empirically that a single sheet from top to bottom with one twist in it was most effective. This agrees with theory as the material intercepts all the modes at maximum particle velocity.

Briggs was certainly into "quality" but knew that commercial reality meant keeping cost down by using resources efficiently. You all might know of course that the Warfedale factory was "oop north" in Idle Bradford where tha'din't waste brass!

Dave.
 
Farewell and ado to you fair spanish ladies...

Wait until you hear my cover of Spanish Ladies. :D I've also got some old USS Indianapolis stories.

"2016-I was at work...was deep into a network sea. Got bit in my right leg by a 6 foot Wireshark...
-AsciiRory
:)
 
We have a big 2 car garage and one car. I do vocal (spoken word) audio only and was thinking of partitioning off on corner for my simple setup. But then I was at Home Depot and spotted a snap/bolt together resin shed, pretty good size, for $500 with a door, vents, etc. I am considering placing it inside the garage and doing sound treatments. Power gets in via extension cord. The bonus is that if we sell the house and move, I simply take it down and take it with me. Just an idea.....
 
We have a big 2 car garage and one car. I do vocal (spoken word) audio only and was thinking of partitioning off on corner for my simple setup. But then I was at Home Depot and spotted a snap/bolt together resin shed, pretty good size, for $500 with a door, vents, etc. I am considering placing it inside the garage and doing sound treatments. Power gets in via extension cord. The bonus is that if we sell the house and move, I simply take it down and take it with me. Just an idea.....

That sounds a little tight for general recording. But if you are just building a vocal booth, it might work. I'm not sure, though, that the resin shed will give you too much isolation from outside noise. It also might pose problems if you try to add treatments. You are basically walling yourself off without too much benefit. And creating ventilation and lighting issues.

If you can't record elsewhere in the house, consider a vocal booth instead of the shed. There are plenty of DIY designs out there. You could also build a small temporary partition wall that would create work space. And I would look into a good dynamic mic for voiceover work. Something like a Shure SM7b which would limit background sounds.
 
If I had it to do all over again, I'd become a Dentist or Chiropractor or something. Better return on my investment. :)

Chiropractors don't get a lot of respect and dentists are universally hated--even more than studio engineers. :laughings:

I might opt for Guru, Cult Leader, or something in the financial sector. The best way to make money is by investing it. It also takes the least physical effort. And you can do your part to insure multi-generational income inequality. :D
 
Chiropractors don't get a lot of respect and dentists are universally hated--even more than studio engineers. :laughings:

I might opt for Guru, Cult Leader, or something in the financial sector. The best way to make money is by investing it. It also takes the least physical effort. And you can do your part to insure multi-generational income inequality. :D

Just my luck, making bad choices again.:confused:
 
Just my luck, making bad choices again.:confused:

Other that costly equipment, it's easy to reverse a studio build. You just need to find some place to stick all that fabric and insulation. When I finally get out, my 703 and R-30 goes straight to the attic. As for the fabric...I'm buying my wife a sewing machine. I have no problem wearing my bass traps because they're all charcoal and it matches everything. :D
 
I wouldn't have freaked myself out so much about it. I spent weeks reading articles, and watching videos about acoustic treatment, equipment, and excruciatingly detailed tutorials about the molecular makeup of every piece of material in your studio and in the end, these 2 things were the most important:

1) mix and master on multiple speakers/headphones: I used 2 sets of earbuds, 3 sets of closed/open headphones, 2 Bluetooth speakers, both cars, my Sonos, built-in computer speakers, iPhone/iPad speakers and of course my Rokit monitors.

The lesson being, learn how your room sounds because while treatment is important, you will never have a perfect listening environment.

2) make it somewhere you love to hang out in. My first iteration, I worried about optimizing the space since my room was tiny (9 x 11-ish) and I got to the point where I just hated sitting in that room. When I re-did it, I spent very little money but focused on aesthetics more than the first time around.
 
Back
Top