Acoustics for Basic Bedroom

[Bass40]

Hey, I searched the forums and I remember seeing a couple of links or helpful topics about correctly setting the acoustics in your room. I was only able to find very little so I am posting this question.

My question is exactly that how can I correctly setup acoustic padding in my room, but I am currently renting my house so I cant tear up the walls, hence this room cant be soundproofed. Also how can I lay down the padding with out leaving the sticky stuff attached to the walls.

I Hope my question was clear, sorry for any confusion.

Thanks for all help.

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

Hello Bass40 and welcome to the bbs. I assume from your reference to "sticky stuff" that you mean FOAM acoustic tile products. Is that what you have? How much and what sizes do you have? And if this is indeed your choice of product, have you chose locations and overall size of the areas to be covered? The reason I ask, for instance. IF you wanted to use 12"x12" tiles to cover an area say 24" x 48", like a panel, this is what I would do. Get a sheet of 1/8" plywood or masonite, or better yet, Cellotex(I think), which is a foam board with a layer of plastic or cardboard on each face. I think you can get 2'x4' pieces at Arts and Crafts stores. Or cut bigger sheets into the sizes required, and glue the Foam tiles to the panels with spray on adhesive. Most acoustical foam companies sell the spray adhesive too.
If you don't have the tools or space, maybe you can have the store or a cabinet shop cut them for you.
You could even nail a frame to the backside, the edge, or the front if desired. No matter, most apartments allow hanging pictures. Just get a few of those picture wire kits(wire and eyescrews and nail-in-hangers) and hang the panels as though they were pictures. When you move, just take down the panels, pull the hanger bracket nails, and fill with a little spackle.
However, this isn't the ONLY way to do it. Just the simplist for apartment use.
If you are talking about Rigid Fiberglass panels, thats a whole 'nuther animal.
Let us know and we can tell you the different methods for that too.
fitZ

 

[FALKEN]

if you were going to do all that, wouldnt it be easier, cheaper, and faster to just glue or stitch them to a linen sheet and hang it like a tapestry?

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

Yea, why not?

 

[Bass40]

Hey thanks all for replying. I haven't bought the foam as of now, because I wanted to make sure I do it right. Im actually in a house that Im renting , so I wanted to becareful on what I do to the walls, this is not an apartment. I was thinking of taking pictures of the room I wanted to do it in , because Im not to sure on how many pieces and where to put them.

Thanks for all replies greatly appreciated , my ears are always open for help.

 

[apl]

A bedroom with a big bed and open closets stuffed with clothes has pretty good acoustics. Those add a lot absorption, even in the bass range.

 

[scarboro78]

A bedroom with a big bed and open closets stuffed with clothes has pretty good acoustics. Those add a lot absorption, even in the bass range.

lol.. thats pretty funny I just heard that the other day. I never really thought about it but mattresses are pretty much big ol bass traps (except without the 703 Filling). =0) My room still sounds like crap though. lol.


Hmmmm... I just had a crazy thought. Would it help absorption to say lay your mattress against the back wall? (I'm thinking too much I know). I mean for guy like myself with basically no acoustic treatment at the moment (I'm working on it)... any household concoctions that can help during mixing is welcome in my house.

 

[apl]

www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

Define "sounds like crap". A bad recording in the BEST acoustics can sound like crap. There are TWO potential problems here caused by the same thing. IF "sounds like crap" refers to the sound in the room BEFORE you record, thats one thing, but if you are referring to MONITORING a RECORDING that sounds bad, that is a secondary result. Its a double whammy when recording and playing back in a bad room. First, assuming good recording technique and good mics and good performance, when the mic pics up bad acoustic room response, and then you play it back in the SAME room, you REALLY can't tell what is happening on the recording because the room is telling you a lie AGAIN Its like this. IF you recorded something in your room, and THEN played the recording back in a GREAT control room, you could hear what your recordings REALLY sounded like. That is the whole point of having a seperate control room so you can HEAR in real time, what the mics are really picking up. One of the most important functions of a correctly laid out monitoring position, is to HEAR reflections/comb filtering in the studio. But you can't do that in a combination control room/studio, unless you are monitoring in headphones. And they will NOT tell you the truth either. This is one of the main problems with home studio recording. Once you DO get the room acoustically sounding good, you STILL have other areas to properly set up or you will STILL have problems. Haveing a good LIVE sound in the room doesn't necessarily mean your playback monitoring position is good.
Speakers or your mixing position in the wrong location could also have something to do with "crappy sound". Or many other things. Acoustics won't solve crappy recording technique, crappy performance, crappy speakers or other crappy things. You've got to define what is happening before you can arrive at a correct solution, which is NOT to say it's NOT acoustics. I'm simply trying to tell you that in order for you to be sure, ALL issues must be addressed, and the only way people here can help you is if you tell us your whole situation. Maybe do a drawing or something and post it. That way people might SEE something that is an issue. Well, hope that helps for the moment. Absorption is NOT a magic home studio CURE ALL. That is why it may still sound like shit on the recordings or your mixing position REGARDLESS of absorption devices.
fitZ

 

[FALKEN]

doing that with a spare mattress has helped me before.

edit:

I take it back, i didn't read that thoroghly. the mattress was put behind a vocal mic for tracking. sounded better for the style.

 

[scarboro78]

Define "sounds like crap". A bad recording in the BEST acoustics can sound like crap. There are TWO potential problems here caused by the same thing. IF "sounds like crap" refers to the sound in the room BEFORE you record, thats one thing, but if you are referring to MONITORING a RECORDING that sounds bad, that is a secondary result.

Hi Fitz,
I actually meant the monitoring itself. For the most part I'm very happy with my recordings thus far. But getting a decent mix is just a little more difficult than I think it would be if my acoustics were better. I do mostly hip-hop and a tad bit of, R&B so all of the production I work with are pretty much brought to me as is (broken down by individual sounds on seperate tracks). So my main focus as far as recording is concerned are vocals.. which I'm pretty happy with. My problem has to deal with balancing a mix and not overdoing it with the bass. Unfortunately alot of rap music is bass heavy so I find it difficult sometimes to measure when the bass is just right or too heavy. I've also noticed my monitors are too forgiving on bass also, so that doesn't help much. I'm sure a few strategically placed traps would help tremendously... or maybe a few more mattresses.. lol