Bass traps for narrow corner space?

M

madscene

New member
I've recently turned my garage into a studio space and am working on acoustic treatment. Pretty much a newb, though I did build a space in a past house, I mostly just used cheap foam for echo dampening. I'm trying to do it"right"this time, but also on a budget. One area I am trying to figure out options for are two vertical corners where I only have about 9" of wall from the corner to a door and window frame on either side. Most corner bass traps are much bigger. I could find some cheap foam alternatives that would fit but I've read enough on here to know that's probably a bad idea.

One option I found was the 48"x12"x4" panels at acoustimac.com but they seem to be meant for flat wall mounting, not corners. Was wondering if anyone had any experience or thoughts hanging them at 45º in the corner, even though the sides would not be flush. Or do you have any other suggestions? DIY is an option, I have enough tools and knowledge to be dangerous :) and probably could fashion some custom rock wool traps or something.

Another thought was to use the cheap foam in the corners but add 2" and 4" panels on the walls to help with better frequency modulation...

Any advice would be appreciated!

edit: added link to Acoustimac product
 
You need mass for bass frequencies because they have more energy. If you can put good traps in all but one or two corners I’d focus on that and for the space constrained ones build or buy as much depth (over 4” if possible) and height as you can fit into that space. I’ve got one corner that’s un-trapped because of a door, still works for my needs.
 
Corner traps don't need to be affixed. Make them full-sized and free standing, overlapping the door and window. Move them aside when not needed for recording.
 
Before you go too far. Run a 20 to 20K sweep and record it with the flatest response mic you have, and then look at what you recorded in the DAW. This will reveal where the bass conspires against you and often, when it doesn't. Then you can make sensible buying choices.
 
rob aylestone said:
Before you go too far. Run a 20 to 20K sweep and record it with the flatest response mic you have, and then look at what you recorded in the DAW. This will reveal where the bass conspires against you and often, when it doesn't. Then you can make sensible buying choices.
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I did want to try to run some tests in here but I'm new to all of it and didn't want to spend additional money if I didn't have to. I have an MXL-603 that to my novice eyes looks like it has a fairly flat frequency graph. Do you think I could get away using that? Any software you recommend for testing?
 
spantini said:
Corner traps don't need to be affixed. Make them full-sized and free standing, overlapping the door and window. Move them aside when not needed for recording.
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You move your bass traps around much?

I do have one corner that has a door to the attic space where the water heaters are, and so every few years I have to move that trap, and mine are relatively small, with 1"x8" framing and only 16" wide (size of Rockwool that I could source locally), but the floor to ceiling thing is a bit of a slide wiggle move of something I would not want to fall over accidentally. (Filled with double layers of Rockwool and 8' tall, it's heavy enough to cause some damage.)

Anyway, frequent movement/rearranging of stuff is something I would not plan for unless it's like finger-push easy to swing in/out of position. IME, that kind of [re-arranging/setup] activity leads to not recording. I want (need) to be able to just walk in, sit down, and push the red button, so to speak.
 
Right now I don't move them around much. I've got one piece (58" x 35" x 3") that's unframed and wrapped in cotton sheeting I'm using mainly to block the window while recording vocal and acoustic. It's easy to move around, like a large pillow.

When you have full, floor to ceiling traps which are framed or boxed and stacked, they could get heavy and awkward to move. Stacking unopened bundles of Rockwool on end into a corner would make frequent repositioning easier, though not so pretty.
 
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Yeah, I'd prefer not to have to move a bunch of stuff around to start recording. This space is my daily office as well as a music space. I'm inquiring with Acoustimac if they can make a corner bass trap that would fit my corners that could be permanently fixed. It would be 4" rockwool most likely. Then I'll hang 2" and 4" panels along the walls and vaulted ceilings. At least that's my current thinking. I decided to order a Dayton Audio EMM-6 to do some baseline testing and see how it goes.
 
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Here's an image from Sweetwater with the rough dimensions of my space and their recommended Auralex solution. Seemed way over-priced, which is why I'm looking elsewhere. But this gives you a sense of the space.
 
I built my own 4" thick traps, and have one corner wiht a door next to it, so I just pput the traps flat against the corner wall - which is better than nothing. As you have a little room to work with (9"), you use the 4" trap at a slight angle, and stuff the area behind it with more rockwool.
 
You can just play a sweep from YouTube - and the waveform in audacity which is free will reveal your room's bad bits before you spend any money at all. you will probably find certain frequencies in the bass are just really loud - and you'll hear them in the sweep. if you don't, you don't need bass traps.
 
mjbphotos said:
I built my own 4" thick traps, and have one corner wiht a door next to it, so I just pput the traps flat against the corner wall - which is better than nothing. As you have a little room to work with (9"), you use the 4" trap at a slight angle, and stuff the area behind it with more rockwool.
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Ha - as obvious as that is, I hadn't thought of that, thanks! That might be one of the better options. Just put a 4" rockwool panel right up against the corner. I could potentially try to fashion something that had a bit of an angle to it as well.
 
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What are you recording? If you're not recording acoustic drums you can get away with a lot less treatment.
 
What do your ears tell you? Making a good sounding recording space is about more than absorbtion. You also want reflection and symmetry in your listening position.
 
Supercreep said:
What are you recording? If you're not recording acoustic drums you can get away with a lot less treatment.
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I am not recording acoustic drums in here. I have a cheap electric kit I inherited but I barely even play that. I'd probably mainly be programming drums. I'm more of a singer/songwriter - guitar/piano and hoping to get into to more synth and electronic backing tracks. My #1 concern would be good vocal recordings - knowing that it's still a home studio and I'm using a Focusrite Scarlett 8i8 and an MXL 2001 mic mainly.
 
Maybe instead just get a nice medium diaphragm dynamic like a Shure SM7 or an ElectroVoice RE-20.

Pair that with a nice LA2A plugin and thank me later.
 
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