GreenSteve
New member
This may be a good question for a home improvement forum as well as this one, but I wanted to see what other people have seen/done in this situation that’s passable (acoustically). Also I’ll try to make this short but no promises lol.
First let me say that whoever built this house was on some good shit in the 80s because none of it makes sense XD. We rent but the owners are fine with me making decent-looking improvements. I just pulled the carpet and pad from my 360 sq ft. basement control (and often tracking) room. The acoustics were fine for tracking and mixing with some minor wall treatment (bass traps in the top corners and 1” Auralex around listening point) but the carpet was disgusting to say the least and it was messing with my OCD. Now there is just an unfinished concrete subfloor. I plan on adding QuietWalk as underlay and vinyl plank flooring.
The plan for now is to finish the bare floor and (mostly) cover with rugs until spring break. I know the sound with vinyl and the underlay will be more manageable with additional wall diffusers/absorption and rugs…so here’s my question:
How can I make sealed concrete and rugs not be a resonant echo chamber? Doing the ‘clap test’ with carpet passed but the concrete and drywall are obviously way more resonant. I’d say 1/5 of the wall space is 1” absorption and some diffusion on the back wall with an organ and bookshelf. Would more/larger foam wall panels and a couple of professional wooden diffusers on the back wall make any difference? Or should I just go ahead and finish the vinyl?
I can post pics of the space (was gonna do a before and after for separate forum anyways)
First let me say that whoever built this house was on some good shit in the 80s because none of it makes sense XD. We rent but the owners are fine with me making decent-looking improvements. I just pulled the carpet and pad from my 360 sq ft. basement control (and often tracking) room. The acoustics were fine for tracking and mixing with some minor wall treatment (bass traps in the top corners and 1” Auralex around listening point) but the carpet was disgusting to say the least and it was messing with my OCD. Now there is just an unfinished concrete subfloor. I plan on adding QuietWalk as underlay and vinyl plank flooring.
The plan for now is to finish the bare floor and (mostly) cover with rugs until spring break. I know the sound with vinyl and the underlay will be more manageable with additional wall diffusers/absorption and rugs…so here’s my question:
How can I make sealed concrete and rugs not be a resonant echo chamber? Doing the ‘clap test’ with carpet passed but the concrete and drywall are obviously way more resonant. I’d say 1/5 of the wall space is 1” absorption and some diffusion on the back wall with an organ and bookshelf. Would more/larger foam wall panels and a couple of professional wooden diffusers on the back wall make any difference? Or should I just go ahead and finish the vinyl?
I can post pics of the space (was gonna do a before and after for separate forum anyways)
