Blow-In Insulation for DIY Bass Traps?

[Gear_Junky]

I'm sorry to bother everyone, but at the hardware store, next to the pink fiberglass stuff they have this "Blow-In Insulation" material, which looks like shredded paper or cloth (but it's not really, it's flame-retardant and claims to insulate better than pink). They use a machine to blow it into spaces.

It's cheaper than pink, about $8 for a larget cube bag (about 2x2x3, ok not really a cube). And seems fairly dense, this package is about as heavy as equivalent size fiberglass.

What do you think if I put 1 in each corner on the floor plus I'm thinking about stuffing some into tight thick shipping envelopes (large rectangular) to suspend at the ceiling corners.

I should be well within $50 for the small room.

Any thoughts?

P.S. Local stores don't have any rockwool and I don't know if I want to wait too long. Again, this is not for recording, just live practice and only having problems with bass.

Thanks!

 

[tmix]

It should work great.
I have some shredded (about12 inches) in my attic and it quiets stuff down a lot.
I imagine leaving it in a bail would work similar to a super chunk type bass absorber. If you leave the wrapping on it wll probably reflect some highs.

Tom

 

[SonicClang]

Describe it a little more please? You're thinking of leaving it in the bag? The problem with that is the plastic bag isn't porous and would reflect a certain range of frequencies. That's why bass traps are made with really thin cloth, you need to be able to breath through it.

Or am I getting you wrong here?

 

[bpape]

If you're looking for broadband bass and some in the lower mids only, leaving them in the bag will work fine. If you want HF absorbtion, then I'd worry about the cloth.

The only times you need REALLY transparent cloth are:

- In front of treatments that are specifically designed NOT to absorb high frequencies.

- In front of speakers.

 

[SonicClang]

Yeah, good point.

 

[Gear_Junky]

Thanks, y'all! Yes, I thought initially of leaving it in the bag - 1 bale in each floor corner. Then, if I hear anything wrong with the highs, I might sew some fabric bags for it.

Right now I think that bass guitar is our only problem. Even the bass drum sounds ok. Once we add vocals, keyboard and guitar, we'll have to see from there. We're getting a PA and putting everything together still.

From what I read reflecting some of the highs shouldn't be that bad, right? I'm not trying to deaden the room (just yet), only to trap the bass.

At least I know that this material is not gonna be a waste of money (like peanuts or bubble-wrap).

After I try it, maybe I could start recommending it after all, it's cheaper and easier to handle than the pink fiberglass. I'm not sure what they make it from. Maybe it's shredded fire-retardant cloth, maybe some type of man-made fiber. It looks like someone shredded to pieces a bunch of teddy-bears

 

[Angaria]

gear_junky, your email seems to have changed....

I'm very curious as to how your experiment with using blocks of insulation worked out. I'm in grad school and it would be a very appealing cost effective way of taming bass. Bet a lot of people would be interested if it worked. Thanks!

 

[Gear_Junky]

i'm sorry, i posted that a while ago and my situation/location TOTALLY changed. i never got a chance to try any of the bass trapping. SORRY!