Ceiling corner bass traps - long and thin or short and wide?

[arcadeko]

for the ceiling I am going to put some horizontal panel bass traps across the corner where the ceiling meets the wall.

The space is about 8 feet across. So would it be more effective to make a 1' x 8' x 4" panel that runs all the way across, or a 2' x 4' x 4" panel that sits in the center? It's the same amount of mass but spread across different dimensions. But I am not sure how effective a 1 foot by 8 foot panel would be, even though it would cover more of the corner.

Where the blue wall meets the ceiling in this pic http://arcadeko.com/studio/ceiling.jpg

There will be a vertical panel in the right corner that is 2' wide by 4' tall...

 

[Capriccio]

It would be more effective to (a) make them at leat 4" deep and (b) to straddle the corners. If you don't then they will not be nearly as effective at trapping the bass. Here's my music room:

 

[arcadeko]

oops my bad! I meant 4" thick - im going to double it up...

So what about the 1 foot versus 2 foot? looks like yours are 2 x 4 - think they would be effective at half that width? 1 x 4 running all the way across?

 

[Capriccio]

1' will not straddle as much of the corner as 2' and the depth behind teh trap will not be as deep so it will be less effective but I do not know how much less. If that is all you have space or money for then that will be better than nothing. It will be interesting to see what your readings are if you use 1' wide traps.

 

[arcadeko]

Readings.. that sounds like a good idea... I should take some readings. How do I do that?

 

[Capriccio]

Readings come from testing your room, otherwise it can be difficult to know exactly what issues you are treating.

All you need is a microphone, your monitors a computer, some software (free and paid versions are available) and time.

See Acoustics/Treatment Reference Guide - LOOK HERE! > 2) Room Set-Up/Testing > Testing.

 

[Bryan316]

I would imagine going as small as 1-1/2 feet by 4 feet would still give sufficient results. But only 1 foot wide seems like it wouldn't be worth the work because the benefits won't be significant enough to help the room.

 

[arcadeko]

Readings come from testing your room, otherwise it can be difficult to know exactly what issues you are treating.

All you need is a microphone, your monitors a computer, some software (free and paid versions are available) and time.

See Acoustics/Treatment Reference Guide - LOOK HERE! > 2) Room Set-Up/Testing > Testing.

Well I spent an hour with REW and I am just as confused as before. But at least I finally realized I dodn't set up my loopback properly. Maybe I don't even need it. I'm a little nervous about routing the output of my mains to an input on my mixer anyway.

Even ignoring that I end up with some graphs that I have really no idea how to read... I think maybe I am getting too technical - I will just put up some bass traps and try to identify problems with my mix the old fashion way - the clinic

I don;t think I will ever be able to get an accurate reading on my room anyway - They don't have calibration files for my condenser mic and I am not going to go buy a damn audio meter that I am going to use once.

The graphs I ended up with don't look anything like the graphs on the site that hosts the REW thing.

Maybe I will try again later

 

[JimmyS1969]

I feel ya buddy. Just addressing the major problems with corners and first reflection points will have the most effect on 'real world' monitoring and recording. Much improvement in my room was achieved by just taking care of these essentials. I have never tested my room either, but do not necessarily feel it that I need to do so if I am comfortable with the results I am achieving. Just taking the steps to treat your room means that you are actually listening. That has more to do with your end result than creating a perfect environment as presented by a generated graph. And Lava Lamp makes everything sound better! LOL!

 

[arcadeko]

I got two lava lamps at the ready. Just gotta get me some fresh bulbs