Cement Floor Treatment

L

lilcapn

New member
hey home recorders --

been awhile since i had a reason to come around here as there's been a small child sleeping in my "studio" (ie a bedroom in our house) but we've added on a room so i'm ready to go at it again, somewhat from scratch.

i still have all my gear -- good pres, mics, etc -- but i'm starting with a new room. the room is about 12' x 16', about 9' ceilings, has drywall over 2 layers of sound insulation batting over poured cement walls.

the floors are cement and this is the issue i've never had to deal with before.

i was assuming that i'd just get some area rugs and be able to move them around, but after reading a bit on here i'm getting scared that area rugs really won't do the trick when it comes to somewhat controlling the harsh reflections a cement floor will give off...

i am still considering area rugs, but also perhaps those FLOR rug tiles which can cover a larger area pretty easily and affordably...though you can't roll them up if you want to. would i ever want to though?

any advice on dealing with / loving my cement floors would be great!

thanks!
 
Congrats on the offspring! :)

I think a lot depends on what you may or may not plan on doing with the walls and ceiling, but most of the pro recording spaces I've seen (excluding voice/drum booths) actually use hardwood floors, with maybe the occasional throw rug here or there for special purpose.

Granted many of those hardwood floors are a floating design with felt/rubber underneath for rumble isolation, but I don't believe - afik - that has any real effect on HF reflection. I don't know enough about material acoustics to say just what the real difference might be between polyurethaned pine or oak floors and naked cement, but it seems to me that both of them would be pretty high-frequency reflective, which would lead me to think that the cement floors may not be a huge problem in and of themselves.

But this may be something you might want to toss out in the Studio Building and Design forum on the BBS; there may be better info from someone there that might prove me all wet ;).

G.
 
My studio has a cement floor, and I get along just fine with it. They're actually becoming a material of choice for many commercial studios as of late.

I find that the cement behaves very much like a good hardwood and I like that. I use area rugs to spot treat as needed--but I don't need it as much as I thought it would. Recording acoustic instruments (acoustic guitars, drums) etc, is again, very much like hardwood floors. With the treated walls and/or gobos, the floor adds just the touch of life I want in the sound.

Good luck!
 
Yep, I record in a garage, which has cement floors, and it sounds fine (there's plenty of objects and throwrugs around the place to diffuse a lot of reflections anyway).
 
I've got a laminated hardwood floor on top of concrete with the thicker padding in between. Looks nice, sound nice, much easier on the feet (I try not to wear shoes from April through October) :)
 
I love a reflective floor... Too many people kill those (arguably, most "natural" sounding) reflections...
 
yeah when I move out and set up my studio in a basement somewhere, it will be hardware.....or, hell, if its cement, I'll keep that!

Didn't know cement was considered a good recording surface?
 
Seafroggys said:
yeah when I move out and set up my studio in a basement somewhere, it will be hardware.....or, hell, if its cement, I'll keep that!

Didn't know cement was considered a good recording surface?
Click to expand...

Yep, as long as it's not everywhere--creating a bunch of slap back. Two of my walls are concrete also, so I finished and treated them. Now it's just the floor creating a nice lively reflection (great with drums!) but it's not bouncing all around off concrete walls too. That would be a bit much.
 
Search the forums for ceiling balloons, get the ceiling right and the concrete floor with a few small rugs will work.

After using my concrete floor for 6 months, I did eventually cover my concrete floor with the wood clip together panelling on the supplied insulation, this is nicer underfoot.

Cheers

Alan.
 
Search the forums for ceiling balloons
Click to expand...
:confused:


I don't know what you mean by "balloons", but the real deal is absorption panels made of rigid fiberglass...ie. Owens Corning 703 or equivilent. For broadband use 2" thick 2'x4" panels, for low hz use 4" either straddling the corners or better yet, as "superchunks" , even at cieling/wall intersections. Use the 2" in checker board fashion on walls and ceilings. Using this pattern makes use of the "edge effect", which will give you absorption coefficients greater than "1"(ie... an open window 12"x12" equals ONE sabine of absorption"

All valid absorption materials have been tested in a lab and are rated at different frequency bands in absorption coefficients. Usually, around .6-.8. usually dropping off to around .2 or .3 below 125hz. However, in the upper bands, absorption coefficients of thicker materials such as 4" can have ratings of OVER 1(ie..one square foot of material absorbs MORE than a 1' square window). This is because of diffraction at the edges.

As far as the floor is concerned, use area rugs as needed. Use absorption to make the room response as flat as possible. The smaller the room...the more absorption is needed...especially below 125hz. Hence the use of absorption at the rooms wall/wall and wall/cieling intersections..ie...room MODES terminate in the corners.

fitZ:)

btw, take a look here for more info. Another thing, visit the Studio building forum for lots of other room related stuff.

http://forum.studiotips.com/viewforum.php?f=8&sid=1b10b478713daa39e6fa463b2ce7f84d
 
Hi Rick,

Ceiling Balloons are just another name for panels hung from the ceiling. I think they got the name balloons because the middle of the panel tends to hang a bit lower than the outside. Some people like to make the panel loose to exaggerate this.

I make the, with a pine frame, covered with cloth (colored hessian in my case) and hung from the ceiling on small plastic coated chains.

I hang down from the ceiling (as opposed to fixing to the ceiling) as the top of the panel also absorbs sound this way and make the panel more efficient for the size.

Check out this thread when I built my place, shows the Ceiling panels (Balloons) in some of the later photos, and the floor paneling.

https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=241175&highlight=witzendoz


Cheers

Alan.
 
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