Help with affordable sound treatment for 10x10ft

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kyle.lgk

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I need help with affordable sound treatment for 10x10ft control room where I only plan to record vocals (hiphop, some singing).

NW Corner

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SW Corner

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There's probably not a lot of point spending time and money until you actually know what problems you're trying to solve.

I'd recommend getting to know your gear and your room first. Until you do some testing, and get some experience, solutions based on guesswork and second hand advice probably won't be ideal. To put it another way, if you don't yet know what to listen for (and how to test) and your ears can't hear exactly what's wrong, then they probably won't know when it's right either.

Good luck, it all takes time...

Chris
 
There's probably not a lot of point spending time and money until you actually know what problems you're trying to solve.

I'd recommend getting to know your gear and your room first. Until you do some testing, and get some experience, solutions based on guesswork and second hand advice probably won't be ideal. To put it another way, if you don't yet know what to listen for (and how to test) and your ears can't hear exactly what's wrong, then they probably won't know when it's right either.

Good luck, it all takes time...

Chris

Thanks Chris! Well said... I took your advice and I'm spending some time playing with the new equipment before I treat the room

For now I'm just hanging blankets and some old auralex pads I had in storage. I can already tell a huge difference when I clap in the room

I've been grinding and researching hours each day and I'm realizing what you mean when you say "it all takes time"

I'm excited to learn more and find that sound I'm looking for :)
 
I'm excited to learn more and find that sound I'm looking for :)

Me too. :)

It's hard to know exactly what you're achieving at the start, because you may be improving things at one frequency at the expense of another. Bass seems to be notoriously difficult to tame and get balanced right, because those low frequencies can cut through so many materials. So, for instance, you could easily try too hard (and with not quite the right materials) to get the bass under control and end up deadening a bunch of the upper ranges.

I don't really know much (if anything) more than you do, but I do know that my room (an untreated home attic ) has some obvious pitfalls and I'm interested to learn enough to do a reasonable job with it. I have a friend who has a working studio, which has been done but not perfectly, and which is about to be redone. So we're hoping to combine resources and buy some of the materials together and make up batches of panels, or whatever it takes. It will be interesting to see what happens. Our rooms are different, and he's probably aiming for a higher standard than me. I'd also like to have some of my solutions moveable rather than permanently fixed, as the room gets used for other things too.

Here's some files that you can try out (and others) for anybody else interested Grab the LFSineTones file to test Low Frequencies . Mike Senior's book is a good read too. Worth listening to the file on headphones first, just to convince yourself that it really is level and even, because it probably won't sound that way once the sound gets to bounce round the room a bit. :)

Good luck with your research, and keep us posted with how it goes, and if you find any interesting information too!

Chris
 
Here's part of my attic. Messy, and facing the wrong way across the room too... so lots to improve. Looks like we have similar taste in monitors though..;)

[EDIT: I think we might find some useful information here... but a packed lunch and a lot of patience will be required... SOS Studio design forum OK, I think I'll start with Zukan's DIY Home Studio Acoustic Treatment thread...]

attic02.jpg
 
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Me too. :)

It's hard to know exactly what you're achieving at the start, because you may be improving things at one frequency at the expense of another. Bass seems to be notoriously difficult to tame and get balanced right, because those low frequencies can cut through so many materials. So, for instance, you could easily try too hard (and with not quite the right materials) to get the bass under control and end up deadening a bunch of the upper ranges.

I don't really know much (if anything) more than you do, but I do know that my room (an untreated home attic ) has some obvious pitfalls and I'm interested to learn enough to do a reasonable job with it. I have a friend who has a working studio, which has been done but not perfectly, and which is about to be redone. So we're hoping to combine resources and buy some of the materials together and make up batches of panels, or whatever it takes. It will be interesting to see what happens. Our rooms are different, and he's probably aiming for a higher standard than me. I'd also like to have some of my solutions moveable rather than permanently fixed, as the room gets used for other things too.

Here's some files that you can try out (and others) for anybody else interested Grab the LFSineTones file to test Low Frequencies . Mike Senior's book is a good read too. Worth listening to the file on headphones first, just to convince yourself that it really is level and even, because it probably won't sound that way once the sound gets to bounce round the room a bit. :)

Good luck with your research, and keep us posted with how it goes, and if you find any interesting information too!

Chris

Thanks Chris!

You're journey is much more difficult than mine since you have to tame the sound for instruments (especially drums).

All I'm doing is vocals, and my understanding is that this is the easiest thing to treat a room for.

I plan to build my own bass traps to save $, and probably hang a lot of blankets.
 
First thing I would recommend, is get that vocal mic out of the corner. There will be a great deal of bass buildup there. You will be better off hanging a couple of blankets over boom stands forming a 'T' shape, near the center of the room. Is that an SM7b? Take off the foam on the mic and just use the pop filter. Much clearer that way IME.

Now that I look at the pic of you taking the pic, maybe you are moving it out of the corner. Anyway, small rooms like that are difficult to treat. Just do what you can and see where it get ya. :D
 
I'm in 10'8" X 10' 2" room with an 84" ceiling.

I originally calculated out all of the bass traps and material I would need to supposedly get the room "under control"

I built the room layed in a super carpet. I should have an issue around 55hz but it didn't materialize..;)

I still plan to put in bass traps but the room sounds pretty neutral right now....

anyhow, the best thing I would suggest is try to keep symmetry in the room if you can. for your monitoring position. Put a heavy blanket on the rear wall (One place used pvc pipes and built a frame and hung up moving carpets or blankets...

Anyhow, best of luck

RJ
 
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