n00b sound treatment HELPPPP!!

[Stealth_Za]

Hi,

I'm currently setting up a home mini studio (I'm 18) for vocal recording purposes
We have a spare (rectangular) room with dimensions:

Height: 2.5m (8ft)
Length: 3m (10ft)
Width: 2m (6.5ft)

Requirements: Editing & Recording (VOCALS ONLY - no instruments)

I have read alot of material regarding sound treatment however none fit my exact requirements.

Question 1: Which sound panels are required? (Bass traps/diffusors etc. -Vocals only)
Question 2: Would regular (4inch) high density foam work or should I get some rockwool (sizes etc.)?
Question 3: How many panels (with dimensions of each) should I place and where (Bear in mind the height of the room & 4 walls)?

Any other tips/recommendations would be much appreciated and btw I live in South Africa so some types of foam may not be readily available (as per brand name). Please note that I am also on a bit of a budget so professional treatment is not an option

Thanks

 

[mjbphotos]

That's a small room for mixing. What are the materials of construction (ie sheetrock, wood floor, etc)? At a minimum, bass traps in the corners. Although this is the Newbie section of this forum, there is a whole section for studio construction.

 

[Stealth_Za]

Normal brick walls, Carpeted floor, and ceiling boards (the one with the white chalk-like stuff in the middle).

Sorry about the section thing but they said n00bs must post here...Didn't want to piss anyone off

Also, I have access to 2" glasswool (aerolite/energylite) and in my n00b planning I'm looking at 600mmx1200mm glasswool panels to cover all 4 walls (3 across the breadth & 4 across the length longitudinally with spaces between) and hang 3 panels from the roof... No plans for bass traps coz i don't really know about those..is it really required as I'm only doing vocals (Shouldn't be alot of low's)

Thanks in advance and sorry about the influx of questions I just don't wanna confuse anyone...

 

[soundchaser59]

...Didn't want to piss anyone off

Something that is, unfortunately, all too easy to do around here.....

You are right to want to treat the room.

But don't waste your money on all the latest and greatest retail materials like high density Aurelex or whatever. Go to the home reomodeling store and buy your own materials and wood, build all the pieces yourself, get some movers blankets from UHaul, use as many different densities of material as you can, and save yourself hundereds of dollars. For the environment you are in, with the consumer level gear we are using, you will not hear enough benefit to justify the difference in cost for using retail treatments vs making your own. Your biggest "enemy" will be those brick walls.

 

[Stealth_Za]

Lol ok my plans are to build the panels myself.

N00b Plan (So far)
1200mmx600mm panels. 4 on each "long" wall. 3 on each "short" wall. 3 hanging from the ceiling

i'm going to purchase the wood and the covering material and the glasswool/rockwool (Ready cut etc. quite cheap). Ok now that we've got that sorted.

I'd like to know, for vocals, in the room size specified.
Are my plans sort of correct?
Is glasswool ok to use (energylite/aerolite)
What thickness should I use for the glasswool as rockwool is slightly out've reach.

Any other thoughts/changes etc.?

Thanks for the replies thus far

 

[soundchaser59]

If your panels are free standing, consider adding a higher density material to the back side. I got sheets of sound board material that is actually intended for sound deadening. It resembles heavy paper ground up and pressed and glued into a sheet, maybe 5/8th or 3/4 inch thick, some of it might be 1/2 inch. It's intended to be screwed to the studs before the drywall goes up.

I mounted a sheet of this to the back side of each free standing panel, but using 3 or 4 inch standoffs, so there is a 3-4 inch space between the sheet and the panel. I stand them with the sound deadening side to the wall. This helps block a bit more of the low freqs from bouncing around the room.

The lower the frequency you are trying to control, the more dense your materials need to be, and the more expensive and harder to work with the materials will become. But in a rectangluar brick wall room, you can drive yourself crazy trying to control low freq mud. Do the best you can, don't go crazy, and then focus on just making music.