So I've been granted a room...

[geet73]

My parents have agreed to let me steal the ex-computer room in my house for recording purposes. Does anyone have suggestions of what I can do for not-too-expensive of acoustic treatment?

The room is about 15' x 18'. It's completely drywalled and it's got carpet on the floor. On of the walls has two windows on it. I haven't gotten to test out the sound yet, I still have to clean out the boxes that have been sitting there for 5 years. I'm not sure if this room will even need any acoustic treatment.. but does anyone have any suggestions of what I might want to look into? I don't have a ton of money to spend.. so keep it on the less-expensive side.

I was thinking of just putting in a few 703 bass traps. The ones that are on Ethan Winer's site. Might it be best to try it all out first?

 

[Michael Jones]

I can understand that you wont be able to make big changes to the room. It is also probably typical residential construction with the dreaded "Parallel walls".
Given that, your best Bang For The Buck is going to be treating the corners at both the walls, and the ceiling.

Arguably, the best way to do this is with bass trapping. And, there are a multitude of ways to do that, some of them very good, and some of them not so good.

"...I was thinking of just putting in a few 703 bass traps. The ones that are on Ethan Winer's site. Might it be best to try it all out first? ..."

The problem with that approach is you don't know how many, and where. While most rooms will definately benefit from bass trapping, improper implementation of ANY acoustic treatment could make problems worse.

You should probably have a look around at the SAE Site and read up on acoustics. Then study the topics of absorption, diffusion and modal responses.

Once you've built a vocabulary of acoustics, and a pretty good understanding of the principals of sound, and how it interacts with its surroundings, lots of people here can help you with some inexpensive methods of treating your space.

 

[Ethan Winer]

Geet,

> I was thinking of just putting in a few 703 bass traps. The ones that are on Ethan Winer's site. <

Besides the wood panel trap plans on my site, you can use rigid fiberglass alone too. Or did you already see that in my Acoustics FAQ?

--Ethan

 

[geet73]

Well, I suppose I should read up a bit more. I'm not going to do any actual changes until I move everything into the room. That might not be for a few weeks... the amount of crap in that room is ridiculous.

Ethan, I'm not sure what I read, but I do know it took like 45 minutes to read through and the trap design was a piece of 703 or 705 insulation placed across a corner. The article was very informative. Good job.

Does anyone know where I might be able to get some? If Lowe's could special order it, my dad works there. I could get a discount.

Yes, Michael, it has parallel walls.

One thing I'm also confused about is how to determine what a good sounding room sounds like.

 

[cellardweller]

geet73-

Lowes here wants $350.99 for 120 sq. ft. of 703.
Not sure if I can order smaller quantities or not, they're supposed to get back to me...

Ethans' Acoustic FAQ has a BUNCH of good stuff, I'm still reading on it.
I just went to the SAE site- very informative.

I can't imagine limping through this without the above resources...

Thanx guys!

 

[geet73]

I don't think I would need 120 sq. ft. of it. I really hope I don't. Heh. I can't afford it.

I did some actual measurements of the room. It's 13'x15'x8'. I'm still cleaning the damn thing out, but it seems to be nearing the end.

Would putting one of those styrofoam tile ceilings in be a good move? I just think they look alot nicer than a drywall ceiling, but I'm not going to sopend the money if it has no benefit.

 

[adam]

One thing I'm also confused about is how to determine what a good sounding room sounds like.

This is a GREAT point. It is not talked about enough on most forums. It is tempting to go in and buy the list of treatments you think you need. I have recorded in a number of residential rooms and it wasn't until I moved into my current house that I began noticing its shortcomings.

To me a 'good' room is either neutral or has some wonderful sound characteristics. The neutral room doesn't get in the way of recording, and assuming you use reverbs, effects, reamp in other rooms etc., it is a non-issue. For many this is a goal. And I don't think neutral has to mean 'dead'. It just can't be overwhelming.

On the otherhand, large/interesting spaces can be great as well. They impart their character and perhaps work for the insturments/music you are recording.

To me, a 'bad' room is one that makes it challenging to record in. My current room buzzes on certain notesand on most louder volume recording, certain notes sound noticably louder, the bass builds up. I won't even get started on the lack of sound attenuation. Luckily I get around this knowing that it is only temporary and I have a number of rooms to record in that have lots on character - bathrooms, a foyer with 20' ceilings, closests etc. But I never could hear most of the afflictions people discuss here until I was in a bad room. I was beginning to think that I had mud in my ears and couldn't tell good from bad.