Straw bales as sound absorption for a homestudio

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Dicus

Dicus

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This might be a funny question but I was wondering if Straw Bales would work to absorb sound in a way that would make recordings better. I read about the soundproofing qualities of straw bales but that isn't same as acoustic treatment, if I'm right.

A while ago I found this excellent graphs about the absorbing qualities of rock wool, which you would find useful (the site is in Dutch but the graphs have got English descriptions). And I was wondering if anyone know how thick a layer of straw one would need to absorb the lower frequencies, in my case the bass drum en bass guitar. I will probably use Rockwool anyway but I was just wondering. Furthermore, it would change the absorption negatively if I plastered the straw bale afterwards, wouldn't it?

Thanks already!
 
No, you need heavy mass. That's why heavier grades of rock wool is used.
Straw is also highly flammable.
 
Thanks for the reply. Wouldn't the fact that straw isn't too heavy just mean that you need more of it?
The flammability is indeed a serious issue...
 
TimOBrien said:
No, you need heavy mass.
Click to expand...

I don't know, the bales of hay we have around here are pretty densely packed. They are heavy. And it's not so much the weight, but the density and acoustic porosity that matters. Whether or not it's the target density, I don't know, but I'm willing to bet they could be pretty good bass traps.

Still, I'd rather have an untreated room than to use straw or hay. Bugs, smell, rot, fire hazard, etc....
 
Seriously, a bale of hay also has some random QRD properties to reflect sound waves in random patterns. If I didn't have hay fever, I might try it. :)
 
I have read an article, attached below, about a studio build of straw bales and it was very successful. The sound insulation is also very high but you do have to render the inside walls with a fixer of some kind to fix the straw or it will become very itchy LOL. The fire rating of straw bales is actually very high due to the compacting of the straw making the density high.

Here are some articles on a straw studio. Link and Link

Alan.
 
Worked for Neil.....


JBNY712007.webp
 
This is insanity. Perhaps we should take a straw poll.
 
One of my very first jobs in TV was working on a really bad weekly farming show in Alberta, Canada (I'm talking the early 1970s here--I got off that show ASAP). Occasionally we'd shoot interview in barns full of bales and it was noticeable the the sound there was nicely deadened.

I'm not sure I'd want highly flammable straw bales, likely carrying various insects etc., in my studio--but as a deadening material it would likely work.
 
Haha thanks guys. I was just wondering because money always has been (and probably will be) a problem. It might be nice to be able to build up a contemporary studio/ practicing room anywhere (no smoking allowed, though). Thanks for the links I'll have a look at it!
 
Old straw starts to mold up, it sheds pieces all the time (you wouldn't want to plaster over it, that would then cause high frequency reflections). It's also bulky as hell, and not particularly cheap unless you live in hay country already and a farmer didn't sell his to the local conglomerate.
 
As others have said already, straw bales are too densely compact to become any more a fire hazard than say, anything else. The usual method for plastering straw bales is to cover it with mesh first to prevent cracking. But purely as soundproofing, it is an excellent insulator. We used to stack it round generators years ago and it worked perfectly.
In a practical sense, it is heavy, does take up a lot of space and there are many modern alternatives that work just as well.
 
It's like Fat Albert the farmer always said...

Hay, Hay, HAY!
 
You will hear it here from...wait for it......."The Horses Mouth"

Alan.
 
The question is what way he's going to work the straw in my eyes. Dunno about the states but here in Ireland, we build houses with them. It's called cob building and they're actually NOT flammable because they're densely packed and covered in a render (*I think lime?*)

Cob Construction - Building a house in Ireland - *Insert comment about researching prowess and paste in link of first semi-relevant site you find. ©The Be-A-Better-Forum-Poster Assoc.*

Given this, I have one previous experience of an on-site "recording studio" that was based at a festival built from Straw bales. Worked grand for me and was torn down by the end of the week.

My question though is why the OP wants to do it in straw?
 
Would definitely have to watch out for "big bad wolf blow-hards" with a straw studio...especially if name of your band is "Three Little Pigs". Straw in this case, would be best for audio than bricks.
 
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