Treatment questions...your advice

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SMX_Dizzy

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Well, I'm going to be treating my soon-to-be-studio-room soon. It's 11' x 15.5' x 8'. The room has a concrete floor that I'll put carpet and rugs over, and has painted block walls. It has a bay window-ish thing where I'll put my mixer, monitors, and computer. It also has a small 4' x 7.5' x 8' (didn't include it in the first measurement) part off to the right side (looking forward), that has the water softener and some pipes, so I'm going to curtain it off with some of this stuff. There's also some other pipes on the ceiling that I'll cover with that stuff too. I'm also going to basically be making this treatment kit out of these bass traps and this studio foam.

My main question is: are these products good and worth it? I just want to know if this stuff is worth it b/c it seems really inexpensive, and I'm on a bit of a budget too.

Advice is great also.
 
I'm going to put carpet on the floor and a rug (or rugs) on top of that for treating the concrete floor.
 
> are these products good and worth it? <

No, those products are a fraud. They're made from cheap packing foam but advertised as legitimate acoustic foam. How do I know this? Because I paid handsomely to test that foam in a real acoustics lab! :D You can see a direct comparison of that foam, Auralex foam, and my own company's products on the Product Data page of my company's web site linked under my name below.

--Ethan
 
Well, the Auralex is more expensive then the acoustic treament kit I posted, so is the kit of better foam or the same as the seperate bass traps and panels?
 
SMX_Dizzy said:
Well, the Auralex is more expensive then the acoustic treament kit I posted, so is the kit of better foam or the same as the seperate bass traps and panels?
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I'm not sure what you're asking. Anything from Foam by Mail or any of its subsidiaries is a fraud and does not work as well as claimed. But you can do much better than any foam for not much more money.

--Ethan
 
What would you suggest for not much more money? If you could provide some specific examples (links would be great) that would help a lot.
 
Won't doing something like putting fiberglass panels over the walls and putting playwood over the fiberglass make the room a bit smaller? It looks like it'd be kinda wide to put on my walls, and really hard to put on my walls at that. Also, would fiberglass in the corners be more effective than foam bass traps?
 
SMX_Dizzy said:
Won't doing something like putting fiberglass panels over the walls and putting playwood over the fiberglass make the room a bit smaller? It looks like it'd be kinda wide to put on my walls, and really hard to put on my walls at that. Also, would fiberglass in the corners be more effective than foam bass traps?
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So much more effective!!! Check out http://techno-minds.com/studiobuild/index.php wherer there should soon be stickies etc explaning.
 
Ok, so if this rigid fiberglass stuff is relatively cheap at Home Depot (as much or a little bit more than the foam bass traps) than I'll go for it. Would I need to build a housing, or put a piece of plywood over it or anything? I'd want to make the edges air-tight with the walls it's against right?...how can I do that?

Sorry, I'm really new to this stuff. I've got most of my studio equipment stuff thought out, but I guess the treatment not as thought out as it should be.
 
SMX_Dizzy said:
Ok, so if this rigid fiberglass stuff is relatively cheap at Home Depot (as much or a little bit more than the foam bass traps) than I'll go for it. Would I need to build a housing, or put a piece of plywood over it or anything? I'd want to make the edges air-tight with the walls it's against right?...how can I do that?

Sorry, I'm really new to this stuff. I've got most of my studio equipment stuff thought out, but I guess the treatment not as thought out as it should be.
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You wanna make a frame for it, then cover the whole thing in fabric, and have it straddeling the corner. I don't think you can get it in Home Depot, although I live in Scotland, so i don't have a clue. Don't even think about getting the foam stuff mate, Ethans an expert in acoustics. Check out his FAQ here. Ohh and nice looking kit... :D
 
So, what do I make the frame out of...plywood? Do I basically just cover the fiberglass in plywood, almost as if it were a "case"? Or can I put a piece of plywood in the corner, the fiberglass over that, and a piece of plywood over that, and seal it with foam insulation or something?
 
SMX_Dizzy said:
So, what do I make the frame out of...plywood? Do I basically just cover the fiberglass in plywood, almost as if it were a "case"? Or can I put a piece of plywood in the corner, the fiberglass over that, and a piece of plywood over that, and seal it with foam insulation or something?
Click to expand...

Check out this link.
 
Thanks a lot for that! How can I attach that to the walls though?...does it really need to be air-tight?
 
Ok i'll explain: There are 2 main types of bass traps. 1 is sealed and airtight, and the other is just like a broadband absorber. The cheapest and easiest is the latter. This is what I'm suggesting. What you do is build a frame, like the one I've shown, out of wood(or some people use this metal stuff, i need to find out what it is. It leaves the sides exposed for more absorbtion), you put the rigid fiberglass in, and cover the whole thing is fabric. No need for plywood or sealant. The only disadvantage(if you wanna call it that)is that this type of bass trap absorbs all frequencies instead of just bass. In most situations this is ok, and may actually be benificial, but in some cases the room only has problems in the bass frequencies, so absorbtion of other frequencies causes problems.
 
You could just hang it like picture frame, in the corner.
 
I'm going to try to post some pictures or links to pictures of the room I'll be transforming. Keep in mind, it may look like crap, but with hard work and elbow grease I'll turn it into a nice lookin studio (hopefully :)).
 
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You won't be able to by the right stuff at Home Depot. The fluffy fiberglass thermal insulation is not dense enough. You will need to go to a place that supplies insulation to contractors. You need semi-rigid boards of about 3-5 pounds per cubic foot density. I usually get unfaced since that gives me more flexibility in how to use them. You will most likely have to buy a bale. That is a two foot tall stack of two-by-four foot panels. I get either one or two inch thickness panels. Then I start experimenting. My starting point is usually four four inch thick panels in the corners and four two inch panels on the walls. Then see how the room sounds. If it sounds too 'boomy' convert a pair of the wall traps into another corner trap and if it sounds to 'slappy' (like being in a bathroom) then convert one of the corners into a pair of wall traps, then repeat. Rarely will you need a second bale of fiberglass. Then when you think you got it right frame (if you wish), cover with open weave fabric, and hang.
 
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