What can I do to make my basement sound better?

[tisza]

Well I have my studio in my basement because there's no room in my bedroom or the rest of the house and the room sounds pretty crappy. I have rugs on the floors but the walls are still cement. Also my studio area is kind of in the middle of the basement. Basically there's junk surrounding the music area. Obviously these are not ideal conditions. What could you recommend that I do to improve the situation? This isn't a serious studio by any means, just a little something I put together in my basement. But I'm not getting great results from micing so I'm looking for tips on how to improve the area.

Thanks!

 

[Ethan Winer]

Room treatment is a deep subject, and a complete answer requires far more than will fit into a single reply here. So here's the short version which will get you 99 percent of the way there. All rooms need:

* Broadband (not tuned) bass traps straddling as many corners as you can manage, including the wall-ceiling corners. More bass traps on the rear wall behind helps even further. You simply cannot have too much bass trapping. Real bass trapping, that is - thin foam and thin fiberglass don't work to a low enough frequency.

* Mid/high frequency absorption at the first reflection points on the side walls and ceiling.

* Some additional amount of mid/high absorption and/or diffusion on any large areas of bare parallel surfaces, such as opposing walls or the ceiling if the floor is reflective. Diffusion on the rear wall behind you is also useful in larger rooms.

For the complete story see my Acoustics FAQ.

There's a lot of additional non-sales technical information on my company's web site - articles, videos, test tones and other downloads, and much more.

--Ethan

 

[D28Flatpickr]

Lot of great info in one place. Thanks for the link!

 

[homestudioguy]

Well I have my studio in my basement because there's no room in my bedroom or the rest of the house and the room sounds pretty crappy. I have rugs on the floors but the walls are still cement. Also my studio area is kind of in the middle of the basement. Basically there's junk surrounding the music area. Obviously these are not ideal conditions. What could you recommend that I do to improve the situation? This isn't a serious studio by any means, just a little something I put together in my basement. But I'm not getting great results from micing so I'm looking for tips on how to improve the area. Thanks!

What mics are you using?
That may have some major part of the not so good sound.

Also, go to my website (www.homestudioguy.com) and look at the low-cost unit I built for hanging panels of Owens Corning 703 etc. It was meant for hanging directly on a wall but I'm sure you could hang these from wires around your space to help provide some sort of room environment.

Also, take a look at the sE Reflexion Filter at www.sonicus.com.

Good luck!
HSG

 

[Ripthorn]

I would also suggest cleaning out as much junk as possible, or at least consolidating all of it to one place. A good, clear open space will allow you better options for mic positioning. Also, panels are good as is ceiling treatment (that is usually far more effective than rugs). There is really no substitute for taking some good time to make the room the best it can be.

 

[bpape]

Broadband bass control is always important. With a concrete shell, it's even more important as they'll do zero to provide anything helpful and reflect basically everything close to 100%.

If the joist cavities are open above, you might consider filling some of them with insulation and tacking some cloth over it. This is especially helpful arond the room perimeter and over where you're going to be tracking.

Bryan