Why is everyone so worried about foam...

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tubedude

tubedude

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...and making a DEAD room, rather than some diffusion and making it a NICE room? I cant quite figure out what the obsession is. I have killed rooms throughout my life by hanging carpet everywhere, foam, etc...
you can use half the foam and some properly placed diffusion and get really nice results. Foam alone, everywhere, in my experince has never been good and will result in flat crappy recordings, especially on drums.
Auralex has some really cheap diffusors at about $120 for (12) 2x2 pieces. Havent used it, yet, but will sonn enough.
YMMV.
 
I kill my room cause it's too fuckin small. 7'x12'x16' The room modes are all over the audible range. Bass traps and something to kill the ring.
 
My tracking room is very dead with 4" rockwool and small - 6' 1" width, 7'9" length and 6'7" height... not much room around my drums I can tell you ! I am presently repairing the roof - which has leaked water onto my inner 18mm MDF ceiling( u wanna watch MDF swell up when wet) - fucking shite... anyway I am interested in seeing if anyone has attempted diffusion in a very small space. I remember seeing one of John's studios with a pine ? drum booth - bigger than my room though ?

Cheers
 
Good diffusion on the ceiling above the recording area wil be a huge improvement.
Maybe try killing one wall and diffusing its opposite alone with bass traps and you may do quite well.
Have you guys seen the thing on prorec.com about the room he just treated? It is pretty small, but he seems to love it now, especially the diffused area.
 
I'd be interested in that as well. I am just about ready to start treating my tracking room. It's 14' x 14' x 8', not the best dimensions I guess. I have been wondering what the best way is to treat such a room. I thought absorbtion was better for low ceilings.
 
I can't afford to kill my room at this time but I need to get rolling. I have a 30'x20' garage with a 20' rollup door. I live in a rural area so the neighbors are not a problem. I've spent a bundle on gear (Roland 1824, POD, DR Rythm, 2 cheep Octava condensers, a 57, 4 $"50" mics, chords and a PA). My present band needs a demmo and I'll be forming another band within the next few months. What can I do quickly and cheeply so that I can record drums and mic a guitar in this room?
 
Me... I would buy a 12 pack or Auralex metrofusers ($120 or so I think, try fullcompass. com) and lay out about 3 wide and 3 deep over where the drums will sit, and kind of away from the walls some. Use the remainder behind the drums, and then put bass traps in the corners, and use some foam to deaden some areas without getting it too dead.
here are cheap bass traps -> http://www.foambymail.com/CornerSolutions.html
and here is a picture of a good way to put them...
http://www.prorec.com/prorec/articles.nsf/articles/D51DA0B4344E508386256C190080663A
 
tubedude said:
...and making a DEAD room, rather than some diffusion and making it a NICE room? I cant quite figure out what the obsession is. I have killed rooms throughout my life by hanging carpet everywhere, foam, etc...
you can use half the foam and some properly placed diffusion and get really nice results. Foam alone, everywhere, in my experince has never been good and will result in flat crappy recordings, especially on drums.
Auralex has some really cheap diffusors at about $120 for (12) 2x2 pieces. Havent used it, yet, but will sonn enough.
YMMV.
Click to expand...

If you have an electric saw and a lot of time, you can make your own diffusers out of different length wood pieces standing on its edge, glued together to make randomly thick tiles. It works well, even if the wood is something like Pine. Oak better of course.

I agree with you about using diffusion for a "nice" room rather than a dead room, but the size of the room usually dictates what you can get away with.

In the pro studio I'm building, even though the console room will be larger than my home studio, I'm going to kill the room anyway so all I hear is the audio, not the room. The main live room will have hardwood floors and diffusers, with some heavy drapes carefully located and spaced apart to do some absorbing in between, depending on how the room sounds upon final construction.

Sad thing is I haven't finished the design, yet the hardwood was delivered last night via truck :) I chose a dark maple. Guess I have to paint the room very bright as not to make it look like a lawyer's office gone live room LOL.
 
There is also another small thing to consider if you plan to cover a whole room with foam ...... formeldahyde.
Safety standards are, apparently based on a certain amount of foam per cube, not a whole place covered.
Breeding F is ever so good for you
 
Id rather start with a dead room and add the acoustics electronically.
 
Check out the difference between foam and fibreglass relative to thickness and absorption.

cheers
John
 

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BTW the stuff I used in Left Bank is Insulco - an aussie product. I've highlighted the 2" I used.
 

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Ok then, it looks better on paper. Is this the standard fiberglass insulation you speak of or some kind of panel? What about cost? Thickness? How does one use it, nail it right to the wall? Make a frame for it?
I've heard of using the fiberglass but never really looked into it all.
Info please. Links, maybe.
Peace!
 
Re: HOMASOTE

T.J.Hooker said:
:cool:
Click to expand...

Many model railroaders use Homasote®, but few know its background. The stroy begines in August 1909, when Eugenius Outerbridge incorporated teh Agasote Milling Co. and built a manufacturing plant in Trenton Junction, N.J. (which was on the Reading's main line). He had acquired the rights to make a special high-density wood fiberboard developed in England. This material proved useful in the construction of railroad passenger cars and then automobiles. As a result, Outerbridge and his firm prospered.

In 1916, they introduced a strong, lightweight, and weather-resistant board called Homasote. Used widely overseas during World War I, Homasote soon dominated sales and led to the firm's being renamed the Homasote Co. in 1936.

Homasote, for those of you that don't know, is made from old newspapers, lottery tickets, and paperback books. These materials are made into the fiberboard by a process that converts the paper back to wood fiber pulp; refines, presses, and dries this material; and ends with it cut into sheets. The gray color is a remnant of the inks in the recycled paper.

In this era of environmental concern, it's worth noting that each ton of Homasote saves 17 trees and 3 cubic yards of landfill space. Annually, that's 1.4 million trees and 247,000 cubic yards of landfill space.

- Richard C. Albert



copyright© 2002, California Roadbed Co., Inc. All Rights Reserved
 
Ok, cool... lets take that black Owens Corning stuff for instance... how do I use it as opposed to using some auralex foam? How does it compare pricewise? How much is a sheet, I'm guessing it is4x8 foot?
Thanks...
 
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