would it be?

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dtb

dtb

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I record in my basement. It's like 25 x 40. My gear is in one corner. Outside walls are block, floor is concrete, with a 12x12 carpet on floor. Ceiling is 9" insulation in the joists.

My question is, would it be worth making some kind of treatment that would hang from the ceiling to make two walls, as to close in this corner, maybe like 12x12, which would make a room 12x12.

I was thinking something soft, so it would be easy to take down and put up. I don't want to build walls, cause we want the basement to stay open for socializing.

I thought about rigid insulation covered with material, but it would be kinda hard to store those. My wife suggested something simular to what we have on our bed, which is called a down comforter. This is a velcroed sleeve, made of bed sheet material, with a guilted down insert, that serves as a top sheet and top cover all in one. It's light, and seems to be very dense.

Would something like this, or any other suggestion you experts might have, improve the quality of the sound. Recordings are acoustic instruments and some vocals.

Of course, with my music, there may be no way to improve the quality, LOL.

Thanks,

Dan
 
would it be worth making some kind of treatment that would hang from the ceiling to make two walls, as to close in this

What is it your trying to do, isolate or treat the space you are enclosing? First off, rigid fiberglass does nothing for isolation. Sound goes right through it, both directions. although, mid and high frequency will be absorbed somewhat as it does, but low frequency will go right through. It also does not work as treatment, unless there is a boundary behind it, as if the fiberglass panels were adjacent to a wall. This is the premise of the absorption principle, as the the boundary causes a phase reversal on the soundwave. Sound will be absorbed at a frequency determined by the thickness of the fiberglass, as it will only absorb those frequencys with a 1/4 wavelength WITHIN the fiberglass. A 1000 hz soundwave, has a wavelength of about 13.5 inchs. 1/4 of that will get you into the absorption range for 3 or 4" Owens Corning 703. As frequency gets higher, the wavelengths get shorter. Thats why low frequency will NOT be absorbed. But for acoustic guitars and vocals, this will work great. The low E on guitar is about 82 hz, with a 1/4 wavelength of
You could build folding panels, like frames with a 1/2" or 3/4" ply back, with the fiberglass on the inside, facing into your enclosed space. These are called gobos, but they will NOT completely isolate the area. Sound leakage from beyond the gobos, and reverse, will happen easily. If you are only looking to semi isolate a small area, and treat it at the same time, gobos are the way to go. In this instance, you might consider hanging them from hooks on the joists, but make them fairly close tolerance between the floor and ceiling. It would take quite a few to enclose a 12x 12 area, on two sides. With 2' wide panels, 8' tall, that would take 12 panels. Not a small project either. 6 per wall. But at least you could take them down and store them, although, at 4" deep, even the storage would have to be 48" deep. As far as blankets, well.....yea, they are soft alright. But do nothing for treatment. Except absorb highs, and sound goes right through them. They will to some extent, keep reflections from coming back off the walls at the other areas of the room. But thats about it.

fitZ
 
thanks Rick. I kinda get the basics here. I'll do a search on the gobos.

Thanks for the response.

Dan
 
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