Room Treatment

[GearHunter]

My son, a classical guitar student and audiophile, has moved into a spare bedroom, and is making his old room, the master bedroom, into a sound studio. He's studying up on room treatment, materials to use for sound damping, etc. He's bought some new monitors, and is thinking about what to do for bass traps, wall treatment, etc.

I thought I'd help him a bit by running it by this forum, fishing for ideas.

I've moved this thread over from the introductions forum.

The room is about 10 by 14. He's already settled on the position of the control console, based on optimal triangulation/speaker placement.

Any ideas are appreciated.

 

[jim1961]

http://www.bobgolds.com/AbsorptionCoefficients.htm
Acoustic Room Treatment Articles - eCoustics.com
How to Build DIY Corner Bass Traps ? The Bounce Down - Recording, mixing, designing and music promotion tips and techniques.
The Basics - Room Acoustics
Cardas Audio
How Does Listening Room Acoustics Affect Sound Quality? — Reviews and News from Audioholics
Room Acoustics
RealTraps - A New Approach to Small Room Acoustics
DIY Tube Traps

Here are some links ive saved from my own investigation of this issue. Hope they help

 

[revboden]

I often find that people over think this, like most things actually.

Make a mess of mid/high panels (I like 2" memory foam pads that go on beds cut up into 18" squares and covered in thick black fleece with a simple wood frame, Hollywood style.) and place them with a mirror to eliminate the primary reflections from the driver to the listening position. Then cover about half the back wall surface with absorbers in a checkerboard pattern and then all the front wall. Then see what the room sounds like. If it's too dead take some away, if it's too bright add some. Bass tube traps are easy to build and instructions for DIY tubes are on the web. Put them in the corners. DIY Tube Traps

I should explane the mirror technique. Get a hand held mirror. Get a friend to hold the mirror. Get a chair that the friend can stand on. Use the mirror to find the spots on the wall and ceiling that you can see the speakers. Put a absorber there.

disclaimer: I hold no responsibility for anyone who falls off the chair while doing the mirror thing. They shouldn't have had so many beers


edit: Get the flat bed foam things, the egg crate ones are useless, you want mass not fluffiness.

 

[jim1961]

I often find that people over think this, like most things actually.

Make a mess of mid/high panels (I like 2" memory foam pads that go on beds cut up into 18" squares and covered in thick black fleece with a simple wood frame, Hollywood style.) and place them with a mirror to eliminate the primary reflections from the driver to the listening position. Then cover about half the back wall surface with absorbers in a checkerboard pattern and then all the front wall. Then see what the room sounds like. If it's too dead take some away, if it's too bright add some. Bass tube traps are easy to build and instructions for DIY tubes are on the web. Put them in the corners. DIY Tube Traps

I should explane the mirror technique. Get a hand held mirror. Get a friend to hold the mirror. Get a chair that the friend can stand on. Use the mirror to find the spots on the wall and ceiling that you can see the speakers. Put a absorber there.

disclaimer: I hold no responsibility for anyone who falls off the chair while doing the mirror thing. They shouldn't have had so many beers


edit: Get the flat bed foam things, the egg crate ones are useless, you want mass not fluffiness.

For absorption, you want a material that is porus in nature like Owens Corning 700 series fiberglass. I dont know whether memory foam is porus or non-porus, but if its the later, it may not be doing the job you want it to.

 

[cyclecamper]

IMHO the trick is broad-band absorption of those nearfield reflections, without absorbing far more treble than bass.

You can get 2 foot X 4 foot acoustical ceiling tiles, and glue them together with constact cement or spray glue to make a 4X4 double-thick panels, cover with either fiberglass and cloth or glue on commercial auralex. Hang several spaced a few inches off the walls at the primary reflection points. Diffusors elsewhere. Good start. You can make sonotube bass traps and trim the length and stuffing density to tune, sew up a stretchy polyester cover sock. Any funiture in the room, like a hutch or buffet server, I like to place a few inches from the wall and treat the back side with glued-on foam. Or if you make revboden describes for the nearfield reflections, you can cover both sides with masonite perfboard to tune them much much lower for placement elsewhere as bass traps. There's a multitude of variations.

But most of this advice is for monitoring a stereo; read about real RPG diffusors, the pro studio's friend; IMHO that's a given place to start for a recording studio.

 

[Caroline Willison]

The main reason behind this room treatment is to control sound waves move around the room.
If u were having bare room, then you could hear echoes, to tackle these echoes simply put up some thick curtains against windows. So that perfect system would not be spoiled.