open walls, kraft face, etc

question at bottom... so my room has open walls. not sure if i will build the inner room up the road. i am now adding regular pink insulation. the ceiling is all r-19. after the ceiling was done there was still a ping when i clapped my hands. using two long poles and a heavy packing blanket i located the problem area. not where i thought, but i knew where the problem was....parallel walls the 23' ones. at first i thought about insulating just one wall. then i decided to stagger the insulation so all the odds "bays" on one wall all the evens on the other. that took care of the ping. 2 questions. 1) am i right in staggering? i'm thinking natural diffuse sound and more symetry for mixing. 2) what will the effect of so much kraft face insulation have? i hear people talking about porous acoustic panels. kraft face is not breathable. but what can paper reflect? 8K? will i have a even room with bass but a pronounced 8k peak? as it stands what i hear is a lot less resonance in the low <500 department. a lot less ping (things slapping from wall to wall). overall more even. i do have 4 bass traps and 6 panels from gik and a thick thick shag (8' x 5') if need be. thx

Where is your build thread? Shouldn't we be in the build thread? It is difficult for me to get a handle on what it is you are saying...it reads like you have insulated every other open cavity in a framed wall...surely this is not what you are saying is it? Kraft faced insulation is kind of frowned on for these reasons you are discovering. It hinders the insulations ability to work the magic in mids and high frequency areas. It is a barrier that sound can bounce off of and help flutter to live on. In a thermal environment you face the paper to the living side of the building which I can only assume this is what you are doing. But it should have been unfaced from the start. Like the song goes, "there's your trouble."

i think started this abut half way through my build. and i didn't realize a person should make a thread. i know some have. but seems i'm always in a unique position. the issues i have to deal with aren't supper common. take the 100 year old structure for example.

surely this is not what you are saying is it?

yes that is what i am saying. haha. now i've done it. i'm wondering what i can expect with this. i have other crazy ideas too. wanna hear? for example. i want to put something over all this kraft face for a few reasons. 1) to keep any fiberglass in seems etc from getting in the air. 2) so i can have a space that reflects light better. 3) to protect the kraft face paper from punctures. i'm thinking tyvek...cheap, strong, breathable to moisture (not sound), good barrier for rogue fiberglass, white. but that's another post. there is acoustic fabric too. but i figure over 500 sqft. that might bust me. i know what i'm doing is less them ideal. but it's my third project studio and by far the best. i don't make my living doing this...yet... and this has already been something like 25k. i'm broke, my wife has been very cool, and one day perhaps we will build the inner wall so none of this will be an issue. one more thing. what i heard in flutter whas about 1-2k i figure. i was thinking paper would absorb that.

Well, your ideas are just that: ideas. We like to deal in facts around here and stray from fiction and hear-say. As your room is right now is a direct result of not educating yourself before jumping into this project. Would you purchase a vehicle without arming yourself with every little detail you could get about the vehicle? It is beyond me what you have at this moment but I do know that you presently have a virtual fire hazard with the exposed kraft paper in this room. That you can be sure of.

i know about the fire hazard. that's one of the reasons i was looking into covering them too. w/flame resistant fabric. reason 4....forgot to list it. and yes i do purchase vehicles without knowing every bit of info on them. :D so on second listen. sounds like the paper is reflecting around 10k..or has a peak there. what a difference the facing makes. sheesh. the fiberglass i had thought of...the facing i had not. ooops. they can removed with needle nose and some staple pulling. it's a very quick kinda shhh...if you listen to a shaker in the room. this makes me rule out tyvek. i looked at some today and it's just going to reflect too much i think. still, cool material. why didn't a use my ears after the first bat was in!! lesson learned i hope.

Well, it is a process and often it takes a small handful of people in the day-to-day work environment to get even the smallest build completed to a satisfactory level. So you guys who try to go it alone, my hats off to ya...even when ya fail ;)

thx, i'm ether brave or stupid or both. when i finish hope to be less of the later. but honestly, the only reason i'm going it alone is because i can't afford to hire pros and i don't know anyone local with similar interests. i know lots of musicians, but no aspiring studio builders. think i'm going back to basics...lug my machine in there and take some measurements. re-read rod's book on room treatments. stop the building for now. and all i wanted to do was play guitar and sing. what a slippery, expensive, time consuming slope.

"...and all i wanted to do was play guitar and sing. what a slippery, expensive, time consuming slope." It is a challenge and it can take considerable time to get anything of value to work with, in relation to a recording room. You are on the right path...