Sound treatment for a small bedroom studio

I'm needing help with sound treatment for a small bedroom studio that i'm just setting up. The bass response is a little wild (C2 and C#2 especially) I'm wanting to use the room mainly for mixing and recording vocals. The size of the room is 13' x 9' with a 8' ceiling. There is a large window at one end and a recessed cupboard and door at the other end. All the walls are brick and plaster. The floor is laminate wood flooring on backing foam, on floorboards, on joists. There is currently no acoustic treatment at all. I'm going to put some acoustic foam either side to catch the reflection form the monitors. (would it be better to use acoustic foam or glass fibre?) I'm thinking of putting in glass fibre bass traps in the corners by the window, and the the wall to ceiling corners. They wont really fit in the rear corners by the door and cupboard. Should I be treating the ceiling with absorbers? Or the floor with anything? I've attached a almost scale plan of the room as it is laid out plus some pictures. What other treatment would you suggest? :) My budget is under £500, but i don't mind a a bit of DIY. Paul London, UK

Aloha and welcome to the forum, Hughe :D Perhaps something like this? - bass traps in front L, R corners - bass trap at wall to ceiling junction above door/closet - slot resonators on side walls starting at mix position and back towards rear of room Most designs on this forum call for either 3" Owens Corning 703 @ 2.5 pcf or 3" Roxul AFB (Acoustic Fire Batt) @ 2.5 pcf rather than "foam." Here's a couple of links on how to build wall units & bass traps http://www.johnlsayers.com/HR/index1.htm http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5930 Check here for OC 703/Roxul AFB in the UK - http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewf ... =0&start=0 Hope this helps, Aloha 8)

Thats great! thanks. I'll look at a material list and get an idea of what this will cost. Do you think I should make the corner bass traps with 4" fibre glass across the corner, or would fibre glass cut in triangles filling the whole area behind be better? As I have a wooden floor and low ceiling do you think i should put foam/hanging absorber on the ceiling?

Aloha Hughe,

Do you think I should make the corner bass traps with 4" fibre glass across the corner, or would fibre glass cut in triangles filling the whole area behind be better?

There's been both schools of thought, but I can't say which would work better for you, as I opted to soffit mount with mineral wool. Perhaps a search on "super chunk" may prove helpful.

As I have a wooden floor and low ceiling do you think i should put foam/hanging absorber on the ceiling?

Most here have a cloud type absorber (OC 703/Mineral wool) rather than the typical foam products on the market. Here's a drawing from the SAE site to give you an idea of what materials you'll be looking at. Aloha 8)

Do the corner bass trap units need to be flush against the walls of the corner? I'm trying to work out how best to fit them in around the strange structual bits of the room I've been playing (too much) with the SketchUp program. This is an accurate (to the nearest 1/4 inch) model of the room.

Aloha Hughe, Very nice job on the Sketch! :wink:

Do the corner bass trap units need to be flush against the walls of the corner?

Since that is where alot of bass energy builds up. the closer you can get it into the corner/walls, the more effective it will be.

I'm trying to work out how best to fit them in around the strange structual bits of the room.

You could start by transfering the corner angles to the top & bottom plates of the trap, and then cut the sides to fit the height. Aloha 8)

I'm toying with idea of partitioning off the window for sound insulation from the window, and possibly using some of the space for PC isolation. I'm trying to convince my girlfriend that we don't really need any daylight in the room :P otherwise I could throw some money at a double glazed window but i don't really want to get into the realms of planning permission. ideally it'd seal the window and pack it with fibre glass and then hardboard over it. or at least some of it. and I've just found a ventilation block behind the radiator under window. that would account for some of the noise i can't seem to shift.