Bedroom acoustic treatment (First Project)

Hey there... First off, English is not my first language, so I could say weird stuff... Well for some background I'm a 26 years old software developper who has been into music for about 8 years now. I've been recording myself for the last 4 years, upgrading my setup as I went. From computer microphones and soundblaster cards to a Firewire card, monitors and condenser microphones. I'm into a wide range of music and what I record reflects that. It's really the best thing I've ever done, if I only knew I would have started earlier ;) My stuff sounds ok, but not great, and I found it really frustrating to try to have a good sound. So I figured I needed some acoustic help. At first it all seemed way too complicated. I know a lot of musician and none of them really know what they are doing in term of acoustics. I really have to meet some of their engineers... Anyway instead of covering everything in egg-case, I started to read and learn. I've read a lot, but I have absolutely no experience. Well I've been lurking a lot around here lately, (very nice forum and incredibly smart people here by the way!) and I think it's time to make some improvements to my room. I've looked at a couple of designs and I've read Rod Gervais's book a couple of times... And what seemed most practical for me was to DIY some traps based on the realtraps "mini-traps". I'm only renting so all I build has to be easy to move. So I looked around and found some OFI 48 (Owens-Corming 703 equivalent) locally (www.isofab.com for anybody in Montréal looking for some). They cost 1.84$ for a square meter. I'll look around for better price but it seems alright. So... I'll go ahead with the room dimensions 10'W * 12'6"L * 7'10"3/16H Like you can see in the picture, it's not a complete rectangle, because of the slanted wall where the door is. I've looked up those dimensions in ModeCalc, I don't know how the slanted wall affects those results in reality. My room's ratio is not far from one of the recommended ones... The treatment I was thinking of implementing was to install 3 2'*2' minitraps in the 3 upper room corners. a 2*4 on the wall/ceiling corner above my desk, the same thing at the back of the room. 2 other, on in each wall/wall corner on my right and left. 2 on the ceiling, on either side of my ceiling lamp. I'd be left with a 2'*2' piece of insulation which I would use to dampen the sound of my computer. I'll build it in sketchup so it's easier to see. I really have to buy myself a sound level meter, and find a way to test my room with a software like ETF and those flat mikes... So, on with the questions... 1- On the picture of my room, my desk is on the smallest wall. Right now it's on the wall beside the closet. From what I've read the position in the picture would be better right? 2- Since my room is not entirely symetrical because of the slanted wall, is it better to have symetry in front or at the back? 3- Would the insulation I want to install be sufficient? 4- Should I use the OFI 48 or the SFK version? I read it reflected mids and high. Would it be worth it? Acording to the stats they do absorb less hight and mids than the plain version. I don't know how "dead" my room would sound with all those traps and no reflection... Hum... well I guess that's it for now Thanks in advance for your time!

MaximeCloutier wrote:

1- On the picture of my room, my desk is on the smallest wall. Right now it's on the wall beside the closet. From what I've read the position in the picture would be better right? 2- Since my room is not entirely symetrical because of the slanted wall, is it better to have symetry in front or at the back? 3- Would the insulation I want to install be sufficient? 4- Should I use the OFI 48 or the SFK version? I read it reflected mids and high. Would it be worth it? Acording to the stats they do absorb less hight and mids than the plain version. I don't know how "dead" my room would sound with all those traps and no reflection...

the position looks good. if you could move the dress away from you desk that would be best as its likely to reflect something right back at you or add some resonances to that side. the slanted door is ok in the rear of the room. i'd hang an absorber (50mm) on it. just to reduce the reflection coming back to the desk. the rest of the treatments sound fine and if you find you need more you can add more. the room shouldn't be too dead with either product. since its a tight space i'd go with the less reflective product.

Thanks a lot for the response... I think I'll get rid of the dresser altogether since I don't have much other space where to put it, and I dont want to cover it everytime I record... The things I don't like about this position is that I'm too far away from the closet to put my computer in it. It's a bit noisy right now. But I guess that when the room is treated the noise should go down a bit. I'll also try to dampen the sound directly with an insulated box... That and the fact that I have to put my bed on the wall where the door is, which is not all that private. I can't really close the door all the time since there is no window, so I guess I'll hang some fabric or something. I should be starting to build some panels by the end of the week... I just have to find a friend with a car that has some trunk space to haul the insulation around. Oh... on a side note... I was looking around some stuff I have from the time I worked in a pawnshop... I grabbed a bunch of cables and microphones that didnt work, in case I could fix them easily... I just discovered I've got a Gefell M295 in the bunch!!!! I opened it up and there doesnt seem to be anything wrong with the circuitry. But when I plug it the sound is either really distant or non-existing at all... That's just too bad...

Hmpf... it looks more and more like I'm going to move next summer, so I'll stop trying to perfect this particular room, but I'll still build some panels as they'll be useful anywhere. It sucks, there's a club that just opened right on the other side of my back alley... So now there's house music all the way until 3am and there's a bunch of people smoking in my alley since they can't smoke in bars anymore up here... Right in front of my 4 glass sliding door... I really have to get some drapes ;) So... yeah, I've got a pretty good idea of where I'll move already, so I'll start working with that as soon as I've got all the dimensions... The good thing is that I'll have so much more space, a dedicated room in fact ;o) but I'll have some neighbors underneath... But right now I can pretty much hear conversations on the other side of the middle wall so it can't be worse. Oh and I've contacted Gefell and I should be able to have it repaired for less than I thought! Yessssssss