Attic home studio treatment

How to use REW, What is a Bass Trap, a diffuser, the speed of sound, etc.

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Cue Zephyr
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Mar 18, 2018 12:45 am
Location: The Netherlands

Attic home studio treatment

Post by Cue Zephyr »

Howdy folks,

Please note that I'm in Europe. I don't have access to Owen's Corning 703 or 705 but I do have access to Rockwool, Knauf and Isover. Probably others too, but these I'm absolutely sure of.

I'm not looking for exact, good enough is good enough!

Good enough for what? Recording acoustic instruments including guitar, banjo, mandolin, so nothing really low. Mixing below 85dB because that's just too dang loud for me. The type of music I work on is pop music with not much low content. I high-pass my mixes at 47Hz despite not printing to vinyl, lol.

I want an all-round drier sounding room, so that means reducing reflections.

My room is as follows:
Length: 7m or 23'
Width: 4m or 13'
Height 2.75m or 9' at highest point
My attic-studio is right under the slanted roof, so I pretty much have only two parallel walls. The short walls are about 1m high before they meet with the slanted ceiling.
The parallel walls are drywall, the ceilings are gypsum panels and the floor is linoleum over concrete.
There's a window on either side of the room, in the slanted ceiling. The door is in the middle of the back wall.

My listening position is along one of the long walls, about 30cm away from it. I use small nearfields with a 5" woofer that are propped and angled up to point straight at my ears. I do realize this might complicate the situation a little. I don't use a subwoofer.

Further complicating matters, there's a double bed in the right corner, next to the listening position, and a couch on the opposite wall.

On the other side of the room, so on the same wall as the couch and the door, there's a carpet with an electric drum kit on it.

Besides that, there's cupboards and tables scattered across the room with stuff in or on it.

Here's a 2D drawing and a 3D model of the basic interior.

My home studio shape looks like this:
roomie.png
and the mixing location is here:
room5.png
My idea is as follows:

Cover the back wall (i.e. the wall I'm NOT facing) with 4-6 DIY broadband absorbers.
Cover the front wall (i.e. the wall I DO face) with 4 DIY broadband absorbers.

One of the better-known materials for home studio builders here is Rockwool Rocksono Solid, also known as Rockwool 211. It's rock wool with a density of 45 kg/m³. I am able to source this material. I've read Rocksono Extra, also known as 221 is even better at 55 kg/m³ but I can't find this anywhere without having to pay excessive shipping.

These are 1000x600mm panels available in thicknesses up to 100mm. I understand the thicker the better, especially with lower density. So I'd be thinking of 80-100mm thick panels and have like 50-70mm of air gap.

Alternatively, there's Isover Sonepanel in 45 or 60mm thicknesses . The density claims to be 16-18kg/m³. I believe that's a little on the low side even for glass wool. I've read somewhere that glass wool can be about 20ish kg/m³ lower in density than suitable rock wool.

That leaves the slanted walls, on which I doubt I can stick much of anything other than foam. Now I know foam does jack diddly squat for low frequencies, but the right foam in sufficient thicknesses can reach down to mids.

Could I just proceed with this or am I off on my plans or product choices?

Thanks!
CZ
Musician and producer
Gregwor
Moderator
Posts: 1501
Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2017 6:03 pm
Location: St. Albert, Alberta, Canada

Re: Attic home studio treatment

Post by Gregwor »

Before you do anything, take some REW measurements and post them.
You still have some right angled corners. After you make your REW measurements, chances are you will make the biggest improvement by putting the biggest bass traps you can situate in those corners.

Let's see the REW pictures!

Greg
It appears that you've made the mistake most people do. You started building without consulting this forum.
Soundman2020
Site Admin
Posts: 11938
Joined: Thu Aug 21, 2008 10:17 am
Location: Santiago, Chile
Contact:

Re: Attic home studio treatment

Post by Soundman2020 »

Before you do anything, take some REW measurements and post them.
Right! Here's how to do that... http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... =3&t=21122


- Stuart -
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