The room I'm recording/mixing in has cement board for walls, so the walls are already very reflective. And hard wood floors, so again reflective.
I am sitting in about a 11' x 13' room, with 8' ceilings.
I've posted much of my room layout in previous posts and put a hold on what I was doing. Now I am ready to build some broadband absorbers. When I'm recording drums particularly, the room sounds very roomy, reflective and spacious. I need to deaden the room quite a bit.
So I'm looking for something possibly more in the higher freq' then lower, but still a broadband absorber. Here is what I plan on building.
1x4 square frame with corner braces. 2'x4' in size.
Leaving one inch of air on the back
Put in 1 inch of wool inside
Put in 1 inch of owens 703 corning insulation.
1/2" of air on the front covered by some nice looking fabric.
Two questions about this approach. Should I cover the back with fabric as well? And I've read to put "wool" inside it. 1". What type of wool? Honestly I am clueless as to what you mean by placing an inch of "wool" inside the frame. Clear this up please?
I plan on building 4 of these at least and placing them around my room to help deaden the room.
Dave
Broadband Absorber's
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Thatoneguy
- Posts: 42
- Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2005 6:24 pm
- Location: Toledo Ohio, USA
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knightfly
- Senior Member
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- Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2003 11:11 am
- Location: West Coast, USA
"wool" is a generic acoustic term used to describe several different products - there is Rockwool, Mineral wool, Slag wool, Glass wool, and actual sheep's wool, Cotton wool, etc - any material that's around 2.5 Pounds per Cubic Foot (PCF) up to about 5-6 PCF will have similar characteristics, as long as it's "breathable" - if you can't blow through it, it won't work.
For your panels, I would put just 2 or 3" thick absorbent (Any of the above) to the FRONT of the panel, wrap with cloth or burlap (or fiberglass door screen material) and leave the back open (screen or cloth is OK, but NOT a solid back panel) - you will want at LEAST 4 of these - if you have the room, make them more like 3 feet wide and 4 feet tall, and place them floor to ceiling diagonally across all your room corners.
Build another frame to suspend a large "cloud" (similar construction) to hang over your mix position (or over live drums while recording) and you should hear a much tighter sound... Steve
For your panels, I would put just 2 or 3" thick absorbent (Any of the above) to the FRONT of the panel, wrap with cloth or burlap (or fiberglass door screen material) and leave the back open (screen or cloth is OK, but NOT a solid back panel) - you will want at LEAST 4 of these - if you have the room, make them more like 3 feet wide and 4 feet tall, and place them floor to ceiling diagonally across all your room corners.
Build another frame to suspend a large "cloud" (similar construction) to hang over your mix position (or over live drums while recording) and you should hear a much tighter sound... Steve
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Thatoneguy
- Posts: 42
- Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2005 6:24 pm
- Location: Toledo Ohio, USA
Great, thanks for the reply.
So you said "just 2" - 3" of absorbent material to the FRONT"
Am I correct in assuming that I won't need an air gaps in the front or back, just build the frame, stuff it with Rockwool or equivilent and cover it with some sort of fabric. I understand this all needs to be breathable, etc.
My only problem is that my room is a little funky shaped. One corner I can do, but the other corner has a heat/air vent so I can't build a corner trap there. The other corner has a door right there. And the other corner has a little alcove. So I can't put a trap there either. I posted a spec of my room a little while back if you can find it.
So would it be ok to build the cloud over the mix position, the live drums, and put a few of these up on my walls. 3' wide x 4' tall by about 6" deep. I can probably put up about 4 of these on my walls.
One more question, will any of the Auralex products be *better* to use, or is this pretty same in broadband absorption? Thanks again Steve!
Dave
So you said "just 2" - 3" of absorbent material to the FRONT"
Am I correct in assuming that I won't need an air gaps in the front or back, just build the frame, stuff it with Rockwool or equivilent and cover it with some sort of fabric. I understand this all needs to be breathable, etc.
My only problem is that my room is a little funky shaped. One corner I can do, but the other corner has a heat/air vent so I can't build a corner trap there. The other corner has a door right there. And the other corner has a little alcove. So I can't put a trap there either. I posted a spec of my room a little while back if you can find it.
So would it be ok to build the cloud over the mix position, the live drums, and put a few of these up on my walls. 3' wide x 4' tall by about 6" deep. I can probably put up about 4 of these on my walls.
One more question, will any of the Auralex products be *better* to use, or is this pretty same in broadband absorption? Thanks again Steve!
Dave
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knightfly
- Senior Member
- Posts: 6976
- Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2003 11:11 am
- Location: West Coast, USA
So you said "just 2" - 3" of absorbent material to the FRONT"
Am I correct in assuming that I won't need an air gaps in the front or back, just build the frame, stuff it with Rockwool or equivilent and cover it with some sort of fabric. I understand this all needs to be breathable, etc.
Close; my comment refers to the fact that the more air space you leave BEHIND an absorber (with no solid backing) the lower in frequency the absorber will have an effect.
My only problem is that my room is a little funky shaped. One corner I can do, but the other corner has a heat/air vent so I can't build a corner trap there. The other corner has a door right there. And the other corner has a little alcove. So I can't put a trap there either. I posted a spec of my room a little while back if you can find it.
Wall/ceiling corners are also good locations for broadband traps; building a few movable "gobo" type traps will also be useful. One use would be to place them across the back of the room, 3-4 feet from a wall, while mixing; you get benefits of a deep bass/broadband trap (while mixing) without the permanent loss of floor space.
So would it be ok to build the cloud over the mix position, the live drums, and put a few of these up on my walls. 3' wide x 4' tall by about 6" deep. I can probably put up about 4 of these on my walls.
Yes, that should help a lot.
One more question, will any of the Auralex products be *better* to use, or is this pretty same in broadband absorption?
Auralex makes some nice looking foam, the Tru TRap line for example; if you're into the foam look, and NOT into DIY, these can help a lot. Density isn't quite as high (IIRC) as rockwool or rigid fiberglass in general, so a given thickness wouldn't be equal between the compressed insulation and the foam. Otherwise, similar installation; leave an aor gap behind to lower the frequency it works to (without affecting HF absorption) Steve
Am I correct in assuming that I won't need an air gaps in the front or back, just build the frame, stuff it with Rockwool or equivilent and cover it with some sort of fabric. I understand this all needs to be breathable, etc.
Close; my comment refers to the fact that the more air space you leave BEHIND an absorber (with no solid backing) the lower in frequency the absorber will have an effect.
My only problem is that my room is a little funky shaped. One corner I can do, but the other corner has a heat/air vent so I can't build a corner trap there. The other corner has a door right there. And the other corner has a little alcove. So I can't put a trap there either. I posted a spec of my room a little while back if you can find it.
Wall/ceiling corners are also good locations for broadband traps; building a few movable "gobo" type traps will also be useful. One use would be to place them across the back of the room, 3-4 feet from a wall, while mixing; you get benefits of a deep bass/broadband trap (while mixing) without the permanent loss of floor space.
So would it be ok to build the cloud over the mix position, the live drums, and put a few of these up on my walls. 3' wide x 4' tall by about 6" deep. I can probably put up about 4 of these on my walls.
Yes, that should help a lot.
One more question, will any of the Auralex products be *better* to use, or is this pretty same in broadband absorption?
Auralex makes some nice looking foam, the Tru TRap line for example; if you're into the foam look, and NOT into DIY, these can help a lot. Density isn't quite as high (IIRC) as rockwool or rigid fiberglass in general, so a given thickness wouldn't be equal between the compressed insulation and the foam. Otherwise, similar installation; leave an aor gap behind to lower the frequency it works to (without affecting HF absorption) Steve