John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Ok all, its been awhile but I certainly stayed busy. Fortunately I can stay functional even with the virus keeping me at home....So I'll be doing a series of posts to give as much detail as I can. Stay tuned!

Here's a pic of the wall units without the doors...Finally on the wall and finished without the doors. I'll be recording and getting a feel for the room before I go to the last step of building the doors and adding reflection back to the room via a ratio of boards over the existing absorption. The room is still quite dead...(I like it that way for just jamming and composing) Its less fatiguing on the ears and I get more clarity, which makes me happier...

First of all a couple of model pics to illustrate the door function....Fortunately the room sounds awesome to me without the doors being done yet. I'll need to finish the process to get the reflection options back in the mix though.

Awesome - that room looks like a million bucks!

Thanks man!

The internals consisted of multiple features. Limp membrane traps, some combined with helmholtz resonators. Also some absorption and of course lots of diffusion. This helped calm down some flutter echo and made the room generally sound smoother with more clarity.

The most complex parts are the combination Helmoltz/limp membrane features...

The center module is just a curvy diffuser filled with insulation.

Here is some data comparing the room with old treatment to where it is today. The decay time has improved marginally, which is to be expected since I haven't added the reflection back into the room yet. There is improvement in the flutter echo issue and overall room sound..I am stoked about that! It sounds great in here. Getting lots of compliments from visitors. The low end has been tamed quite a bit! I left the rack toms in the room in the new tests, so there is a bit of ringing in the waterfall. No big deal. Another issue with these comparisons is the difference in convertors. The old was done on an RME UFX and the new is done on an Apollo x8p. I'm only posting one mic position because the data is largely similar and that would be a ton of graphs! I will post more data in a month or two, once I get the doors built and installed along with the reflection boards...

Mic placement pic:
Old treatment position 1: New Treatment position 1: Waterfall:
Old treatment position 1: New Treatment position 1:
RT60 graph: no significant change here....
Old treatment position 1: New treatment position 1:

Hey thanks so much for posting, all this info is invaluable. Your thread is absolutely gigantic and full of gold!

Your treatment looks great and I'm glad it is improving your rooms overall.

The curvy diffuser looks very interesting... so did you wrap a thin layer of ply over the curvy skeleton? Is it completely sealed airtight and filled with insulation or is it left open on the top and bottom of the curve?

Thanks!
Paul

Hey Paul,

it is indeed a bendable plywood product, 3/8" thick... the side modules are sealed because they're tuned. The center part is not....Just filled with insulation. I don't believe it's critical which type you use. I found that getting the plywood wet makes it more bendable if it's brittle. Mine was starting to get that way after sitting around for so long.


Thanks for the kind words. I'm very happy to be in the place I'm in finally!

Frank, your work ethic and skills are so inspiring. Wow!

Greg

Thanks man!

Been while since I've caught up on this. Amazing stuff in the updates I've missed.

Thanks. Gonna start on the doors for the varifusers soon when the smoke from the fires clear up around here.

Been really getting some good use out of the room. Honestly, I like it dead. May not push to liven it up too much.

Gonna start on the doors . . . when the smoke from the fires clear up around here.

Yikes! Hope that's not too close for comfort Frank!

Been really getting some good use out of the room.

That's great to hear - I'm looking forward to seeing & hearing more soon. Best wishes, John.