John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

A question I'm curious about:

Suppose I were to build a studio in a place where noise wasn't much of a problem, away from civilization and other people. Would building my ceiling and/or walls out of glass entirely (with a supportive frame, of course) be effective for treating bass frequencies? (as well as being pretty!)

The reason I'm asking is that windows reflect back high frequencies much better than low frequencies, so any frequencies reflected back into the room would contain (much?) more high-frequency content than low frequency content, the low frequencies having passed onto the air outside the roof/walls.

Is this a realistic design idea?

> Is this a realistic design idea? <

You're on the right track, but even thin glass reflects bass a little. I suspect that by the time you made the glass thin enough to pass everything below 300 Hz - the upper limit of what is considered "bass" frequencies - the glass would be too thin to be practical.

--Ethan

I know a guy who has six four-foot-by-six-foot windows in his home theatre - and when he's watching a movie he opens them to the outdoors as "bass traps". (in a rural/country area)

Of course not a possible scenario for a recording studio where a chirping bird can ruin a take ... I was referring to built in, immobile windows.

Edit: has anyone here ever been to such a studio? Has anyone ever BUILT such a thing? Sure it sounds good on paper but I wonder whether there are any case studies out there ...