John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Hi there,
I'm building a small control room and isolation booth (actually the one room with an acoustic partition). I have bought a couple of sheets of Sonex and are after a few ideas for securing the sheets to the walls. I am hesitant to smear the beautiful white walls with contact, and of course then the Sonex will be very permanently attached, reducing flexibilty later on. I am thinking maybe some sort of wooden frame, that way I can easily remove the Sonex if need be. I have also heard that mounting the absorbtion material 50mm from the wall is a bit more effective. Any ideas or suggestions?
Velcro is also a possibilty providing most flexibilty but I'm unsure of the acoustic impact that it would have.

Thanks.

I have been documenting construction of Music Beyond Thought studios since conception with designs and photos. Interested in posting them up???

Welcome to the site.
Yeah - I'd mount the sonex (how thick is it??) in a timber frame with a ply backing. You can then remove or move it later if required. It's true that if you lift it off the wall it lowers it's frequency of absorption.

Email me if you want to post your pics, no problem

cheers
JOhn

I registered a couple of weeks ago and then the site went down on me so this is my first chance to post. Thanks for the new, focused site, John!! Your shared knowledge has been very educational for me as I've progressed from trying to mix in a spare bedroom to now having just completed a mixing room separate from the rest of the house.

I just did a similar type of foam attachment in my new control room I just finished last week. I used pegboard as the backing for the foam and attached it to a wood frame that sits about 4 inches away from a corner bass trap. My measurements show that it seems to be doing what it is supposed to, and my initial checks with real audio sound tight.

One of these days I'll get my film developed (no digital camera yet) and I'll try to post my setup.

Cheers!!

Darryl.....

Cool Darryl - when you get your pics you can post the here using the Add an Attachment option this forum offers. Saves having to post them on a website and then linking to it.

cheers
john

Thanks for the tips John and Darryl.
The Sonex is 50mm. Is there an equation to calculate how much the absorbtion frequency is lowered in relation to how far the Sonex is mounted from the wall?

Cheers,
Steve

I'll email the whole set of pictures from start to finish John, when completed.

Steve - when a sound wave reflects back off a wall it starts from zero and reaches maximum energy at 1/4 wavelength.



So if a 100 hz soundwave is 3.3m (11ft) long it's 1/4 wavelength is 11/4 which is around 2' 8" which is one hell of a distance off the wall

cheers
john