Improving Sound of a Tin Can Rehearsal Space

[bluesbass99]

I have rented a rehearsal space for my band to practice. Since we are so dispersed geographically, I've tried to find something that takes some of the edge of driving off to a couple of the players. The unit is climate controlled which is good, but it is literally like playing inside a tin can. The walls actually reverberate when I hit a note on my bass.

I would like to make the walls a little more sound-friendly, but since this is a rental unit, I don't want to sink much money into it. Any suggestions on what I should use? I've thought about just hanging some regular 6" fiberglass insulation up.

[lowfreq33]

Won't do a lot of good. Not dense enough. The go-to material for studios is Owens Corning 703. You can get a case of six 2'x4' panels for about $100. You'll want to cover it with an open weave fabric like burlap to contain the fibers.

There's also auralex foam, but it's less effective at low frequencies and actually more expensive.

[BogeyBass]

Yah but without spending a ton of money

Good old blankets or old drapes work good. you can just hang em up with a staple gun. The trick is to fold and hang the blankets so they have a wavy pattern to it, like a pair of fancy drapes. you can get blankets/drapes cheap at garage sales or second hand stores.

Its not amazing but alot better than the reflective bare walls.

or you can dumpster dive or possibly get new carpet scraps from a local carpet company. instead of just hanging random ugly carpet everywhere. Cut the carpet in 24" squares and then make a cool pattern with the different colored squares.

carpet installers will throw away new carpet scraps all the time, but hardly enough to cover a wall. thats why if you collect new pieces over time and cut them in nice squares. you get that nice new carpet smell and a cool pattern in the end.

if you raid every carpet installer in town you might get lucky and have enough to cover the whole studio. and since its small squares it only takes one person and a staple gun to hang it.

[Never_grew_up]

We did the dumpster-diving carpet thing. Checked the yellow pages (it was a LONG time ago) for commercial installers - offices, apartment complexes - stuff like that. Hit their dumpsters every weekend for about 6 weeks then had a carpet party. Invited some friends & gave each one a razor knife & staplegun, got a keg that we DIDN'T tap till the carpeting was done. We carpeted the walls, floor, ceiling, even the ball return for the pool table. Turned out great. We practiced in that basement for 3 years without any complaints.

[tangentmusic]

Hang up some thick moving blankets. Like the kind that come in a U-Haul trailer.

[mixtapelove]

Moving blankets.

Hang them up or make homemade baffles by draping them over some crude PVC pipe frames.

It should at the very least get rid of some flutter echoes.

[HertzWhenIPlay]

old egg cartons in the corners, maybe your local bakery has some?
moving blankets on the walls and use heavy rugs on the floors, don't forget the floors...

[Marko5657]

Whatever you do, don’t make it into a fire hazard.

[bluesbass99]

Originally Posted by mixtapelove

Moving blankets.

Hang them up or make homemade baffles by draping them over some crude PVC pipe frames.

It should at the very least get rid of some flutter echoes.

Thanks, I just ordered a dozen 72" x 80" moving blankets. Thanks for the PVC pipe frame suggestion, too. Actually, the moving blankets are not that expensive. I got some fairly heavy blankets (7 lbs. per blanket) for $6.75 each.

[runmikeyrun]

we rented a metal-walled storage unit in a band I was in many years ago. we found large rolls of carpet on the curb from someone getting new carpet in their house. It was a horrible orangish-rust shag, but it was very effective.

We found that the metal panels were held together at the top by metal screws with hex head bolts. We would take the bolts out one at a time, push them through a slot we cut in the carpet, then screwed them back in. It worked really well. If your unit isn't put together like that you can get a box of self tapping (or drill point) screws and run them through the carpet into the metal wall with a screw gun. It takes a couple of seconds but the screw will simultaneously drill a hole in the metal and then tighten down. As long as the owner doesn't hear you doing it, they'll never notice some small holes near the ceiling when you leave.

You're lucky your unit is climate controlled. Ours wasn't. We about died in the summer and froze all winter, even with a torpedo heater.

[Hellbastard]

Additional to the absorbing material, make sure you raise your amp and place it away from the walls, that way you'll avoid some of the bass frequency build up that the walls might create.

[derrico1]

For the best sound in an acoustically horrible space, a headphone amp is the ticket.

[mixtapelove]

Lemme know if the blankets work for you.

It has helped me immensely in dealing with my concrete jungle of a basement.