Acoustically treating a squarish room.

[Benjamin Strange]

My home recording seems to be suffering due to my squarish studio. My room is about 12x14x12 with a wooden floor and plaster walls. I haven't done any acoustic treatment to it, and I'm noticing some strange resonances when I record vocals and such.

I've looked into the Auralex stuff, and I believe it to be more expensive than what it's worth. I'm looking for a cheap way to make this room sound better. Suggestions?

 

[chrisp2u]

Here's some good reading for you... http://www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html

As mentioned throughout that article, a lot of people like to go with OC 703 to treat rooms... a far better value than the auralex stuff if you DIY and probably even more effective as well.

Since your room is near square, I'm guessing most of your issues are going to involve low end problems, which which require some type of bass traps to take care of. There are plenty of ways to tackle these issues... if you Google "acoustic treatment", you'll find enough info to keep you busy for a while.

Here are some other links...
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http://www.gikacoustics.com/

Good luck.
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c

 

[bassturtle]

In my experience, the biggest problem you're going to have is the constant bouncing around of sound. I think you need to focus more on diffusion rather than absorbtion. In a box of a room, the sound will bounce back and forth between parallel walls all day long. Diffusion on the wall directly behind your mix position (the wall you have your back turned to while mixing) would work wonders. Also throwing something to break up the flat surface on the ceiling with an area rug on the floor should help out as well. There are plans online for do it yourself diffusors.

When it comes to tracking vocals, you might try throwing up some kind of makeshift small room divider set at a NON 90 degree angle.

 

[Joel DuBay]

ust a quick note about reducing bass resonance in a room. Indeed ALL modes terminate in corners, and bass frequencies are dandy little culprits who end up there along with all of the others. The reason for bass trapping at all, is to reduce the resonance of the room, and to "decouple" (if you will) standing waves between parallel surfaces. One of the reasons I ask folks to consider using 4" thickness bass traps on the FRONT walls, is because speakers are often times situated so close to the front wall, (often times called a "boundry") that they help to resonate that wall easily and perhaps create a standing wave between that and another parallel surface such as the rear wall. Bass trapping on that front wall (and throughout the room in general) helps reduce overall resonances of the room. When you reduce the resonane and eliminate standing waves, your auditory senses can hear the clean sound from your sound source (speakers, sub) and not the additional resonance of the room. When the room is allowed to vibrate without treatment, it becomes part of the speaker system, thus creating that "whoom whoom" sound and destroying your sound system's full potential.

Using 4" thickness of rock wool (mineral wool) or mineral fiber (OC703) will go a LONG way to creating a more sound environment and much better sonic experience overall. And you don't need my products or anyone else's to make a HUGE difference. Placement is key as others have pointed out, but the "right" amount of absorption should not be overlooked.

I hope this helps?

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Joel DuBay
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Acoustic Frames are Here!

 

[JimmyM]

I just throw some effects on my voice to cover it up.

 

[deaf pea]

In my experience, the biggest problem you're going to have is the constant bouncing around of sound. I think you need to focus more on diffusion rather than absorbtion. In a box of a room, the sound will bounce back and forth between parallel walls all day long. Diffusion on the wall directly behind your mix position (the wall you have your back turned to while mixing) would work wonders. Also throwing something to break up the flat surface on the ceiling with an area rug on the floor should help out as well. There are plans online for do it yourself diffusors.

ALL of that's REALLY good advise . . .

When it comes to tracking vocals, you might try throwing up some kind of makeshift small room divider set at a NON 90 degree angle.

Also a good idea, IMHO. IME (3 Grammy wins as an engineer - plus 5 Latin Grammy engineering wins - And multiple nominations both as a musician AND as engineer!)

 

[msquared]

I have 703 in my home studio. It's great (but pricy) stuff. You might also consider hanging heavy blankets in front of your walls (4-6" away from them) as a cheap standby.

 

[amistybleu]

Corner traps are first and a must, then treat walls with panels spaced off the wall at first point of reflection areas. OC 703 cut into triangles (4 per sheet) and stacked floor to ceiling in the corners covered with burlap and held with 1/4 round , Full pieces of 703 framed and wrapped with burlap and spaced off the wall.

 

[topper]

If you want to try some inexpensive foam, Ebay has some great deals on studio wedge foam or egg crate foam.

It does sound more like a standing wave issue and for that you probably will need a room barrier of some kind, but if you want to try putting up a little foam, ebay could save you a lot of money.

 

[Nate74]

If you want to try some inexpensive foam, Ebay has some great deals on studio wedge foam or egg crate foam.

It does sound more like a standing wave issue and for that you probably will need a room barrier of some kind, but if you want to try putting up a little foam, ebay could save you a lot of money.

I learned the hard way that the ebay foam stuff is barely suitable for shipping...

I built some corner traps (6 to be exact) out of some 703 in 1/4" plywood frames. 4 are 4" thick 2'x4' and 2 are 2" thick 2'x4'. They all are in corners. The whole project (wood, screws, 703, burlap) cost about $300. A VERY small price to pay when I look at how much it's improved my mixes.

I also hung the 4" traps in such a way that I can easily remove them and put them in my "live room" which my wife insists on calling the guest bedroom.

 

[Joel DuBay]

In fact, DIY Bass Traps are among the best and most effective. You certainly DO NOT need premade treatments if you are willing to do some minor work.

Here is a Bass Trap tutorial I created utilizing items from your local hardwae store (rockwool or OC703 purchased elsewhere).


Check it out and let me know if you find it useful:

Bass Trap Tutorial Video


There are other DIY materials out there to make the job even eaiser.

Cheers,

Joel DuBay
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[Chris Fitzgerald]

My music room/studio is aroughly 15 x 16'...not exactly square, but it was a rat's nest of flutter echo before I sound treated it. The most important bit was the rock wool (mineral fiber) panels in the corners. Here are a couple of pics:

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

There were still some weird fluttery overtones to the room, so at the suggestion of a friend who operates a real-life studio, I built some panels with odd angles to hang from the ceiling and break up the parallel surfaces between the ceiling and floor (pic attached). From there, it was just a matter of hanging up a few random panels on the walls to keep things from bouncing back and forth. If I ever decide to add to it, I'd probably hang a panel sideways above each corner panel at a 45 degree angle to help eliminate some of the seiling corner noise. Still sounds pretty good as is, though...