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Acoustic treatment DIY

EmmCeeSq

Active Member
Hi all,

I've recently moved into a new space, all great but the acoustics of the room need a little work. Think low-ceilinged basement room, albeit with plenty of light and quite a large space.

Given that, I'm in sore need of some acoustic treatment. I'd really gotten used to my old room, and my setup, but now I'm getting some really bizarre results from my setup.

I confess to being something of an dufus when it comes to acoustic treatment, and a lot of the tutorials I'm watching are aimed at bands and home studio users making that new-fangled pop music that all these kids are into these days. More seriously, I do orchestral stuff, albeit hybrid with synths and boomers etc, so ,aybe the principles aren't that different.

Anyway, as this post is becoming too long, I'll get to the point. I'm intending to make some acoustic panels, maybe bass traps etc (I've not got tonnes of cash to chuck at this right now). I'd love directing to any youtube videos and the like, of someone who's done this sort of thing in a composer/home studio context.

Thanks!

Mike
 
They aren’t rocket surgery to make and are fairly inexpensive DYI .I have super chunk bass traps and wall absorbers And ceiling clouds.How many and Where to place them is more involved and takes some investigation.My suggestion is make them look nice ...you’ll be seeing a lot of them. DDA88480-41FB-43AD-A059-A0A0CA477230.jpeg
 
I was in contact with a pro that does acoustic treatment. I asked them about homemade panels and what kind of insulation I could use to make my own panels. His response:


"if less than 45kg/m3 its not going to be ideal"

"Insulation comes in all sorts of densities, do you know what the Recticel product is? minimum for acoustics 45kg/m3 and maximum I would recommend 80kg/m3"

I got a carpenter friend to build the frames, and strapped the insulation in.

The chap also recommended acoustic cloth. It all definitely helped, and was at least 50-60% cheaper than getting this stuff premade.
 
DIY treatments are a good idea for a lot of reasons. First, they will save you money. Second, you can make them to suit your specific environment. Third, you can make them attractive (at least to you<G>!)

The thing is, the solution is as much about the placement as it is about the type, and quantity of absoption added to the room. And that's what makes it tricky. Too much absorption can sound every bit as bad as too little, they will just be different flavors of bad.

It is probably (the "it depends" factor here is high) best to start with something fairly dense, and fairly thick, since both density and thickness will affect the absorption.

It is always a good idea to cover whatever you are using in cloth, and an acoustically porous cloth is a good idea, unless you need the reflection at higher frequencies (see "it depends" above<G>).

It is also a good idea to provide some air space behind the panels, unless that makes them too absorptive (again with the "it depends").

And it is always a good idea to make the panels as broadband as possible, tuned traps serve a purpose, but they also cause problems that you need to address some other way.

Lastly - unless you have a well documented low frequency problem I'd save the bass traps for last. I don't question that there are low frequency problems, they exist everywhere, I just caution people to measure and document before trying to fix.

There are many good videos on how to build acoustic panels and traps. In fact I can't remember seeing a bad one. Where many of them fall short is the explanation for how to use them.

For that I'd strongly recommend books written by recognized authorities. The problem there is that few recognized authorities agree on anything, which in this case is perfectly acceptable. There really are multiple ways to skin this cat.

My personal favorites (and your tastes may not align with mine) include:

Anything at all by Philip Newell, but especially the first one. In addition to being filled with good, practical information they are fun to read.
  • Project Studios: A more professional approach
  • Recording Studio Design
  • Recording Spaces
A couple oldies, but goodies, a little tricky to locate:
  • Michael Rettinger - Studio Acoustics, it is remarkable how much of this text is still spot on.
  • Jeff Cooper - Building a Recording Studio, same goes for this one.
  • Robert E. Runstein - Modern Recording Techniques, try to find the editions before Huber started editing it. Nothing against Mr. Huber, but I find the first edition to be an incredible resource.
These represent some heavy reading, and may not be useful if you just want to build your space.
  • Ken Pohlmann - Handbook of Sound Studio Construction, probably a little over the top for most project studios, but a good read.
  • Floyd E. Toole - Sound Reproduction: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers and Rooms, definitely over the top, but the man is a brilliant teacher and audio geek. Wish the title were a little shorter though...
And a couple more general handbooks - to be candid I haven't opened either of these in a while, but they still sit on my bookshelf!
  • Glen Ballou - Handbook for Sound Engineers The New Audio Cyclopedia
  • F. Alton Everest - Master Handbook of Acoustics
This has nothing to do with acoustics, but I believe it should be on every audio engineers bookshelf as well - Philip Giddings - Audio Systems Design and Installation, added here in the spirit of completeness.
 
Good Lord this is amazing. Thank you so much for setting this out for me in such detail. It’s extremely appreciated.

looks like I’ve got some reading to do...
 
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