OK, I know I deserve a whipping by everyone for recording without sound treatment: (Whip here: _______________).

I will one day do it right with Real Traps, including bass traps.

Until then: By way of background, I am in a spare squarish bedroom. The bedroom shape is a little unusual, in that it's not exactly four walls meeting up with four 90 degree angles: off one corner it opens up into (no door) a small (10' x 3' roughly) "vanity" room with a mirror and a sink. Of course there's a proper doorway and entrance into the room, off another wall.

I record into Cubase, using a Yamaha Motif, and the audio is almost exclusively vocals. I envision I might get someone in to strum an acoustic, or play electric guitar through their amp, so I might need to mic those up as well. I also "mix" in the same room.

I have an SE Reflexion Filter for my mic (AT 4033a), and I am going to get some hooks or something on the ceiling to hang duvets behind me.

OK, thank you for those who hung in there till now my question is: Would it be of significant benefit to record with the bedroom door open? My thinking is that this might be the effective partial equivalent of a bass trap, or a diffuser, in that the sound waves that would normally bounce back into the room off the door would instead be leaving the room through the open doorway.

This would come at the expense of a hallway/stairway echo/reverb for loud vocals, but that is not a deal killer at this time.

Or is this just a silly idea?

Thanks!

An open door is like a bass trap, especially if it's in a corner. But what's beyond the doorway matters. Regardless, a "bass trap" in only one corner is not enough to make a huge improvement. For the cost of that sE RF you could have bought many rolls of fiberglass and stacked them in the corner. So that's my suggestion. Spend $100 on fiberglass and that will be far superior to an open door.

--Ethan

Thank you for the reply, Ethan. I just went to see the room - we have room for fiberglass rolls in two corners, MAYBE three.

If it's only two, is it worth it? The room is rougly 11 feet by 12 feet. And do you bring the fiberglass rolls all the way to the ceiling if possible?

Thanks!

Yes it's worth it. If you were starving to death and I offered you half a hamburger, would it be worth it for you to eat only the half?

Yes!! But somewhere the added factor of having a wife with preconceived notions of what a spare bedroom should look like does strain the analogy somehwat!

:-)

Hi everyone -

I see Ethan is away, but maybe someone else can help?

I just bought 8 rolls of Owens-Corning attic fiberglass for bass trapping. It is called R-30/M30. I see now on this forum that "705" or something is recommended.

Should I return this stuff and look for 703/705? Or is this stuff just fine?

Finally, assuming this will be OK:

1) Was Ethan just kidding around, or is stacking the rolls up high in the corner OK to do? Do I have to make a rectangular frame? I will try to think of how to get a roll or two in the ceiling-wall corners too ..

2) Plastic covering off, right? Or can it stay on (fibers in the room are yuckie).

3) It is unfaced, so that's good, right? Or should I buy faced, instead?


Thanks :-) . Rereading this post it's hard to tell, but I am VERY happy I'm finally getting at least something done.

Rigid fiberglass is generally better than the fluffy type. The batts you bought need to be compressed down to 1/3 or even 1/4 the thickness to absorb similarly to rigid fiberglass. That's a messy proposition, and not nearly as easy as just buying the rigid type.

No, I'm not kidding about leaving fluffy fiberglass in the bags and stacking the bags in corners. It looks like hell and is very ghetto! But it works well and is a good choice for folks on a tight budget.

--Ethan

Yeahh!!, I'm Ok with ghetto for now. So I don't have to return it!

Just to clarify - you said " ...leaving fluffy fiberglass in the bags..." is OK. It's currently in plastic bags. I thought I read somewhere that these things should be in a fabric covering with a weave loose enough that you can blow through, so I made the leap to think plastic bags might not let enough sound through to let the fiberglass absorb?

So, just to clarify - do I need to take them out? I can probably buy some oversized pillow covers to put them in if I have to. Or not, if they can stay in the plastic bags.

Thanks, Ethan!

P.S. And thanks too for answering this on the day you got back from your trip. Will we get to read your impressions of EAS this year?

That is only for high end. Bass will go right though the plastic.

Glenn gave you the right answer.


Not much to report. There were lots of booths showing lots of audio gear.

My Audio Myths workshop went very well. It looked like nearly 200 people were there! We had two HD cameras and 3 microphones, and I hope to make a video over the next few weeks so people that weren't able to attend can see it.

--Ethan

Thanks, Ethan.

I went to your link ... "Myths in Recording" ... That looked like a fascinating meeting you chaired! I can't wait to see a vid.

One more (?) if I may please - if I take the plastic OFF will I get meaningful higher end room treatment as a byproduct of the bass trapping? Or is the placement more critical for those frequencies - reflection points, etc.

I guess if there is even a reasonable improvement in high end treatment by taking the plastic off, I would do that. But if not, I wouldn't, because then I'd have to think of some way to enclose the rolls so the fibers don't go all over the place - large pillow cases or something like that.

Thanks for the advice again, and Glenn thank you too!

My general approach is to have corner bass traps reflect mid and high frequencies, and all other absorbers absorb the full range. But there's no one rule that works perfectly in all rooms. For example, how much mid/high frequency absorption you add depends on what else is in the room, such as carpet and plush furniture.

The goal is for a more or less uniform decay time over the entire audible range. This can be measured with software, and then you'll know if you need more or fewer mid/high absorbers. My Hearing is Believing video shows RT60 decay measurements with various levels of treatment.

--Ethan