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Room Acoustics - absorber question


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I am contemplating an attempt at treating the reverberation characteristics of my control room. I got a recommendation from Auralex (what they would do to it) as to how to best use the products they have to offer. This is a pretty expensive deal when I add it up, if I follow all their recommendations. While I am not against doing that, I would like to consider other ways to go before I do it, and what the relative cost-benefit relationships are. They recommend treating the ceiling with Studiofoam, but it is grey-colored, and this is a very dark room to begin with. For the younger folks, this is probably ok, but I am a tenured member of the bifocal club and so are most of the people who come here to use the toys. I am considering the use of 4 inches of 703 on the ceiling, and covering it with some common acoustical drop-ceiling to serve as a fiber barrier and as a light reflector. Following that, I can build some wide-band box absorbers from 4-inch 703 and burlap covers, and a couple of bass traps with the plywood-diaphragmatic-absorber methods. The cost of all this comes to only half that of the Auralex methods - Some of the boys who play with the toys are good with hammers and nails and will probably like to help me do some of this. I would sure like to hear comments on these ideas and whether anyone else has suggestions. I would also like to know how to purchase the 703, if anyone has experience.
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TF, > I got a recommendation from Auralex ... This is a pretty expensive deal < Yeah, no fooling it's expensive. And when you're done you still just have a bunch of foam rubber. What you need are real bass traps. If you have more time than cash you can build truly effective acoustic treatment using the plans I decribe in my article from Electronic Musician. Go to my Articles page: [url=http://www.ethanwiner.com/articles.html]www.ethanwiner.com/articles.html[/url] Then look for "Build a better bass trap" about 1/4 way down the page. --Ethan
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I've referred several people to Ethan's article since it first ran in EM many years ago, and John, your designs look pretty good too... but IMO, diffusion in the rear of the room is better than just absorption. LF absorption with HF diffusors would be my first choice for "behind you" when seated at the mix position. And although I have a fair amount of foam in our studio, I also have self built Hemholtz and Slat resonators, as well as a few other acoustical treatments. IMO, "bang for the bucks", it's hard to beat what you can do with some basic lumber, fabric and Owens Corning (or Manville or Knaupf) semi-rigid, compressed fiberglas board.
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Elucid, > would this treatment benefit a live room if used sparingly? < Sure. If you have a live room that sounds good - non-parallel walls and no bad reflections - but you want to tighten up the low end a bit, the plywood bass traps shown on my site will do that nicely. Since the front surfaces are wood they'll reflect the mids and highs, but absorb the lowest frequencies. --Ethan
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this was never a consideration in my early twenties but i"m getting older and i am really affected by it now, i don't play live sessions as much because of those drones, it just gets too muddy and no one can hear or will be able too when we all get older, but i love it live-bass 2 guitars keys electronics drums percussion and vocals every room i've ever encountered had parallel walls and many reflective surfaces- this is the case for a drummer friend of mine who now has the space to setup regular sessions with no restrictions for noise(read: no neighbors) I would love to help him put together something but i can't just pile 6 people in a room on top of each other and enjoy it without some careful consideration of acoustic clarity. any suggestions to even out our space?
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Anyone know how or where to purchase the Owens-Corning or Knaupf or Manville product? I called Owens-Corning, they tell me I will have to get a contractor to inquire about 703, they do not sell it on other than the professional market. I will continue by trying the other companies.
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[quote]Originally posted by tfkeel: [b]Anyone know how or where to purchase the Owens-Corning or Knaupf or Manville product? I called Owens-Corning, they tell me I will have to get a contractor to inquire about 703, they do not sell it on other than the professional market. I will continue by trying the other companies.[/b][/quote]I had to special order my 703 from a local building supply store (Carter Lumber) and I'm in the sticks. Its main use is for insulation in skyscraper type buildings so no one around here stocks it. Took them around a week or two to get it, no big deal.
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[quote]Originally posted by elucid: [b] any suggestions to even out our space?[/b][/quote]If you just want a good sounding room to jam in, the easiest thing to do is put carpet on the floor and install a drop ceiling. This isn't a complete absorbing solution, but this works well to even out a room. If you're gonna mix in this room, then you need a drop ceiling (this takes care of all your high mid, high and low treble absorbtion), tile or wood floor and low mid and high and low bass absorbers on the wall (if they are dry wall walls).
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[quote] but IMO, diffusion in the rear of the room is better than just absorption. [/quote]Yes Phil - I wrote that SAE article in 1998 :) :) If you look at [url=http://www.locall.aunz.com/~johnsay/Guruland/index.htm]GURULAND[/url] you will notice I've designed a Low Frequency slot resonator/diffuser for the rear wall on the control room. :) cheers JOhn
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