How many bass traps for 12X11 room

[billgennaro]

i've got a 12X11 bedroom that i'm gonna be using for a control room and a live room (its all i've got to work with). i'll only be recording acoustic guitars, mandos and vocals. i'll be working solo so only need to record one instrument or voice at a time.

question: how many 2X4 bass traps would you recommned i get to deal with the low end problems of the room? i'm guessing about 6-9 of them.

thanks in advance,

bill

[Ethan Winer]

Originally Posted by billgennaro

i'm guessing about 6-9 of them.

Minimum.

Seriously, a room that size and shape will never be perfectly flat. So the more traps you add, the closer you'll get. Even 20 would not be too many. And I'm not kidding.

--Ethan

[b05q]

i've got an 11x11x8 room, so pretty close.

i put 24 sheets worth of 703 in there (2 6" traps, 2 4" traps, and superchunks in the corners). so that would be 12 4" traps (but really like more because the chunks work better in corners).

it's nowhere near flat. much, much better. but nowhere near flat.

i've considered picking up another 12 pack. and if the 703 fairy magically gave me two more 12 packs and supplies, i'd definitely use it all in my room.

[billgennaro]

thanks guys. i appreciate it. i'll start trying to figure out a way to get more traps in there.

do you think six 4x2's would do any good at all? or would the return on investment be negligable in your opinion?

bill

[Glenn Kuras]

Originally Posted by billgennaro

thanks guys. i appreciate it. i'll start trying to figure out a way to get more traps in there.

do you think six 4x2's would do any good at all? or would the return on investment be negligable in your opinion?

bill

Standard panels are 4'x2'. Make sure you make them no less then 3" thick and straddle the corners. Start with front and back wall to wall corners.

Glenn

[Ethan Winer]

Originally Posted by billgennaro

do you think six 4x2's would do any good at all?

Yes!!!

[danbronson]

Luckily for you, you're not recording loud bass guitars and kick drums. Flat response under ~150 Hz is not paramount to your recordings, which means you don't have to go crazy with bass trapping. My advice would be to take care of every corner you can, floor to ceiling with 4" 703 or 705 (or Roxul equivalents, which are cheaper and just as effective). Then place bass traps just off the walls/ceiling at your early reflection points (check Ethan's realtraps site for details on this, it's very helpful). Then use diffusors or further absorption (most foam works) to take care of high frequency flutter in the room.

If you can take care of every corner (2 2'X4' traps each) and three reflection points, that's still 11 traps. But your room would sound pretty ideal and you'd be able to trust it if you do start recording bassier instruments. Take care of the early reflection points first for monitoring though, and if flutter echo is problem, that too. Do what you can. Every bit will help.

[b05q]

i'm just a noob, so don't forget your grain of salt, but i would dedicate most of that time/money towards superchunks in the corners (google 'superchunks 703'). you have to make them yourself, but it's worth it. they work better in the corners, and take up less space, total win-win.

i started out with a single 12 pack and made 4 2' stacks of superchunks (one for each corner of the front wall) and 2 6" traps behind the monitors.

that made a huge difference. although i had some hand-me-down auralex to hit the reflection points and back wall, before i put that up the highs unmasked by the bass absorption were out of control.

in this pic i have a 3rd 2' stack of chunks (i ultimately added another 1' stack, and found that closing the gap between the upper stack on the shelf, and the lowers stacks made a significant difference). as you can see, i hid them behind a panel, which seems to be standard procedure:




and i put little 1' stacks on the rear wall top corners since doors prevent anything further

[billgennaro]

thanks guys. all very interesting. unfortunately, all four corners of my room are unfriendly toward corner trapping, so i'm stuck with walls and wall/ceiling joints. i put up six 4x2's (4 inch 703) hanging on the walls last night and will get a chance to record some basic acoustic guitar tracks this weekend. i've got the first reflection points (including the ceiling) worked out with hf absorbtion.

i'll a/b the results i get this weekend with some previous stuff i recorded and see where i stand. hopefully, there will be an improvement. i mostly want to take care of the "mud" area of the freq response of the room (around 200-400hz). i know the room will never sound great but that's ok.

thanks again,

bill