Another Bedroom Studio Attempt

weissguy · 22nd May 2008, 03:28 AM

Hi. I'm a singer-songwriter. I play a lot of acoustic stringed instruments - guitar, mandolins, bouzoukis, hawaiian lap steel and sometimes electric bass and electric guitar.

For my past two CDs I've avoided recording at home other than to create simple demos with Cubase to share with musicians prior to going into a real studio.

Over the past month, I've found myself buying a new PC, Pro Tools, Project Mix, a few nice mics, etc... And... I emptied out the closet, put in a window and hung up Auralex that I had bought many years ago on Musician's Friend's dent/blowout. I have a monitor I can turn around towards the window if I want to try several vocal takes. I've wired a panel of four mic jacks, a headphone jack, an instrument jack and a power outlet. I have six office cubical dividers I picked up locally for 50 bucks. I have a few in front of the windows.
For traps - I have ordered three 2" panels, six 4" panels, two 6" panels(one is going on the vocal booth ceiling, and I still have some Auralex left over.
The 2" panels will go to create a RFZ.
I have lots of traffic noise, dog barking, helicopters and airplanes coming into the control room. The closet is still in progress, but it is much better isolated than the control room. Still some booms of trucks driving by.

Questions:
1. Where should I put the rest of the bass traps? I have a window in the front right corner. I closet in the rear left corner. I large window behind me. What is the first priority - the back wall-wall at ear level or up against the ceiling in the tri-corner (the only one without a window or door).
2. What should I do with the window behind me. Right now I put up the cubicle dividers - I have no idea if they will actually help at all. I've thought about buying a barn door track, and mount the bass traps on a divider panel (with a 4"gap) so I can move the panel to cover the window or move it away so I can open the window when I need to. I've also thought the barn door rail might work on the side window as well.

This is my second post here - I've found all of the posts here a great learning experience and I appreciate the help. I'll try and post photos of the room. I'm quite proud of my funky old cabin chairs with guitars, drums and boomerang fabric - if I could make all of my bass traps with that fabric I would! Ethan - some telecaster and cello printed bass traps would be just fine with me.

jwl · 22nd May 2008, 07:27 AM

First, understand that acoustic treatment isn't going to solve the isolation issues you are having. Noise will still get through.

As far as trapping, it looks like there is plenty of room in the wall/ceiling corners. Cover as many of them as you can.

For the wall/wall corners where the doors or window are in the way, I'd suggest panels on stands. Also, think about bass traps on the rear wall behind you, also on stands in front of the window, and possibly behind the speakers on the front wall.

Also create your RFZ.

For more on room setup and treatment, see:
RealTraps - Acoustics Fact & Fiction
RealTraps - How To Set Up a Room
RealTraps - Creating a Reflection-Free Zone

weissguy · 22nd May 2008, 04:13 PM

Thanks for the advice. I think you're stating a priority of wall/ceiling corners first before wall/wall corners.
With one 6" bass trap for the control room - is there any specific priority where that should go? Maybe the one wall/wall corner that is available?

Should I not bother with the room dividers in front of the windows? It sounds like from what I've read, they probably don't do much of anything - they're light and it seems like there's some kind of insulation in there - so it may absorb some highs. But for blocking out sound coming in there's not much I can do. Unless I did a really great job of sealing up the windows with mass. I may just put those dividers away for future gobos.

The RFZ puts one of the panels on the french door. I'm going to try and mount it to the door with a gap between.

Thanks again.

weissguy · 6th June 2008, 03:55 PM

I have another question in the treatment of this room. I have just painted the room and have six 4" traps, four 6" traps and three 2" traps ready to go. I also have a bunch more IIG minwool, fabric and leftover auralex ready for more DIY traps.

The back wall will have one wall-wall corner with two 6" traps, the other wall-wall corner will have two 4" and it will not be straddling because of the closet door. The ceiling wall will have a 6" trap. Right behind me for the reflections I have the window and radiator to deal with.

My idea is to use two empty vintage Silvertone speaker cabinets. One of them is the 15" speaker with the head compartment, the other is a six-10" speaker cabinet. I was thinking I could fill them with the 8lb minwool and stack them on the radiator.

1. I bought a LOT of IIG minwool, so I wanted to know if I put two 4" layers of the 8lb minwool and placed it 8" from the wall and window - would this work okay or is it too dense? Would I be better off going and getting more 2" minwool and making a 6" layer.

2. Am I correct in assuming the "shiny" fabric reflecting doesn't apply to the old speaker grill, because it is speaker grill and should be acoustically transparent? I haven't taken it apart yet, but I think the baffle board is separate from the actual grill, so I'm hoping this will be totally open except for a small frame - otherwise I'll make a frame.

Weasel9992 · 6th June 2008, 04:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by weissguy

I have another question in the treatment of this room. I have just painted the room and have six 4" traps, four 6" traps and three 2" traps ready to go. I also have a bunch more IIG minwool, fabric and leftover auralex ready for more DIY traps.

The back wall will have one wall-wall corner with two 6" traps, the other wall-wall corner will have two 4" and it will not be straddling because of the closet door. The ceiling wall will have a 6" trap. Right behind me for the reflections I have the window and radiator to deal with.

My idea is to use two empty vintage Silvertone speaker cabinets. One of them is the 15" speaker with the head compartment, the other is a six-10" speaker cabinet. I was thinking I could fill them with the 8lb minwool and stack them on the radiator.

1. I bought a LOT of IIG minwool, so I wanted to know if I put two 4" layers of the 8lb minwool and placed it 8" from the wall and window - would this work okay or is it too dense? Would I be better off going and getting more 2" minwool and making a 6" layer.

2. Am I correct in assuming the "shiny" fabric reflecting doesn't apply to the old speaker grill, because it is speaker grill and should be acoustically transparent? I haven't taken it apart yet, but I think the baffle board is separate from the actual grill, so I'm hoping this will be totally open except for a small frame - otherwise I'll make a frame.

The asymmetry of 6" traps in one corner and 4" traps in the other is probably not a good idea. Better to go with 4" on both sides and 6" on the back wall and wall/ceiling corners. Maybe do 2 on the wall, 1 at the wall/ceiling corner and another at the wall/ceiling corner above your monitors. You really should go floor to ceiling with the 4" traps, but you only have 6...you're going to make two more, right?

The Silvertone idea, while novel, won't work well. You'll be better off just using the 6" traps for the back wall.

8" of 8# mineral wool is too dense. 6" is about as much as you should go. If you have it in 4" thicknesses, then just stick with 4" unless you'd rather buy more in 2" thicknesses.

Frank

jwl · 7th June 2008, 06:26 AM

weissguy, sorry I missed your follow-up questions.

If that were my room, I'd use the 2" traps to make your RFZ, the 6" traps in the wall/wall corners, and the 4" traps in the wall/ceiling corners.

For the corner where you can't mount it straddling the corner, space it out from the wall as much as you can, up to 6".

Using the speaker cabinets *could* work, depending on how much air can flow through the cabinet. If the grille cloth, or the wood, stops air from flowing through, then it will reduce the effectiveness of the traps. This is why the best frame for acoustic panels are as small as possible (though large enough to hold things in place), and/or have holes in them.

weissguy · 9th June 2008, 11:21 PM

Thanks again for the advice.
It was a marathon DIY weekend. I bought another six 2" panels of minwool so I could make more 6" traps. Saturday and Sunday I mounted:
-four 6" wall ceiling traps
-six 4" wall ceiling traps
-four 6" wall-wall traps
- a 2" trap
- I did fill the two Silvertone speaker cabinets with 6" as well

I went to setup my work area with my new Adam monitors before finishing the rest of the RFZ panels and to my disappointment - one of the monitors was defective out of the box... That put a damper on things and ended the weekend mission.

I learned a lot from all the posts on the this forum and from trying to do this all myself...

dadumtish · 11th June 2008, 12:35 PM

nice room , you are goona be blown away by the sound when you get up and running , im still grinning in mine

weissguy · 11th June 2008, 01:45 PM

Thanks,

This is still a work in progress, but here's a photo after this weekend's bass trap mounting marathon. I have some video of me making and hanging the traps that I'll have to put together. I have to get comfortable with the seating and monitor placement and then I'll hang the two remaining 2" GIK panels.

timothyallan · 30th August 2008, 11:51 PM

That looks awesome, and very similar to what I'm about to start on!

How did you end up fastening the traps to the wall, especially the ones up top straddling the ceiling/wall edges??

Cheers,
Tim

weissguy · 1st September 2008, 08:01 PM

I have just posted a video of me building traps and hanging them. I used eye hooks in the ceiling, zip ties and mountian climbing carribeaners to mount them to the ceiling.
You can see the video of me building the studio and another video from last week of its first demo recording.

Glenn Kuras · 2nd September 2008, 09:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by timothyallan

That looks awesome, and very similar to what I'm about to start on!

How did you end up fastening the traps to the wall, especially the ones up top straddling the ceiling/wall edges??

Cheers,
Tim

Not sure how he did it, but we just did a video on hanging traps. It is under the news area of the front page GIK Acoustics..

Glenn

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22nd May 2008, 07:27 AM	#2
jwl Lives for gear Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: southern Maine Posts: 543	First, understand that acoustic treatment isn't going to solve the isolation issues you are having. Noise will still get through. As far as trapping, it looks like there is plenty of room in the wall/ceiling corners. Cover as many of them as you can. For the wall/wall corners where the doors or window are in the way, I'd suggest panels on stands. Also, think about bass traps on the rear wall behind you, also on stands in front of the window, and possibly behind the speakers on the front wall. Also create your RFZ. For more on room setup and treatment, see: RealTraps - Acoustics Fact & Fiction RealTraps - How To Set Up a Room RealTraps - Creating a Reflection-Free Zone __________________ www.craftedrecordings.com Quality on-location audio recording in Northern New England www.realtraps.com The acoustic treatment experts

7th June 2008, 06:26 AM	#6
jwl Lives for gear Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: southern Maine Posts: 543	weissguy, sorry I missed your follow-up questions. If that were my room, I'd use the 2" traps to make your RFZ, the 6" traps in the wall/wall corners, and the 4" traps in the wall/ceiling corners. For the corner where you can't mount it straddling the corner, space it out from the wall as much as you can, up to 6". Using the speaker cabinets could work, depending on how much air can flow through the cabinet. If the grille cloth, or the wood, stops air from flowing through, then it will reduce the effectiveness of the traps. This is why the best frame for acoustic panels are as small as possible (though large enough to hold things in place), and/or have holes in them. __________________ www.craftedrecordings.com Quality on-location audio recording in Northern New England www.realtraps.com The acoustic treatment experts

30th August 2008, 11:51 PM	#10
timothyallan Gear interested Join Date: May 2006 Location: Melbourne Posts: 10	That looks awesome, and very similar to what I'm about to start on! How did you end up fastening the traps to the wall, especially the ones up top straddling the ceiling/wall edges?? Cheers, Tim __________________ www.beatport.com/artists/timothy_allan www.timothyallan.com www.hongkongblondes.com

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22nd May 2008, 03:28 AM	#1
weissguy Gear interested Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 16	Hi. I'm a singer-songwriter. I play a lot of acoustic stringed instruments - guitar, mandolins, bouzoukis, hawaiian lap steel and sometimes electric bass and electric guitar. For my past two CDs I've avoided recording at home other than to create simple demos with Cubase to share with musicians prior to going into a real studio. Over the past month, I've found myself buying a new PC, Pro Tools, Project Mix, a few nice mics, etc... And... I emptied out the closet, put in a window and hung up Auralex that I had bought many years ago on Musician's Friend's dent/blowout. I have a monitor I can turn around towards the window if I want to try several vocal takes. I've wired a panel of four mic jacks, a headphone jack, an instrument jack and a power outlet. I have six office cubical dividers I picked up locally for 50 bucks. I have a few in front of the windows. For traps - I have ordered three 2" panels, six 4" panels, two 6" panels(one is going on the vocal booth ceiling, and I still have some Auralex left over. The 2" panels will go to create a RFZ. I have lots of traffic noise, dog barking, helicopters and airplanes coming into the control room. The closet is still in progress, but it is much better isolated than the control room. Still some booms of trucks driving by. Questions: 1. Where should I put the rest of the bass traps? I have a window in the front right corner. I closet in the rear left corner. I large window behind me. What is the first priority - the back wall-wall at ear level or up against the ceiling in the tri-corner (the only one without a window or door). 2. What should I do with the window behind me. Right now I put up the cubicle dividers - I have no idea if they will actually help at all. I've thought about buying a barn door track, and mount the bass traps on a divider panel (with a 4"gap) so I can move the panel to cover the window or move it away so I can open the window when I need to. I've also thought the barn door rail might work on the side window as well. This is my second post here - I've found all of the posts here a great learning experience and I appreciate the help. I'll try and post photos of the room. I'm quite proud of my funky old cabin chairs with guitars, drums and boomerang fabric - if I could make all of my bass traps with that fabric I would! Ethan - some telecaster and cello printed bass traps would be just fine with me.

22nd May 2008, 04:13 PM	#3
weissguy Gear interested Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 16	Thanks for the advice. I think you're stating a priority of wall/ceiling corners first before wall/wall corners. With one 6" bass trap for the control room - is there any specific priority where that should go? Maybe the one wall/wall corner that is available? Should I not bother with the room dividers in front of the windows? It sounds like from what I've read, they probably don't do much of anything - they're light and it seems like there's some kind of insulation in there - so it may absorb some highs. But for blocking out sound coming in there's not much I can do. Unless I did a really great job of sealing up the windows with mass. I may just put those dividers away for future gobos. The RFZ puts one of the panels on the french door. I'm going to try and mount it to the door with a gap between. Thanks again.

6th June 2008, 03:55 PM	#4
weissguy Gear interested Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 16	I have another question in the treatment of this room. I have just painted the room and have six 4" traps, four 6" traps and three 2" traps ready to go. I also have a bunch more IIG minwool, fabric and leftover auralex ready for more DIY traps. The back wall will have one wall-wall corner with two 6" traps, the other wall-wall corner will have two 4" and it will not be straddling because of the closet door. The ceiling wall will have a 6" trap. Right behind me for the reflections I have the window and radiator to deal with. My idea is to use two empty vintage Silvertone speaker cabinets. One of them is the 15" speaker with the head compartment, the other is a six-10" speaker cabinet. I was thinking I could fill them with the 8lb minwool and stack them on the radiator. 1. I bought a LOT of IIG minwool, so I wanted to know if I put two 4" layers of the 8lb minwool and placed it 8" from the wall and window - would this work okay or is it too dense? Would I be better off going and getting more 2" minwool and making a 6" layer. 2. Am I correct in assuming the "shiny" fabric reflecting doesn't apply to the old speaker grill, because it is speaker grill and should be acoustically transparent? I haven't taken it apart yet, but I think the baffle board is separate from the actual grill, so I'm hoping this will be totally open except for a small frame - otherwise I'll make a frame.

9th June 2008, 11:21 PM	#7
weissguy Gear interested Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 16	Thanks again for the advice. It was a marathon DIY weekend. I bought another six 2" panels of minwool so I could make more 6" traps. Saturday and Sunday I mounted: -four 6" wall ceiling traps -six 4" wall ceiling traps -four 6" wall-wall traps - a 2" trap - I did fill the two Silvertone speaker cabinets with 6" as well I went to setup my work area with my new Adam monitors before finishing the rest of the RFZ panels and to my disappointment - one of the monitors was defective out of the box... That put a damper on things and ended the weekend mission. I learned a lot from all the posts on the this forum and from trying to do this all myself...

11th June 2008, 12:35 PM	#8
dadumtish Gear Head Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 67	nice room , you are goona be blown away by the sound when you get up and running , im still grinning in mine

11th June 2008, 01:45 PM	#9
weissguy Gear interested Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 16	Thanks, This is still a work in progress, but here's a photo after this weekend's bass trap mounting marathon. I have some video of me making and hanging the traps that I'll have to put together. I have to get comfortable with the seating and monitor placement and then I'll hang the two remaining 2" GIK panels.

1st September 2008, 08:01 PM	#11
weissguy Gear interested Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 16	I have just posted a video of me building traps and hanging them. I used eye hooks in the ceiling, zip ties and mountian climbing carribeaners to mount them to the ceiling. You can see the video of me building the studio and another video from last week of its first demo recording.