General Advise for Room Treatment... The Newbies Guide.....

[ianbryn11]

Hello, im not sure if a thread like this exists, and if it does, excuse me for posting it again... Im basically admitting to knowing little to nothing about proper room treatment.... An area which seems almost as mysterious to me as Mastering.... And is regarded by many as the most important part of capturing a good sound....

As someone who knows little to nothing about room treatment, the thought of treating my room is a bit daunting. Not really any clue where to start... and im assuming that im not the only one....

So, if any of you out there who have experience in this want to chime in with some general or specific advice for an inexperienced room treater... Places to get started, people talk to, things to listen for, ect... anything you have to offer... It would be extremely appreciated.

[PaulP]

Originally Posted by ianbryn11

So, if any of you out there who have experience in this want to chime in with some general or specific advice for an inexperienced room treater... Places to get started, people talk to, things to listen for, ect... anything you have to offer... It would be extremely appreciated.

Welcome ianbryn11. A good place to start would be to read the documentation
at these two companies RealTraps and GIK Acoustics. If you read a few
days worth, better yet a few weeks worth, of posts here and in the other
forum Studio Building / Acoustics you'll acquire a very good idea of what
to do.

Don't be shy to ask specific questions regarding your own space. It's best
to provide the dimensions of your room and any particularities when asking
questions.

Paul P

[soundwalker]

I'm using a spare room at home to do my audio work, and as I didn't have much money to spend on acoustic treatment I was able to greatly improve the acoustics several ways.

1. I brought a foam mattress cover and was able to cut about 30 30cmX30cm squares out of it. only cost me 65 bucks. very general absorption but great for killing early reflections and cutting down flutter.


2. I hung a wool blanket in an arc on the ceiling above my monitors, this really helped solidify my stereo image. Also spent a fair bit of time on my monitor placement, using LEDR test, my ears and some reference material to determine the best position for them.


3. I crunched the numbers and worked out the frequencies my room was reinforcing, just so I knew where my room was at and I could be aware of them. ( google 'room modes calculator' )


The main areas you need to do a bit of research in are: reflections/reverb, room modes, monitor placement, and also a very important one is furniture placement in relation to your room shape i.e. you want to try and have your workspace an equal distance to each side wall (this affects stereo image more than you would think).

It's about creating an environment that has a frequency response that is as balanced as you can make it. So as the sounds are produced by your speakers and interact with the room, those sounds are as true to the original source as they can be.

Acoustics is a really interesting science, there is lots of info about it out there, start digging and you'll start learning

[Ethan Winer]

Originally Posted by ianbryn11

Places to get started

This is the best short introduction I have:

Acoustic Basics

--Ethan

[ianbryn11]

Thanks guys for the links and words of advice.. One of my main issues with treating my rooms is that i am not sure how long i will be able to stay in this space...

Kind of a weird situation... But an amazing room! as far as i can tell.. 15 foot Cathedral ceilings, 23 ft by 14 ft live room.. 19 ft by 9 ft controll room, and a few other areas which i dont have measurements for including a loft in the live room...

Anyway, i have a large wall in the Live room (Aprox 14 feet long between the two doors, and 15 ft high at the peak) which i was thinking about building a diffuser for... However, i don't want to spend a lot of money since i might have to leave soon... (fingers crossed for being able to stay)...

SO any treatment i do i want to be cheap, and possibly portable...

I do have an abundant amount of Styrofoam packaging that i could stick up on the walls.... Every month i get medication shipped in these containers.. I was wondering if there is anything i could use them for.. Stick em on the walls in specific places to break up the sound?

What do you guys think?

Also thought about buying Sheets of styrofome and cutting it into long asymetrical strips to build a sort of diffurser for the biggest wall in my live room, and also maybee for the controll room behind my monitors....

Any suggestions?

[ianbryn11]

here is a pic of the styrofoam containers with a beer bottle for reference...

[Weasel9992]

Originally Posted by ianbryn11

I do have an abundant amount of Styrofoam packaging that i could stick up on the walls.... Every month i get medication shipped in these containers.. I was wondering if there is anything i could use them for.. Stick em on the walls in specific places to break up the sound?

Nope...sorry, they're really not acoustically useful.

Frank

[ianbryn11]

ha.. it was worth a shot. What if i where to cut em up and make a diffuser? I see a lot of those skyscraper diffusers around here, would styrofome be an ok material to make something like that out of?

[Weasel9992]

Originally Posted by ianbryn11

ha.. it was worth a shot. What if i where to cut em up and make a diffuser? I see a lot of those skyscraper diffusers around here, would styrofome be an ok material to make something like that out of?

I've seen it done.

Frank

[soundwalker]

The issue with styrofoam is that it is considered 'closed cell' foam, meaning that there are no micro pockets for frequencies to be absorbed into. You need 'open cell' foam so that it will absorb some frequencies and deflect others.

But generally, taking the 'square' out of a room will help too. The less perpendicular your walls are the better.

[soundwalker]

I mean parallel walls lol

*dush*

[Bater]

I have seen some guides here on GS for building QRD diffusors out of styrofoam. Try searching for them. Good Luck

[pkarpiozo]

Originally Posted by ianbryn11

here is a pic of the styrofoam containers with a beer bottle for reference...

or fill them up with mineral wool, seal it, than paint it and you have cool looking cubes

[Glenn Kuras]

Originally Posted by pkarpiozo

or fill them up with mineral wool, seal it, than paint it and you have cool looking cubes

I myself like beer in them.

[ianbryn11]

I did some reading on the GIK and Real Traps sites.. A lot of info there... Definite required reading for anyone wanting to know more abut acoustics..... thumbsup