Treating Studio Rooms - pictures added

[Nehe555]

im a bit new at this stuff, and i've got a quick question:

how does one strike that balance between over-deadening a room with treatment and having no treatment at all?

after looking at the photos, the first thing that came to mind was, "i wonder if the room is now really dead-sounding." of course, after hearing that little drum jam, i'm convinced that it sounds great. but if i were to undertake a similar project, i wouldn't want overkill.

would appreciate any response to this. btw, i'm not in any way bashing ur work jason. it looks fantastic and i'm very happy for u!

[Glenn Kuras]

Originally Posted by Nehe555

im a bit new at this stuff, and i've got a quick question:

how does one strike that balance between over-deadening a room with treatment and having no treatment at all?

after looking at the photos, the first thing that came to mind was, "i wonder if the room is now really dead-sounding." of course, after hearing that little drum jam, i'm convinced that it sounds great. but if i were to undertake a similar project, i wouldn't want overkill.

would appreciate any response to this. btw, i'm not in any way bashing ur work jason. it looks fantastic and i'm very happy for u!

If your looking for best of the best then work with a company that can guide you though it. If doing yourself then learn how to shoot the room and do a bunch of reading up on it. Over all though the key (like you said) is the balance. If building them yourself start with broad band bass traps with FRK to the front of them. This will keep from killing the highs then treat first reflections with thinner panels (no FRK on these).

Glenn

[fcorl]

I love the design and the drum sound. I have an extra box of 2' Auralex Mineral Fiber insulation. Will this work just as well in place of the 703?

I have a 11X15 drum room. Right now I have 4 small Auralex LENRD bass traps in the top of each corner, a few flat foam WEDGE absorbers on the walls, and a couple panels of the MiniFusor diffusers. It tightened the room ever so slightly, but I've heard people pretty much bash this overpriced stuff.

[Jason Poulin]

Originally Posted by Nehe555

im a bit new at this stuff, and i've got a quick question:

how does one strike that balance between over-deadening a room with treatment and having no treatment at all?

after looking at the photos, the first thing that came to mind was, "i wonder if the room is now really dead-sounding." of course, after hearing that little drum jam, i'm convinced that it sounds great. but if i were to undertake a similar project, i wouldn't want overkill.

would appreciate any response to this. btw, i'm not in any way bashing ur work jason. it looks fantastic and i'm very happy for u!

I'd have to say in my case, with such a small room... There was absolutely nothing what so ever good about it.

Every sound and reflection was complete crap.... very tinny and springy (if you have a small room, low ceiling, you know the sound I'm talking about when you clap your hands)


I found by killing the room sound completely (as far as any reflections go), I can get tighter and more detailed recordings of the source and yes I do need to use artificial reverbs to widen things or ambient drum samples to augment the track. But hey, I can live with this... And I understand our limitations

Is this the best way to work? No... but for us it's the only way since a room is a room and we cannot make it bigger unfortunately... Although we are building a new studio now so I look forward to working in there.

I do have to say... when mixing, it is a lot tighter... I hear what the bass is doing and I can really tell the difference between instruments and their frequency ranges.



I'd say... if it aint good to begin with, kill it! (To a certain extent as well... You don't want to kill all of your highs or make it completely lifeless)

just my opinion... this was a very small room for tracking

This project was one small step in the budget and ONE LARGE STEP for the studio!!!!


Good luck!!!


Jason

[Jason Poulin]

Here's a clip of drums tracked in the rooms for those who haven't heard it...



http://www.gearslutz.com/board/showt...610#post696610

with eq, compression, along with ambient drum samples helping these out to add depth, this track would sound cool in a mix.


Jason

[dim light]

If you treat your room well it will sound good!

Regards,
Ethan Tomahawk

[Ethan Winer]

Originally Posted by fcorl

I have an extra box of 2' Auralex Mineral Fiber insulation. Will this work just as well in place of the 703?

Yes, but for bass traps you want four inches thick. So assuming you meant 2" and not 2', hopefully you have enough to double them up and get at least four 4" traps.

Right now I have 4 small Auralex LENRD bass traps in the top of each corner, a few flat foam WEDGE absorbers on the walls, and a couple panels of the MiniFusor diffusers. It tightened the room ever so slightly, but I've heard people pretty much bash this overpriced stuff.

Right, "ever so slightly" is the key with stuff like LENRDs and thin foam generally. If you were to buy or make some real bass traps you'll get much more improvement.

--Ethan

[Baz]

Great job on all that work and very cool that your Dad was able to help ya out.

The drum clip sounds great, man

[Jason Poulin]

Originally Posted by Baz

Great job on all that work and very cool that your Dad was able to help ya out.

The drum clip sounds great, man

Thanks man!

We had a great time building them, even though we froze in the sub 30 celcius temperature when cutting the wood... and the opolstery (spelling?) was a real pain! But still... it was fun!

Jason

[gatormusic]

I couple weeks ago I read some posts about building bass traps with slats placed between and held together with bolts and washers. In searching I'm not finding that thread again. The pictures and how-to were very informative. Anyone know what thread that was?
Thank you,
Gary Gordon

[audiovisceral]

Originally Posted by tmcconnell

3) Do not under any circumstances overdamp the room. It just sounds dead.

My recordings are WAY beter since the treatment,.

Diffusors + bass traps = gold

[Bruno5150]

hey jason, nice work man! i also own a studio with small tracking and control rooms with low ceiling... now im workin on some corner basstraps for the tracking room... and latter work on the control room, with traps, diffusers,.. a lot of work, but your traps and the result you got give me some hope!!! cheers

[Jason Poulin]

Originally Posted by Bruno5150

hey jason, nice work man! i also own a studio with small tracking and control rooms with low ceiling... now im workin on some corner basstraps for the tracking room... and latter work on the control room, with traps, diffusers,.. a lot of work, but your traps and the result you got give me some hope!!! cheers

Have hope man... it's the best thing you can do for your sound. If I had to start from scratch, I'd invest in the room before the gear.


good luck!

[vegafreak]

Originally Posted by Jason Poulin

Have hope man... it's the best thing you can do for your sound. If I had to start from scratch, I'd invest in the room before the gear.


good luck!

Hey jason, thanks for the pics! How did you suspend your panels?

[auddoc]

In my studio, one large rectanglular-ish room, mix area towards one end, tracking area towards the other, Lanois -style. I built a varity of "sandboxes", similar to the ones built by the lad at the beginning of this thread, 1"x6"( 5/8x 5 inch in Canada)frame, in both 2x4 and 3x6 foot formats, plywood gussets for the corners, fairly dense green-death in the middle, stapled poly-sheeting on the back to keep the nasty stuff out of my lungs, and the visible parts covered in black stretchable speaker cloth. These are hung away from the wall by about two inches. The locations are specific where there were obvious problems and placed randomly throughout the rest of the room and at different heights. One short end wall is untreated, for a little liveness. Opposite wall has moveable curtains for some variability. Works great. Probably only 20-30% total wall coverage. Sounds nice and neutral, with just a bit of ambience off the untreated wall which is useful depending on mic position. Too much treatment just kills a room, IMHO. I have heard so many people suck the life out of a room, by overdoing this. That's quiet but, makes it crappy to play or sing in. This entire exercise cost about 150-200$ and took a day and a bit. It sorta looks like an "no-art" gallery full of recording gear.

[ChaosCreation]

whats the best way to treat a five by six closet? it has no door and opens to a ten by ten room.

this would be only treated for vocals not monitoring.

do i want to treat the ceiling above me in the closet and all the exposed walls ? then in front of the door is where I would have the SERF?

[craven]

whats recommended for my studio room, foam padding, 1 inch, 2 inch, 3 inch all the way around?

or just foam in the corners, and bass traps?

the room is 8' x 8' x 6.5'

thanks

[laddie.music2]

Originally Posted by Glenn Kuras

If your looking for best of the best then work with a company that can guide you though it. If doing yourself then learn how to shoot the room and do a bunch of reading up on it. Over all though the key (like you said) is the balance. If building them yourself start with broad band bass traps with FRK to the front of them. This will keep from killing the highs then treat first reflections with thinner panels (no FRK on these).

Glenn

Hi Glenn, not sure if you'll see this or not,
I know i'm quoting you from 2007, but I figure acoustics haven't changed much since then ;-)

Just wondering if you sell corner traps that deal with this issue...
I have space auralex on all 4 walls in my small room, 2 inches off the wall to increase efficiency.... but i'm affraid if I do floor to ceiling corner bass traps like the ones you sell, i'm scared of really killing the room so to speak...
Do you make panels that have FRK to deal with Corner bass trapping?, what do you suggest.

regards
Laddie.

[Glenn Kuras]

Originally Posted by laddie.music2

Hi Glenn, not sure if you'll see this or not,
I know i'm quoting you from 2007, but I figure acoustics haven't changed much since then ;-)

Just wondering if you sell corner traps that deal with this issue...
I have space auralex on all 4 walls in my small room, 2 inches off the wall to increase efficiency.... but i'm affraid if I do floor to ceiling corner bass traps like the ones you sell, i'm scared of really killing the room so to speak...
Do you make panels that have FRK to deal with Corner bass trapping?, what do you suggest.

regards
Laddie.

Talk about being MANY MONTHS off on responding but yes the 244 and the Monster start to fall off around 500 hz which will keep life in the high end.

[Multi-Monitors]

any idea where I can get the best deal on studio foam for treating a 12x24 room?

[Heavyfunker]

Great stuff Jason! Really great work and awesome drum sound!

Was wondering if you could tell me where you bought the speaker grill cloth... I'm having a hard time finding a good fabric for my traps and absorbers :(

Burlap is just so madusa!!!!

Beautiful from a far but far from beautiful lol

[drew]

Originally Posted by Heavyfunker

Was wondering if you could tell me where you bought the speaker grill cloth... I'm having a hard time finding a good fabric for my traps and absorbers :(

Burlap is just so madusa!!!!

Beautiful from a far but far from beautiful lol

Guilford of Maine - Guilford of Maine

[My Tiny Circus]

I mounted some, listened then mounted some more. lather, rinse, repeat till it sounds good. If you go too far, take a couple down. Mine are on hooks or magnets.

Originally Posted by Nehe555

im a bit new at this stuff, and i've got a quick question:

how does one strike that balance between over-deadening a room with treatment and having no treatment at all?

after looking at the photos, the first thing that came to mind was, "i wonder if the room is now really dead-sounding." of course, after hearing that little drum jam, i'm convinced that it sounds great. but if i were to undertake a similar project, i wouldn't want overkill.

would appreciate any response to this. btw, i'm not in any way bashing ur work jason. it looks fantastic and i'm very happy for u!

[jambadrummer]

suuuuper useful thread btw!

a few questions:

- any thoughts on fabric used to cover my bass traps? i picked up some suede cause i found a killer deal, is this an ideal material?
obviously you want a light, airy, material to take full advantage of the insulation, but whats 'best' for the traps?

also, where is everyone buying their 703 insulation? (cheapest ive found is $70 for 6 - 2" panels)

thanks!

[ritelec]

Not sure about the suede??? My guess would be no.
Rockwool is cheaper. $35 for 8-3" 2x4


Get out your reading glasses and GO THRU THIS.

Start here.
Basic acoustic measurement primer v2.1

Check this out.
Listen to the Music, Not the Room

Read all of this.
Acoustics/Treatment Reference Guide - LOOK HERE!


There will be a quiz.


All the best.

-rich

[Jason Poulin]

Originally Posted by vegafreak

Hey jason, thanks for the pics! How did you suspend your panels?

Just used some heavy duty anchors in the drywall and screwed in hooks to them... then I used eye hooks in the traps and linked them with small chain to the hooks in the drywall

Haven't fallen on me yet ; (

J.

[Jason Poulin]

more recent pics of our studio in action

In the Studio | March 2011 | Facebook

[erikdrink]

Sweet!