Paint...More Fabric...or New Fabric For Bass Traps

[sys40198]

Hello,
I'm in the process of doin some acoustic treatment on my room and I decided to start off by building some "superchunk" style bass traps. I figured i would use some white muslin to cover my frames so it would match my white walls nicely.

When I put the fabric on, however, I realized that when I stretched out the fabric to make it fit tightly around the frame, i could see through the fabric and see the wood behind it...not what I want . It's even slightly more noticeable than the picture below implies.

So I was considering using white spray paint or something to make the fabric less transparent or make the wood match the fabric. But I'm not sure if this would affect the performance of the bass trap...or if this will even work to make it look more white. I was also thinking I could cover it with more fabric and hopefully this would make it more opaque. To be honest, I'd rather just paint it b/c when I bought the fabric, the lady at the store folded all of the material I bought, and so I had to iron the fabric out before I put it on, and my ceiling is almost 11' tall (lost of ironing...sucks).

From what I've read here and else where, it seems like adding paint or more fabric shouldn't make too much of a difference for a bass trap, since it's mainly for low frequency absorption. I mean people suggest using FRK on the fronts, which seems like it'll do more than paint would. Am I right in thinking this? What's a good way to go around doing this? Any help would be much appreciated!

P.S. for any noobs like me trying to do this (especially if u get lots of fabric) bring some PVC pipe to the fabric store or ask the store if they can roll it up instead of folding it. It'll save u some time. I gots 12 yards of fabric thats creased as hell...jus something i never considered

Thanks,
sys40198

[Jens Eklund]

Add wood slats to face of bass trap to retain some reflectivity?
A couple slat myths/rumors to clear up?
Velocity based vs. pressure based absorbers

[sys40198]

Wow thanks Jens for the links. Reading all that is a crazy way to wake up in the morning...my head hurts a little now. But really cool info there, some of it went over my head though. So are u trying to say that I should use some type of perforated covering for my bass traps?...or did i miss your point completely. Seems like an interesting Idea, but this is the first piece of acoustic treatment I'm putting up in the room, so I'm not sure if I need that kind of specific response that slotted/perforated panels would give me. In fact, the reason I started doing this is mainly b/c i got sick of hearing all the flutter echoes in my room. Amazingly, the few mixes ive done in that room (moved in not too long ago) have translated pretty well (maybe i jive with the room or am jus lucky e). But I know my room is terrible acoustically. Im mean is almost a perfect cube in shape.

I think I'll just do a regular bass trap and see how that affects my room and move on from there. PLUS the biggest factor really is that I dont fully understand how to "tune" those things and building those panels are WAAAY beyond my construction abilities and beyond my price range.

Perforations are definitely something to keep in mind for the future tho. Do you think the spray paint will be ok? or should i add another layer of muslin...or replace the fabric all together. I kind of want it to match the walls if possible.
Thanks

[Jens Eklund]

I personally avoid porous only absorbers and only use it for early reflection points. If going crazy with velocity base absorbers solely, this might be the result:

Room Measurement After Consulting Gearslutz

[sys40198]

For sure Jens. Ya i was just reading that thread. I definitely don't plan on going that nuts. Im only planning on doing the front traps and absorbers @ 1st reflection points for now. And then see where I'm at. Like I said my mixes have been ok...any problems is probably due to a lack of skill more than anything. I just wanna tame some of the problems in my room.

Thanks though for pointing out some great info though. I really appreciated it. So if i find myself with my room being too dead now or if i have wierd decay times, i know what to do. Plus those frames for the bass traps are just held to the wall by velcro. So if it turns out that i need to replace them they're easy to take off. how difficult would it be to make sloted/peroferated face for my ~10.5 ft bass traps? could i just get some cheap pieces of wood, drill some strategically located holes in them and attach them to the back of the frame (behind the fabric) and just put the frame back up and have some perforated superchunk bass traps? Or is there a better way/idea?

Thanks a lot again for your continued help...all this makes me wish i hadn't slept through my physics class last semester

[Jens Eklund]

It’s easier than you think:

Porous Absorber Calculator V1.58

[sys40198]

Jens for some reason that file does not work on my computer. Like once I open it, i get all this wierd stuff and I can't even quit Excel. Wierd since all the other files, open up fine on my comp. Maybe its cuz i got a mac and run microsoft '11. maybe theres another resource I could use somewhere on the internet...ill look for one. haha and I initially thought doing acoustic treatment on my room would be a easy, quick fix. Imagine my suprise when I found out stapling bed foam to my walls wasnt going to cut it .

[Jens Eklund]

Did you read the information on the whealy page?

[sys40198]

Hmm i guess not as thoroughly as I should have. But apparently Microsoft office 2011 doesn't come with the Analysis toolpak which is completely rediculous. Maybe I can find an older version somewhere.

[sys40198]

ok jens, after reading all day im pretty convinced about not using a porous only bass trap. Hopefully i can get that spread sheet to work. If i do, I'm still not 100% confident in my ability to create perforations in a regular pattern. Does plastic sheething work as well? And if i decided to go with doing a perforated "face" is it cool to just attach it to the frame and velcro it back on?
Can I just use some medium density particleboard or plywood or are there better materials to work with?
Does thickness matter (like .75in (2cm) vs .5 in (1.2cm))?
...so many questions now...Should I just start a new thread?
Thanks again btw, sent me in a new direction

[Glenn Kuras]

Originally Posted by sys40198

ok jens, after reading all day im pretty convinced about not using a porous only bass trap. Hopefully i can get that spread sheet to work. If i do, I'm still not 100% confident in my ability to create perforations in a regular pattern. Does plastic sheething work as well? And if i decided to go with doing a perforated "face" is it cool to just attach it to the frame and velcro it back on?
Can I just use some medium density particleboard or plywood or are there better materials to work with?
Does thickness matter (like .75in (2cm) vs .5 in (1.2cm))?
...so many questions now...Should I just start a new thread?
Thanks again btw, sent me in a new direction

I just want to caution you about tuned traps. Easy to build them wrong and not all of the calculators out there are totally right. If you don't totally understand them then I would give some thought with sticking with broad band upfront then adding tuned as icing on the cake.

[sys40198]

If you don't totally understand them then I would give some thought with sticking with broad band upfront then adding tuned as icing on the cake.

Probably the way i'm going to go.

Glenn, I was just checkin out the GIK site, and I love your products btw (its too bad Im too poor to get those), but I was jus curious about those "art panels." Like is it possible to just buy the printed fabric from you guys.

Im thinkin the answers probably "no" or u'd have that option on ur site, but i'd thought i'd ask...maybe it would be too difficult for me to wrap put that fabric on my panels anyways.

Thanks