Home studio build problem.

[ericdevine]

My wife and I just bought our first home, and I will be making one of the bedrooms into a single room studio. There is one area of concern- This was a bedroom (w/ a closet) I took down the doors already, but I don't know how the bit of wall above the doors will affect the sound. I was thinking that maybe the 2'X2 1/2' air space behind the wall would make a good bass trap if I sealed the bottom of it with compressed fiberglass. Three of the walls and the floor and ceiling are concrete. One wall to the left of the mix position is sheetrock.
Any ideas?

[Ethan Winer]

Originally Posted by ericdevine

I was thinking that maybe the 2'X2 1/2' air space behind the wall would make a good bass trap if I sealed the bottom of it with compressed fiberglass.

Eric,

Insulation behind a wall is not going to do much more than damp the wall. This is good! But it won't give you much usable bass trapping. For the complete story see this:

www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html

--Ethan

[nathanvacha]

I think what you mean is replace the closet doors in a bedroom completely with fiberglass panels? I would assume this would work well.

I say you could go a step further and make new closet doors that are just frames and have 2-4" of rigid and still open to use the closet as storage.

and if you have 5 out of 6 surfaces made out of concrete, you may want to make some sealed panel-type bass traps like you can find on Ethan's site as well as broadband absorption.

[ericdevine]

Acually, what I am trying to figure out is if the 2 foot section of wall above where the closet doors were might cause any funky issues. The doors are going, to make more room. Here is a pic of the room.

[Dor]

trap the ceiling to wall corners above the closet.

[ericdevine]

On the outside or the inside?

[Ethan Winer]

Originally Posted by ericdevine

On the outside or the inside?

Inside.

And outside.

And everywhere else you can manage.

[Glenn Kuras]

Originally Posted by Dor

trap the ceiling to wall corners above the closet.

I would agree with that.. Where else are you planning on putting bass traps?

Glenn

[ericdevine]

I was shooting for 2 or 3 corner traps (2' tall) in each corner and 2 or 4" foam wedge sheets 2'x4' in the middle of each wall and on the ceiling.

[Ethan Winer]

Originally Posted by ericdevine

I was shooting for 2 or 3 corner traps (2' tall) in each corner and 2 or 4" foam wedge sheets 2'x4' in the middle of each wall and on the ceiling.

That is nowhere near enough bass trapping for a room that size. Ideally, in a small room like that you'll line every single wall-wall and wall-ceiling corner fully with traps. If you can't do all that, then so be it. But if you hope to be able to make mixes that "travel" well you need at least eight 2 by 4 foot traps. Plus first reflection treatment on the side walls and ceiling.

--Ethan