Best bass traps for my budget

[adclark]

I have a standard medium size bedroom (12x12) with valted ceiling. This is a condo. Placing minitraps by RealTraps would be ideal. Anyway...they are 2 feet wide which would be way too obtrusive to my wife and not practical (2 corners have a door and window too close to corner). Any other Bass trap manufacturers that have kits for small rooms and small budgets? My mids and highs translate excellent...but the bass is boomy on other systems.

[nathanvacha]

Originally Posted by adclark

I have a standard medium size bedroom (12x12) with valted ceiling.... ...they are 2 feet wide which would be way too obtrusive to my wife and not practical (2 corners have a door and window too close to corner).

Um... can you maybe post a little diagram or something of where the doors/windows in the corners are? Esp. include your desk/monitor position in the room...

[Thumper]

Unfortunatly, bass traps have to be big. That's just the way that they work. At the studio where I work, we have a bass trap that's about 10' by 12'.

For a bass trap on the cheap, rolls of fiberglass insulation work wonders, but they sure aren't pretty. You can make a pillowcase kind of thing for them, though. But, they still aren't small.

How is it 'boomy'? Too much low bass? Kick and bass guitar not blending well?

It might just be that you don't have the low end extention on your monitors to accuratly hear what's going on down there.

[adclark]

That's the issue...my monitors can't reproduce the lows that my car (Bose system with sub) and home stereo (Pioneer elite with Polk home theatre speakers) can produce. On the iPod and on the Bose acoustic wave radio...everything sounds fine

[Thumper]

What do you have for monitors?

A small sub would help, not sure if there is a budget for it though...

Otherwise a great set of headphones could work... set up your mix on your nearfields, and then check the low end in the cans.

Otherwise, just compare the low end on some CDs that you like, with the mix that you're working on. But you knew that...

Know your monitors.

You don't need to worry about bass traps. Your can tell your wife that she owes me... like... about $10 for telling you.

Bass traps are used to smooth out the low frequency response of a room, so there aren't peaks and dips. Your problem, on the other hand, is the lack of the bass in the first place.

HEY!!! I just thought of something... Run a cable out to your Polk system for another set of monitors to check. A cable can easily be wrapped, and unwrapped.

That's another $10...

[Phunkeman]

The situation with your wife is understandable. So you could build your own and use a breathable material with a nice pattern or print on the thing that would be pleasing to to your wife and functional for you. I have seen them just pick something....oh or better yet ask her which pattern she likes she will be in on the project before you know it......probaly 40.00-50.00 bucks a panel.

[Phunkeman]

Stuff like this is not expensive and looks nice if you have to comprimise.

[Joel DuBay]

DIY is absolutely the way to go.

In a room with no bass trapping/ acoustic treatment, is it often times MUCH harder to hear the bass from your monitors. You can see a variance of more then 30db in your bass!

Using bass traps in (or as close to) as many corners may actually enhance the over all bass response in your room. I just did a bedroom (now his mix room) for a guy that was monitoring with some great Mackie 828's and a sub. Now, we should have heard very good bass with those speakers, but the peaks and nulls were so bad....blech! It was terrible..

2 Hours and 8 bass traps later and the bass in is mix was not only audible and evident, but tight and punchy and his mixes translated really, really well.

Get/make/ WIN some bass traps and get them as close to your front vertical (and rear) corners (or straddling) as possible.

Then, get ready for joy.


Good luck mate,


Joel R DuBay Sr
www.readyacoustics.com



FREE BASS TRAPS HERE!!!

[Glenn Kuras]

Originally Posted by adclark

I have a standard medium size bedroom (12x12) with valted ceiling. This is a condo. Placing minitraps by RealTraps would be ideal. Anyway...they are 2 feet wide which would be way too obtrusive to my wife and not practical (2 corners have a door and window too close to corner). Any other Bass trap manufacturers that have kits for small rooms and small budgets? My mids and highs translate excellent...but the bass is boomy on other systems.

12x12, ouch that is going to really need some bass trapping in that room.. Not that it can not be done, but plan on 8 to 12 bass traps in that room to take care of it.. Straddle as many corners as possible!
Take a read at http://www.gikacoustics.com/faq.htm to get a understanding of set up and basic acoustics..

Glenn

[Glenn Kuras]

>Any other Bass trap manufacturers<

Do a google search and you will come up with many.. Keep in mind that there are some with no lab testing on there product or only showing numbers from the fiberglass.. Those are the ones to watch out for..
Stay away from a company called Foam By Mail.. It has been proven they are posting fraud numbers..

Glenn

[adclark]

I am going to upgrade to 8 inch monitors (Yamaha hs80m). At least more bass can be produced. I'm leary about a sub....Most great mix engineers (I am not one of them) use 2 speakers for mixing stereo. I figure if they can do it...i'll find a way ...even with a partially treated room.

[Glenn Kuras]

Originally Posted by adclark

I am going to upgrade to 8 inch monitors (Yamaha hs80m). At least more bass can be produced. I'm leary about a sub....Most great mix engineers (I am not one of them) use 2 speakers for mixing stereo. I figure if they can do it...i'll find a way ...even with a partially treated room.

Using a sub is not bad to just get the over all sound.. But doing the meat of the mix I would leave it off... I use a sub (only for reference) but I also get free panels so my room is treated to the hilt!!!

Glenn

[Joel DuBay]

adclark,


Many Top mix engineers use a sub during intial and final mix for reference. It is common place to do so and assists the engineer in translating from one audio source to the next. If the art is Hip Hop, R&B or rock, a sub woofer used during mix has become an industry standard, especially in the US and Europe. Without such, being able to fit the neccessary lowend (perhaps specifically your kick at 63hz) associated with each of these genre into a mix can mean under compensation without a sub during your referencing, and a dirty final result.

Also, when (and if) you look to making your own bass traps or to buying something premade, it is important not only to look for coefficient standards associated with products, but to look at the materials that make up the acoustical medium or premade acoustical panel. Every manufacturer who posts on this forum has recommended COUNTLESS times to use proven products like Owens Corning 703 or 705 wrapped in breathable fabric and position said panel as close to your room corners as possible. If you'd like, I can post a litany of threads where you will see precisely what I am talking about. So, commonly referenced materials are your BEST bet for making your own panels, or purchasing premade. Do not forget about Auralex foam as potential resource too. Their test data is "real-world", incredibly sound and in the right application, work very effectively.


Good luck!


~ Joel

SIGN UP TO WIN 12 FREE BASS TRAPS HERE!!
Shut your yap and get off my post~

[TML]

Larger speakers and subs may not be the way to go in my opinion. You should trap the bass thumbsup But make sure you have speakers that represent 100-300 hz really well. IIn a smaller room ...your just gonna excite it with a sub....unless it's to hype the sound for clients while tracking. I'm using KRK V4's for low mids...along with ns-10's and Dyn BM 15a's.
Tim

[Joel DuBay]

Originally Posted by TML

Larger speakers and subs may not be the way to go in my opinion. You should trap the bass thumbsup But make sure you have speakers that represent 100-300 hz really well. IIn a smaller room ...your just gonna excite it with a sub....unless it's to hype the sound for clients while tracking. I'm using KRK V4's for low mids...along with ns-10's and Dyn BM 15a's.
Tim

Tim, how are those v4's? I have been looking at them for a while, but didn't know anyone who was using them a lot. We have v6's and v8's, and love them both. The v8's Kevlar woofer is unreal, and negates the use a sub all together. I'd like to know how they translate if you have a sec to post.

Cheers,

~ J

[nathanvacha]

I'm gonna bump my own reply and say again it may help if you could post some pictures or a diagram of the actual room in question. An educated guess is better than jus a shot in the dark... and there are people here who definetely know their stuff.

[TML]

Joel-
The V4's rock...I crank them and get rid of all the junk....the excursion is funny.....they pump...but thats how I like to used stuff....I'll probably blow them up and get another pair......their cool.......no extended lows or top...just lo mid and mid.....not a bad speaker...translate well....
Tim

[warhead]

Originally Posted by TML

Joel-
The V4's rock...I crank them and get rid of all the junk....the excursion is funny.....they pump...but thats how I like to used stuff....I'll probably blow them up and get another pair......their cool.......no extended lows or top...just lo mid and mid.....not a bad speaker...translate well....
Tim

My sentiments exactly, the V4 are an excellent second monitor for translation to the real world. They are my "NS10" so to speak.

War

[Joel DuBay]

Originally Posted by warhead

My sentiments exactly, the V4 are an excellent second monitor for translation to the real world. They are my "NS10" so to speak.

War

Very cool you guys. Thanks for that. I hadn't spoken to ANYONE who'd tried these things, and for the money, they will certainly add another option to us when testing our products and using in our small mix room.

Cheers!


~ J

[Glenn Kuras]

Originally Posted by warhead

My sentiments exactly, the V4 are an excellent second monitor for translation to the real world. They are my "NS10" so to speak.

War

mmmm as a person that has been using NS-10s for something like 10 years this might be something to check out!!

So War when do you want to come down and check out the new plant? We just did the big move on friday.. Man I am still tired!!!

Glenn

[warhead]

Originally Posted by myfipie

mmmm as a person that has been using NS-10s for something like 10 years this might be something to check out!!

So War when do you want to come down and check out the new plant? We just did the big move on friday.. Man I am still tired!!!

Glenn

Call me Monday or Tuesday!!!

War

[TML]

Originally Posted by warhead

My sentiments exactly, the V4 are an excellent second monitor for translation to the real world. They are my "NS10" so to speak.

War

War-

I got the idea from both you and Zuess!! Great advice in another thread.
Tim

[Glenn Kuras]

Originally Posted by warhead

Call me Monday or Tuesday!!!

War

Will do it..