Cheap DIY Gobos?

[rackdude]

How would those be constructed? Would you just make some bass traps, and put a few together and make a stand for them? I would like them for mobile recording but I don't have too much money.

Heres one big thing, would you use the same materials as you would in bass traps? Rockwool or 703? Or would it be completely different?

[vernier]

You can hang a blanket over a suspended stick of wood, curtain-rod or bamboo, connected to the ceiling by two pieces of string. Or, keep a thin sheet of acoustic foam and prop it where needed, when needed. I've done both and lately just use the foam.

[rackdude]

What foam would you suggest to get? Not auralux I believe...

Does a blanket work that well?

[riffster]

There are alot of ways to make them, here is the way I made mine - Riffster's Gobos

Also, go here for a ton of info - Recording Studio Design :: Index

[michaels]

I took the cheap DIY route and got a bunch of HP server boxes (almost a 4x4 square and 8" deep) and then went to goodwill and filled them up with cheap ass blankets and clothes then sat one on top of the other to get them about 6.5' tall and covered them in paramid foam to get the look. It's an ugly ass look but damn do they work. Total cost for 12 of them was next to nothing as the blankets were a buck or two a piece...maybe 75.00 total.

[RedWallStudio]

1) Get Owens Corning 703 or 705 Insulation (4" thick). Buy it here.
Service Center Directory - Specialty Products & Insulation Co.

2) Get 1 x 4 Pine from Home Depot. Make a Frame to go around the 703, which you already cut to the size you need. You can tack it or screw it (pre drill the holes) together.

3) Put insulation inside Frame and wrap Frame with "breathable" fabric of your choosing. You can go to Joanne Fabrics, or dig around on E-bay for deals. My favorite E-bay seller of cool fabrics goes by the e-bay handle of winterbeachmodern. Basicaly wrap the frame and insulation like a present and staple around the edges. No need to cover the back of the of the insulation.

4) Hang it on your wall. Popular opinion is that if you can hang it a few inches off the wall, leaving an air gap, you will get better performance. There are tons of threads on here that talk about how to make gobos, but good luck finding one that doesn't include two acousticians hi-jacking the thread by arguing with each other.dfegad

[rackdude]

Heres the deal, these gobos would be my only acoustic insolation, so, would blankets be enough? Or should I get some more absorbant material?

[tenchijin2]

Jungle Noise Studio - Photos


In the modifying the room sections you'll see some photos of 6' x 4' panels I made on rolling steel frames.

[bitman]

Office cubicle partitions work pretty well.

[rackdude]

Thanks redwall, but that website you gave... I couldn't find 703. But you put it plain and simple and that was the answer I needed. So, I just need to find some 703, make a frame, and put some "breathable" fabric... any suggestions for the fabric to use? Would just bedsheet stuff work? I mean, I know I need fabric, but is there a kind to get?

[rackdude]

I was just thinking of getting some clearence fabric like this:

Stretch Suiting Stripe Black - Discount Designer Fabric - Fabric.com

would that work?

and getting some roxul straight from a distributer. Then just make a frame for the gobo

[rackdude]

I was thinking about making it a portable isolation booth so... I was thinking of making them 6 feet high atleast because of vocalists... any objections? Or should I just raise them up if needed?

[RedWallStudio]

The SPI link I gave you is just so you can call them and get a price. They have consistently been the best prices I an find.

As far as material goes, you just don't want a fabric that is so tight that sound bounces off it rather than passing through it. Think "speaker grill" material or burlap that has lots of holes in it. But a good test is to hold the material up to your face and blow, if you can pass air through it easily, it will work fine.

[RedWallStudio]

Roxul will work to, but the problem with it is that its not rigid like th 703 and 705. So you will need to support it better. Personally, I find it way too floppy to deal with and like the ease of cutting and use that the 703 or 705 have. 705 is almost rigid enough to not need a wood frame. You could probably just wrap it with fabric and be done.

SPI sells 705 and 703 in 4 x 8 sheets. I've bought a ton from them.

[RedWallStudio]

btw - I made a portable ISO booth (sold it last year) out of 4 pieces of 705 covered with fabric and some cheap velcro straps to hold it all together (to act like hinges). It worked nice, and you can swing it open to let some air or close it off and get a real dead sound.

[rackdude]

Ight, I'm getting a quote from them. What density to use? #3 or #6?

[BudgetMC]

Originally Posted by RedWallStudio

.SPI sells 705 and 703 in 4 x 8 sheets. I've bought a ton from them.

Dang... didn't know you could get it in sheets of that size. Imagine the possiblities!

Red Wall... Thanks for the heads up!

[BudgetMC]

Originally Posted by RedWallStudio

btw - I made a portable ISO booth (sold it last year) out of 4 pieces of 705 covered with fabric and some cheap velcro straps to hold it all together (to act like hinges). It worked nice, and you can swing it open to let some air or close it off and get a real dead sound.

Got a picture?

[kittyboy]

Nice gobos, riffster!

[RedWallStudio]

I never took a picture of the portable iso booth before I sold it. But here is a pic of what I did to my garage. I turned it into a live room by taking each sheets of 4 x 10 x 4 inch thick 705, glued two sheets together back to back (8 inches thick), then covered them with fabric and wedged them in front of my garage door (you can see the track of my graage door at the top by the ceiling, my garage door is right behind that beige wall, that is all 705). It totally made my garage quiet and I live on a pretty busy side street. Alot of so-called "acousticians" said it wouldn't work, that 705 won't sound proof anything. They can kiss my ass...dfegad

[RedWallStudio]

Here is the pic

[RedWallStudio]

Top two pics were small wall absorbers and a cloud over my drum kit. This pic shows the wall in front of the garage door.

[RedWallStudio]

Here is a free standing gobo I covered with some cool paisley material I found on E-bay. I think this cost me 30 bucks to make.

2 x 4 703
4 x 8 Sheet of Material
2 Pieces of 1 x 4 x 6' Pine (side legs)
2 "T" Brackets (get them at the deck-building location at Home Depot) as Leg Supports so it wont tip over.

Once I had all my materials, they took about 45 minutes each to build.

[kittyboy]

Hey Red

Those ones in your garage have no frames, correct?

That's what I'm hoping would work here. I don't want to have a construction project, just want to wrap some 703 in fabric and stick them to the back wall and ceiling where I'm tracking to have a relatively "dead" space in my room for tracking.

I'd probably use 4" on the back wall and 2" on the ceiling. Could I just wrap them in fabric and stick 'em to the walls?


Thanks!

[RedWallStudio]

Yes, the ones in front of my garage door have no frames. Its literally 705 with material spray glued over the top. I cut them to the exact height of my floor-to-ceiling height. Then when I wrapped them with material, they fit snug and don't move at all. And if I ever need to open my garage door, I can pull them out with a good tug.

Be careful with the 2" 705, that is getting kinda thin and you get very decreased performance.

[kittyboy]

Thanks.

I'm not trying to sound-proof, just trying to deaden the space and absorb most of the reflections.

703 or 705 for my purposes? Better/worse than wedge/pyramid foam?

[RedWallStudio]

705 is denser, that much I am sure. As far as the acoustic properties between 703 and 705, I'm not an expert, so I can't really say. What I can tell you is that 2" of 703 or 705 is probably NOT sufficient to sound TREAT your room. Its too thin, most frequencies will pass through it. You really need 4" in most places to have a good effect.

Acoustic foam is something I don't know much about, other than there is a lot bad foam out there masquerading as "acoustic foam". Beware of the fly by night foam sellers on e-bay...research, research, research. If you buy ANY foam, make sure the manufacturer has substantiating reports available to prove their material works.

Honestly, Auralex is the only manufacturer of Foam that I would trust, other wise you are rolling the dice IMHO