What kind of fabric for curtains

Hope209 · 24th October 2006, 02:45 AM

What kind of thick fabric would you guys suggest using for curtains in a control room? They will cover my closet and window to cut down reflections in the room.

Ethan Winer · 24th October 2006, 05:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hope209

What kind of thick fabric would you guys suggest using for curtains in a control room? They will cover my closet and window to cut down reflections in the room.

Curtains are not really approprate for acoustic treatment because they are very frequency selective. That is, they absorb only the highest frequencies, and leave everything else bouncing around. You can clap your hands and it might sound "better" than without curtains. But a control room needs to aim higher than that.

In particular, you want the decay time to be uniform at all frequencies.

--Ethan

Hope209 · 24th October 2006, 06:31 PM

This is the idea proposed by john sayers. Right now my desk is where the bed is drawn and the bed is where the desk is. Also, the brown boxes are Realtraps and the checkered ones are Mondotraps

Glenn Kuras · 24th October 2006, 07:07 PM

If you do want to go with curtains (which I am with Ethan to not do it) go with the thickest and softest ones you can find. Don't think

that this would be any substitute for bass trapping and that is the thing that is most important in any control room, proper bass trapping.

Good luck on the room.

Glenn

Ethan Winer · 26th October 2006, 03:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hope209

This is the idea proposed by john sayers. Right now my desk is where the bed is drawn and the bed is where the desk is. Also, the brown boxes are Realtraps and the checkered ones are Mondotraps

Sorry, I missed completely that you're a RealTraps customer!

I still consider curtains to be mostly inadequate for use as acoustic treatment, but Glenn is correct that the only type of useful curtain is a very thick one. Stage curtains are sometimes used for this. That's the kind used in audioriums with two separate layers, and each layer is very thick. If you hang that type of curtain a few inches off the wall, it will absorb to a lower frequency than when flat against the wall. When I owned a big pro studio 25+ years ago, we had stage curtains a foot away from each of two walls in our large live room. This let us change the liveness of the room by opening or closing either or both curtains. You can see it on the right side of the photo below.

--Ethan

dingo · 26th October 2006, 03:57 PM

If this is just to cut down HF reflections from a window or to act as a divider between closet and room.. I don't see any serious issues here. If this were to be the only acoustic treatment in the room, I could understand the objections.. but this is just for a window and a divider, correct?

As a somewhat on-topic aside, are there any issues with hanging curtains in front of traps? Or directly touching the face of the traps?

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24th October 2006, 02:45 AM	#1
Hope209 Lives for gear Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 592	What kind of fabric for curtains What kind of thick fabric would you guys suggest using for curtains in a control room? They will cover my closet and window to cut down reflections in the room.

24th October 2006, 07:07 PM	#4
Glenn Kuras Lives for gear Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 3,796	If you do want to go with curtains (which I am with Ethan to not do it) go with the thickest and softest ones you can find. Don't think that this would be any substitute for bass trapping and that is the thing that is most important in any control room, proper bass trapping. Good luck on the room. Glenn __________________ Glenn Kuras - GIK Acoustics www.GIKAcoustics.com Need help with your room? click here

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24th October 2006, 06:31 PM	#3
Hope209 Lives for gear Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 592	This is the idea proposed by john sayers. Right now my desk is where the bed is drawn and the bed is where the desk is. Also, the brown boxes are Realtraps and the checkered ones are Mondotraps

26th October 2006, 03:57 PM	#6
dingo Gear addict Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 418	If this is just to cut down HF reflections from a window or to act as a divider between closet and room.. I don't see any serious issues here. If this were to be the only acoustic treatment in the room, I could understand the objections.. but this is just for a window and a divider, correct? As a somewhat on-topic aside, are there any issues with hanging curtains in front of traps? Or directly touching the face of the traps?