diy room treatments

[rynugz007]

anybody know of any links for building gobos, wall units, bass traps..etc.......

[KarlHoffmann]

rynugz....here's a link to DIY tube traps : http://ic.net/%7Ejtgale/diy2.htm

and here's a link to Ethan Winer's site : http://www.ethanwiner.com/music.html ..scroll down to the link for bass traps

I'm sure there are more. The best thing to do is to get a copy of Alton Everest's book, "Handbook of Acoustics" (or something like that, I don't have it here in front of me). It's full of all the theory and a few examples.

Good luck, Karl

[Kenny Gioia]

Check This Out

[Ethan Winer]

Ryn,

> anybody know of any links for building gobos, wall units, bass traps..etc <

The definitive acoustic treatment FAQ is on my Articles page, second in the list, here:

www.ethanwiner.com/articles.html

Don't waste your time with home made tube traps. They aren't very effective, and for the same or less effort you can build bass traps that work well. Likewise for bedding foam. That type of foam does not work well acoustically, and it's also a fire hazard.

--Ethan

[kevinc]

I strongly second F. Alton Everests book and anything Ethan Winer has to say too.

One way to get good sound absorption is to frame 2'x2' pieces of 4" 703 type insulation and cover them with light fabric.
I`ve got these attached to my walls on hooks so I can move them around and change the rooms acoustics. Very handy.
4" 703 absorbs extremely well down to about 100 hz.
I`m going to build some bass traps like Ethan describes on his site eventually

[pieter]

Check out this one:

http://www.saecollege.de/reference_material/index.html

[edmann]

No science here, but : glue together pieces of foam that come as packing for boxed items, trying to get as much variation as possible. Lightweight and you can hang from walls and ceiling to break up flat surfaces.

[warhead]

On the cheap, I bought rolls of the pink insulation and stacked them 4 high and covered them with material. I stepped them out from the corners of my project studio and "it helps" is all I can say. Poor man's bass traps...

The good thing is, if it's not helping you...the insulation is still in bags and can be returned to the mega fixer upper store you got them from.

Experiment with placement, about 18" out from my corners is the most effective I've found. Of course, you're better off listening to other advice given on this page if you've got the time and the dough! I also found www.foambymail.com to be helpful as far as diffusing and getting rid of slap echoes, again on the cheap but it's decent foam and carries the same fire ratings as Auralex etc.

War

[TimOBrien]

My "on the cheap" solution was to use foambymail.com panels on the side of the room where I record to reduce the slap echos from the smooth walls.

To suck up bass, the other side of the room is taken up by five large bookcases bolted securely to the wall and filled with various sized books. (Gotta store them somewhere... they might as well provide some sonic absorbtion too!)

A 2"x4" hole in the wall allows me to put my computer in the next room, providing no CPU sounds with no cooling problems.

Works very well.

[edmann]

Originally posted by warhead
On the cheap, I bought rolls of the pink insulation and stacked them 4 high and covered them with material. I stepped them out from the corners of my project studio and "it helps" is all I can say. Poor man's bass traps...

The good thing is, if it's not helping you...the insulation is still in bags and can be returned to the mega fixer upper store you got them from.

do you mean still shrink-wrapped in the plastic? Will fiberglass work as a bass trap this way? I always presumed that that absorbant material must be exposed (behind cloth or a grill of course)

[Ethan Winer]

Ed,

> do you mean still shrink-wrapped in the plastic? <

Sure. And a side benefit is the plastic is reflective at high frequencies so you can absorb the lows without killing all the highs. Lows go right through the plastic.

--Ethan

[edmann]

Originally posted by Ethan Winer
Ed,

> do you mean still shrink-wrapped in the plastic? <

Sure. And a side benefit is the plastic is reflective at high frequencies so you can absorb the lows without killing all the highs. Lows go right through the plastic.

--Ethan

wow man - this is cool. I had no idea about the lows, is it because the surface is soft?

and I do understand about the highs too - (tube traps)......hmmmm.....

thank you Ethan

(and please don't tell anyone that I didn't know this).

Ed

[edmann]

I have been doing a bit of sheetrock work in the house here and noticed how resonant the stuff really is. I had a piece yesterday that was easily giving off a nice like 50-60 HZ or something...anyway it got me to thinking that if tuned pieces were hung from the nodal points or otherwise loosely mounted - trouble frequencies could be attenuated in smaller rooms....?

[leckieisagod]

Originally posted by edmann
I had no idea about the lows, is it because the surface is soft?


Ed

No Ed, it's because low frequency waveforms are longer than high frequency waveforms - in order to 'stop' a 50hz waveform, you need something a good couple of feet thick.

[edmann]

Originally posted by leckieisagod
No Ed, it's because low frequency waveforms are longer than high frequency waveforms - in order to 'stop' a 50hz waveform, you need something a good couple of feet thick.

I see - so in this case it is diffusion - not absorbtion - that we are talking about?

[Ethan Winer]

Ed,

> is it because the surface is soft? <

No, it's because plastic doesn't have enough mass to block low frequencies from passing through.

> it got me to thinking that if tuned pieces were hung from the nodal points <

Tuned LF treatment is never as good as broadband absorption. What many people miss is that peaks and severe nulls occur at all frequencies in all rooms, not just those frequencies related to the room dimensions.

> so in this case it is diffusion - not absorbtion <

Absorption, not diffusion, is the key to low frequency control. Diffusion affects mainly high frequencies. Though the large, deep, expensive diffusors can get down to the midrange.

--Ethan

[Jack Pettit]

where the wall meets the floor is a corner and a overstuffed
couch can be a pretty massive bass trap.
And a great place to sit.

[edmann]

Originally posted by Ethan Winer .

> so in this case it is diffusion - not absorbtion <

Absorption, not diffusion, is the key to low frequency control. Diffusion affects mainly high frequencies. Though the large, deep, expensive diffusors can get down to the midrange.

--Ethan [/B]

Thanks Ethan this is what I thought. Previous =post in this thread mentioned (w/re to the ballis of fibreglass insulation idea) " ...because low frequency waveforms are longer than high frequency waveforms - in order to 'stop' a 50hz waveform, you need something a good couple of feet thick" which I think would qualify as "diffusion" in a theoretical sense - is that true?

Anyway I have always been fascinated by this stuff and oin the last studio that I built I created an extensive DIY room tuning including lost of diffusors on the walls and heavy pillows suspended at LF buildup areas on the ceiling + rolled up futons in the corners. It worked well and the room sounded good.

but I digress

thanks Ethan

Ed

[Ethan Winer]

Ed,

> in order to 'stop' a 50hz waveform, you need something a good couple of feet thick" which I think would qualify as "diffusion" in a theoretical sense - is that true? <

Not true. Diffusion is more or less the opposite of absorption. An absorber converts sound wave energy to heat, so the sound stays within the absorber rather than be reflected back into the room to create echoes or damage the low frequency response. A diffusor intentionally reflects the sound waves, scattering them off in different directions.

--Ethan

[edmann]

Originally posted by Ethan Winer
Ed,

> in order to 'stop' a 50hz waveform, you need something a good couple of feet thick" which I think would qualify as "diffusion" in a theoretical sense - is that true? <

Not true. Diffusion is more or less the opposite of absorption. An absorber converts sound wave energy to heat, so the sound stays within the absorber rather than be reflected back into the room to create echoes or damage the low frequency response. A diffusor intentionally reflects the sound waves, scattering them off in different directions.

--Ethan

I see Ethan. I do know the difference - but I guess I got thrown by the "couple of feet thick" designation. In an old studio I did have some big road cases and I put in and around the corners and against the wall and it seemed to help with lowend. It is theoretically possible to diffuse lowend - right? Anyway this thread is getting dangerous for anyone who may pop in and get the wrong impression because of all this theory that i am throwing around as questions. Disregard anything that I write! Take heed of Ethan's posts!

thanks Ethan

Ed

[kato]

It is theoretically possible to diffuse lowend - right?

Sure it is. Just use a concrete wall.

[Ethan Winer]

Ed,

> It is theoretically possible to diffuse lowend - right? <

Yes, but that still won't give the results you really want, which is absorbing bass frequencies to reduce the LF reverb time and tighten up the sound.

I'm not a diffusion expert, but my understanding is the chambers need to be about 8 feet deep. And as Kato said, the material must be very rigid to reflect the waves instead of pass or absorb them.

--Ethan

Just wanted to give props!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ethan is one cool dude and his DIY traps have made my
new CR 10x what I had before. Dare I say this has made
a bigger difference in my product than any gear I have ever bought.


Thanks for sharing Ethan!!!!!!!




D

[kevinc]

Yeah Ethan is great.

I can`t believe he posts all that information on his site for free.

[Ethan Winer]

Guys,

> this has made a bigger difference in my product than any gear I have ever bought. <

Yep!

Thanks.

--Ethan