Simple treatment idea- your thoughts please

[transcendentalist]

Hi guys,

Just wanted to run a treatment idea by you that I had for recording acoustic and electric guitars/vox, so as to be fairly sure I won't be wasting my time, effort, and money by doing this.

The plan is simply to build two large panels (4'x6'x4", filled with Rockboard 40) and a ceiling cloud (also using Rockboard 40 and 4" depth). One of the large panels will be setup to my right while tracking, the other one just behind me (with the cloud above, obviously). The room I am going to be using is fairly large (about 20'x30' I think) and has a wooden floor. This way I figure I can retain some of the room's character while controlling it enough that it doesn't become burdensome in a mix by ensuring that no untreated surfaces face one another.

Also, the treatment will not be permanent. The panels will only be set up for tracking (so I guess it's more of a gobo type thing then, right?).

Oh, and one other thing- it occurred to me that it would be nice if possible to save money on the rockboard and only use it to a depth of 2" if that would provide enough treatment across the spectrum for guitar and vocals, and if in case 2" would indeed work fine for this application, would Rockboard 60 be a better option than 40? Or will I get much better treatment if I just stick to the original plan of using a 4" depth?

[jhbrandt]

It really all depends on what you want to do... which at this point I can only assume that you want to cut down on early wall reflections and keep the later ones... You will still have LF issues due to the untreated room - so musician/instrument/mic placement will be important.

Cheers,
John

[SörenHjalmarsson]

2" panels will certainly be enough to remove HF reflections, but if you're gonna make BIG absorbtive GOBO's, make them 4" while you're at it... same goes for the ceiling cloud... that way they will always be a good asset in you acoustic 'repertoire'. I just made a GOBO myself, based on a JHBrandt panel design.

Darn, i just ruined my cool post count! 666 \m/ \m/ >:-)~


MVH
Sören

[DanDan]

Number 667, the Neighbour of The Beast.....
DD

[SörenHjalmarsson]

Here it is, some inspiration...

hopefully...



MVH
Sören

[SörenHjalmarsson]

Originally Posted by DanDan

Number 667, the Neighbour of The Beast.....
DD

Hahaha...


/Sören

[transcendentalist]

Originally Posted by jhbrandt

It really all depends on what you want to do... which at this point I can only assume that you want to cut down on early wall reflections and keep the later ones... You will still have LF issues due to the untreated room - so musician/instrument/mic placement will be important.

Cheers,
John

Okay, so without bass trapping, the lower frequencies of my voice and guitar would still be running amok throughout the room? I wasn't sure if the simple gobo setup in itself, even at 4" would offer treatment all the way down to the lower frequencies of vox/guitar.

For tracking acoustic guitar, I had planned to set the two panels up in a 90 degree angle fashion, and then sit facing directly away from the panel behind me with another one to my right (or left I guess, depending on which side of the room I'm on). So the idea is essentially to have no untreated surfaces facing one another, hopefully resulting in a nicely controlled acoustic atmosphere, while still allowing the room to keep some of its 'liveliness'.

For vocal work, I had planned to do the reverse and face inward, which is basically this (except using much larger panels obviously)..

Originally Posted by SörenHjalmarsson

2" panels will certainly be enough to remove HF reflections, but if you're gonna make BIG absorbtive GOBO's, make them 4" while you're at it... same goes for the ceiling cloud... that way they will always be a good asset in you acoustic 'repertoire'. I just made a GOBO myself, based on a JHBrandt panel design.

Darn, i just ruined my cool post count! 666 \m/ \m/ >:-)~


MVH
Sören

Okay, so just for purposes of tracking acoustic/electric guitar and vocals, would you say that the 4" gobo/cloud design would be sufficient for mitigating even the lower frequencies emitted by those instruments, or would I be much better off to install proper bass traps throughout the room as well?

I know I more or less asked John the same question, but I'm just trying to get a few different opinions here!!

Thanks so much for all the replies so far guys, really appreciate the help!

[transcendentalist]

Can anyone confirm whether or not the 4" gobo/cloud design would remove LF reflections of acoustic guitar and vocals? This would be using Rockboard 40.

[jhbrandt]

Originally Posted by transcendentalist

Okay, so without bass trapping, the lower frequencies of my voice and guitar would still be running amok throughout the room? I wasn't sure if the simple gobo setup in itself, even at 4" would offer treatment all the way down to the lower frequencies of vox/guitar.

For tracking acoustic guitar, I had planned to set the two panels up in a 90 degree angle fashion, and then sit facing directly away from the panel behind me with another one to my right (or left I guess, depending on which side of the room I'm on). So the idea is essentially to have no untreated surfaces facing one another, hopefully resulting in a nicely controlled acoustic atmosphere, while still allowing the room to keep some of its 'liveliness'.

For vocal work, I had planned to do the reverse and face inward, which is basically this (except using much larger panels obviously)..

4" should work nicely for what you intend. It really depends on what you are looking for and not having actually been in your room, I cannot really comment except for Try It!
See if that will get you what you are looking for. You will always be able to use the panels.
Cheers,
John

[transcendentalist]

Thank you John, I'm going to give it a whirl then!!

One final question for the meantime- I can get either Rockboard 40 or 60. Any recommendations on which one I should go with? Or does it matter that much? My concern is that 60 might be too reflective of higher frequencies, and that 40 would offer all around better absorption at 4".. although I'm not really clear whether this is indeed the case..

[jhbrandt]

haha.. HONESTLY, there isn't THAT much difference when you are using it for individual panels. - Use the cheapest and easiest to work with -- your choice.
It becomes more important when you treat a large room with certain densities, because the absorption coefficients 'add up'. I hope you understand what I'm talking about. See attached...
These charts are derived from calculations for a room of 7200 cubic feet, concrete floor, 100% ceiling coverage and 4 walls at 40% coverage. Note the difference in LF decay.

Cheers,
John