Here's my situation...

[musikmaschine]

I've got a room that's far from ideal. It's got room partition doors on the most ideal wall and patio doors with a steel slidy gate on the other so i'm on the longest wall with a built in mdf desk. There's a recessed fireplace on the opposite wall and an alcove next to that with the door the room so lots of recesses.

I have bad modal resonance which i think is due to the poor room layout and furniture. It's almost square as well, measuring 13x12x7.3"!

I bought some knauf dritherm panels to place around the room to see if they eliminated the ringing but they've had no effect so far and i'm not sure what i need to do to remove it. I've tried covering the problem areas with the panels but when i clap my hands it's like i'm in a cave so i'm not sure how much of this is due to the room itself or the desk etc.

I do have another room i could use but i'd have to take the desk out first which i'm thinking of doing anyway so i can rearrange my layout.

Right now i'm thinking of building some bband absorbers and going from there. Will this help at all with the ringing? Is there anything else i can try? Should i just build a bunch of traps and then start measuring the room?

Cheers.

[jhbrandt]

musikmaschine,

You probably won't notice much sound absorption from those panels as they have been treated with moisture repellant. This effectively seals the panels making the gas flow resistivity very very high. Not good for your application. - they do an excellent job at thermal insulation - especially foundation cavities.

Use Owens/Corning 703 or 701 - or rock wool with a density of around 40kg/m3 for panels with an air gap on the walls and ceiling. For corner traps and large - 'full-fill' panels, you can use the pink stuff - attic blanket.

A good rule to follow to eliminate flutter echo; Do not allow untreated surfaces to face each other.

Treat the walls and corners as much as you can afford.

Cheers,
John

[musikmaschine]

Thanks John! Other members said the same thing and i had written them off but then another member recently posted that they were effective but around 24kg/m3. I thought if it was effective it would reduce the ringing but it has had no impact. I covered the fireplace, partition doors and even put some panels on the desk thinking that was the culprit!

Part of the problem is there isn't much surface area available in two corners for trapping and i can't go floor to ceiling where the desk is. The desk takes up a fair amount of space which is why i'm thinking taking it out. You say make sure two untreated surfaces aren't facing each other; that's exactly the issue i have, the partition doors and patio doors are facing each other; reflection central!

I'll just have to do as much as i can with the space i have.

I'm planning to order some RS60 asap as well as all the other materials and build some traps! Been itching to do it for a while but it's been difficult to source the RS60 but it looks like i'm just gonna have to eat the carriage charges.

Am i on the right track getting the RS60 at 50mm and doubling it for the bass traps? Or should i get some 50mm and 100mm? I'm not familiar with attic blanket but i'm in the UK for reference.

Cheers!

[Starlight]

Think 100 mm, not 50 mm. The corners will be better if you can build superchunks, where the trap is a triangular shape and fills the whole corner. Having 100 mm traps straddling the corners at 45°with the gap behind unfilled is less effective but considered better value for money, although at the cost, this will do nicely for the corners.

Where you have untreated parallel surfaces facing each other and it is not possible to treat either surface you can stand-mount traps, either just in front of the surface or as gobos. There are ideals and doing the best with the room you have.

[hsal]

It is all a balance imo, treat the forst reflections and some corners, and go from there.

[musikmaschine]

Originally Posted by Starlight

Think 100 mm, not 50 mm. The corners will be better if you can build superchunks, where the trap is a triangular shape and fills the whole corner. Having 100 mm traps straddling the corners at 45°with the gap behind unfilled is less effective but considered better value for money, although at the cost, this will do nicely for the corners.

Where you have untreated parallel surfaces facing each other and it is not possible to treat either surface you can stand-mount traps, either just in front of the surface or as gobos. There are ideals and doing the best with the room you have.

100mm including the ceiling cloud and early reflection points? That £3 insulation is perfect cause i'm not looking to spend a huge amount, just enough to get it under control.

I'd have to use superchunks anyway cause of the awkward corners. I had thought about free standing traps to cover the surfaces i can't treat. I'd like have a modular system it's just working out what to do with the corners as a two only have a few inches of wall where i could put the superchunks, they would not be equilateral...

Cheers!

[musikmaschine]

Originally Posted by hsal

It is all a balance imo, treat the forst reflections and some corners, and go from there.

That it is. I just want to get all the RS60 i'll need in one go to avoid paying carriage charges twice. With that insulation for the corners 12 traps should be enough.

[musikmaschine]

An update. I took the desk out cause it was quite large and i wanted to have the freedom to change my room layout. I've remained in the same spot as i don't really have a back wall and just placed four slabs of RS60 behind my monitors and two on the back wall, haven't touched the early reflection points either side and above yet.

I can say that the ringing has been reduced, usually it's like bouncing a beachball in a swimming pool but it's much less pronounced now.

Thanks for the advice guys.