Only bass-traps for treatment?

[Bradley1602]

As the title says.
Cant i treat a room with only bass traps? And get a good sounding environment. Cause a bass trap also sucks up higher hz?!
Whats wrong w that thought?
Nice day

[Boiled Egg]

I haven't ever treated a room but did do a shit load of reading about it so may be able to offer some semi-useful advice to save you some time in getting started.

Have realistic goals. If you have a small room then you are unlikely to get a great bass response regardless of the treatment you install.
Treating first reflection points should be the first thing you do in any room and give you the best immediate gains in most cases.
Broadband absorbers can be use in first reflection points and to straddle corners as 'bass traps' (to a degree) so starting with a few of these could be a good idea if you're just looking for improvements on a budget, or for the first stage of an incremental approach.
If you're looking to make an amazing sounding room then it's probably best to just pay someone to do the room for you. It probably wont add that much to the final cost and save you a load of time and hassle.

Hope this helps

[td3l]

The bass trap should indeed absorb higher frequencies arriving at it, yes -- but you will be placing them in the corners of your room in order for them to do their primary job. Thus, they will do nothing to help you with creating a Reflection Free Zone at your listening position, which should be your top priority. See: https://bobbyowsinskiblog.com/home-stud ... vironment/

[Lost to the Void]

As the title says.
Cant i treat a room with only bass traps? And get a good sounding environment. Cause a bass trap also sucks up higher hz?!
Whats wrong w that thought?
Nice day

A bass trap will act as a broadband absorber but it won`t diffuse the high end and there is a risk of a dead room if it is all you have.
You can put diffusors onto a bass trap tho.
Diffusors are relatively cheap anyway.

[Bradley1602]

As the title says.
Cant i treat a room with only bass traps? And get a good sounding environment. Cause a bass trap also sucks up higher hz?!
Whats wrong w that thought?
Nice day

A bass trap will act as a broadband absorber but it won`t diffuse the high end and there is a risk of a dead room if it is all you have.
You can put diffusors onto a bass trap tho.
Diffusors are relatively cheap anyway.

Thanks, I though for some reason thought, diffusors are something like a "luxury".
Only changing a 5 Percent and being horribly expensive.

I had these wooden things in mind, like you see on big techno studios like florian meindls on youtube or something...

Seems I had a wronge perception here...
I have to read in on it.

[Lost to the Void]

You can buy or make diffusers very cheaply.
Idiots will spend thousands on them, but with cheap wooden batons cut to varying lengths and stuck together, you can make them cheaply.
Or buy them.
Some bass traps can actually reflect high frequencies, depending on the type, as they are designed for..... Well... Bass. So high end control is often not a part of the design.
Also, high frequencies spread and disperse ina different way to low frequencies.
You don't have to be as accurate with bass trap placement as with top end control placement.

Nothing but bass traps could lead to an odd sounding room as it is rare that the only problems in a room are the bass.

Smaller rooms have more trouble with high frequency dispersion than larger, as the reflective surfaces are closer to you.

I'm afraid there is no simple answer. Frequencies are not I dependant, everythjng effects everything else.

Have a read of this, it may help you
https://ethanwiner.com/basstrap_myths.h ... ss%20depth.

[timc3]

I think others have summed it up well, particularly "no simple answer" as you have to look at what you want to do, and the room as a whole.

It is possible to only treat a room with bass traps if that is the only problem but it's going to be rare that is the only problem. I went from a similar route to you where I was thinking what was the minimum I could do to get something that I was happy with, instead I ended up learning a lot, getting some professional help but also making a lot of changes until I ended up treating almost all of the room.

I have attached some images of what I did, but basically I got an acoustician in on the project and supplied him with the dimensions of the room, some initial REW measurements, what I was trying to do and he came back with drawings, specifications of the type of insulation etc., Plus importantly panels that he made up that would serve multiple purposes for acoustics depending on where they are placed and their sizes, plus some other helpful guidelines.

I built the frames, put in the insulation (to the right spec), fabric, did the electrics, networking, made sure the air vent was in the right place and moved a radiator. The back wall is something like 50cm deep and the panels are laid out in a specific way based upon his calculations. The other end as you can probably see is completely enclosed with something like 38cm depth on the walls and ceiling. This is covered in fabric in places and panels in other places depending on the need. Then I have two subs that are tuned to compensate for the narrow desk and then the acoustician came in and measured and then tuned the DSP that supplies the monitors and subs. He was very happy with the outcome and so am I, it sounds great in the sweet spot. Not a simple process though. Cost around 4000 GBP

[Lost to the Void]

There is a whole other side of this.
Great records have been made in shit rooms on average speakers.
If you are very attentive and learn your room, unless you have terrible terrible problems, you can do great work.

I tend to think this stuff is stuff you should worry about when your production gets to the level where you yourself can identify these issues by ear.

Many get too hung up on this shit, end up spending a fortune on their rooms, speakers etc etc and their mixes still sound average.

So, although we can get super nerdy about this shit.
Don't over think or over worry.
It's the engineer not the gear.

[timc3]

There is a whole other side of this.
Great records have been made in shit rooms on average speakers.
If you are very attentive and learn your room, unless you have terrible terrible problems, you can do great work.

I tend to think this stuff is stuff you should worry about when your production gets to the level where you yourself can identify these issues by ear.

Many get too hung up on this shit, end up spending a fortune on their rooms, speakers etc etc and their mixes still sound average.

So, although we can get super nerdy about this shit.
Don't over think or over worry.
It's the engineer not the gear.

Yeah totally agree!

I realised awhile ago part of the fun of this hobby (and it is a hobby for me) is playing around with the equipment, making noises and generally relaxing without worry about an end result being release worthy, let along ground breaking or the engineering being amazing (though that would be a bonus). The room was a childhood dream made into reality, and I have had a lot of hours of fun in it now with my own shit and listening to released music. Totally un-necessary dream come true, but I am finding it interesting pulling apart released mixes and recordings.. Next on the list is a stupid car and a house with a sea view. One day!

But that is good advice above!

[Bradley1602]

Jesus what a studio.
I thank you a lot for that insight. Went through a bit of a shitty day today, but just reading the replies in this thread gives me some nice positive vibe.

Yo I know what losttothevoid means. Getting hung up in shit, that turns out not rewarding you with what you once thought it would.

I cant financially come up with something like that.
I envisioned spending 200€ building my own basstraps for it and having the room sounding much tighter in the bass and highs…
Jeeze

[Bradley1602]

Studio w a seaview

[Bradley1602]

A big tv makes you happy.
Its the only thing you need to reach a sublime level of hapiness.

[timc3]

Building your own bass traps would be fun anyway, why not go for it.

I also use it for testing for my work, which is a lot of work around software for video - the big TV comes in handy for that.