Acoustic treatment, where to start?, what to do?

[surface]

There's a nod to acoustics in this months SOS as well with a link to an old article which is more in depth from 2007found here:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec07/a ... ustics.htm

[Faust]

Hi Mslwte, Rockwool is relatively inexpensive.

This stuff will do the job for acoustic panels>>

http://www.building-supplies-online.co. ... 3334-p.asp

A 12 pack of the 50mm shiz will do you 12 panels. Thats pretty good for around £40! The 50mm will cover absorption from around 250 - 4000 Hz pretty well.

For bass traps this would do>>>

http://www.building-supplies-online.co. ... 3842-p.asp

I would give the Auralex foam a wide birth personally in favour of DIY.

Now, where to place things and how many you will need is dependant on the room... What are your room dimensions? Also is it a room used only for a studio space?

Excellent this is what I'll get! I must of been looking at a large bulk of rockwool for the prices I saw.

Yeah, I remember looking on ebay and thinking the same until I realised I was looking at bulk (like 10 packs)

[Faust]

Real traps have a load of great info on the basics.

First thing to adress should be to try and find the best place for your speakers and listening position > http://www.realtraps.com/art_room-setup.htm

Then check out about early reflections perhaps > http://www.realtraps.com/rfz.htm

There are loads of articles on the site http://www.realtraps.com/articles.htm

aaaaaand.. heres a cool little vid on the results you can get :]

youtu.be/cp56A6TcL1E

[Mslwte]

Real traps have a load of great info on the basics.

First thing to adress should be to try and find the best place for your speakers and listening position > http://www.realtraps.com/art_room-setup.htm

Then check out about early reflections perhaps > http://www.realtraps.com/rfz.htm

There are loads of articles on the site http://www.realtraps.com/articles.htm

aaaaaand.. heres a cool little vid on the results you can get :]

youtu.be/cp56A6TcL1E

Man real traps is an excellent resource! Thanks for everyone's input this post is fast becoming a sticky

I have a much better understanding of what needs to be done now

[Wiu]

That video is really interesting. Amazing the difference it makes.

[Mslwte]

That video is really interesting. Amazing the difference it makes.

A great way of proving to your girlfriend that the treatment has to be done

[melville]

Sorry, but I call BS on that vid. Listen to the size of that verb when untreated, really? In a room as small as that? And why is the snare retuned for the last two examples? If you could hear that in higher quality the reverb tail would be going for ages!! Please don't take this the wrong way, I'm not attacking anyone, just cannot believe that is how that room sounded naturally, if it did, then all that treatment just ruined one hell of a drum tracking room!

[Wiu]

lol Mslwte

[Venefician]

I really do not have a lot of money for this stuff yet.. I got myself the IK Arc and I am about to upgrade it to Arc 2. I think it would be better for me this way and then I can get acoustic treatment. Did I do the right thing by going in this direction?

[melville]

I forgot to say for anyone localish to Brighton, I've a few 1200x600mm slabs of the dense, best for bass, acoustic rock wool I don't need, if you can get it, or live anywhere I'm passing soon it's yours. 3 full slabs for sure possibly more

[Faust]

Sorry, but I call BS on that vid. Listen to the size of that verb when untreated, really? In a room as small as that? And why is the snare retuned for the last two examples? If you could hear that in higher quality the reverb tail would be going for ages!! Please don't take this the wrong way, I'm not attacking anyone, just cannot believe that is how that room sounded naturally, if it did, then all that treatment just ruined one hell of a drum tracking room!

I kind of figured it for flutter echo (and not reverb) with the way that the tail rings but then dies suddenly, there are a lot of big bare parelel surfaces there. However, you may well be right ;]

Perhaps I should have linked to a less extreme example... this one I thought was fun though :]

[Faust]

I really do not have a lot of money for this stuff yet.. I got myself the IK Arc and I am about to upgrade it to Arc 2. I think it would be better for me this way and then I can get acoustic treatment. Did I do the right thing by going in this direction?

Not sure how much the ARC system is (?) but DIY acoustics can be pretty cheap, you could quite possibly build a fair few panels for the same price as the ARC.

I believe that the problem with room correction systems would be that they dont deal with reflections and time domain problems. I think something like that is best used after a room has been treated.

I should state that Im saying all this without ever using, hearing or witnessing the results of ARC ;]

[melville]

@Faust, Mate, as I said I wasn't making a dig at anyone. You notice how the snare has no obvious ring in the first two examples, and it certainly sounds retuned in the last two examples, or he's catching the rim on purpose. But man that's one huge reverb for such a small room, pretty diffuse too for a room with nothing to break the sound up! Totally agree, it is a fun example, pretty damn extreme example! bet it's sold a fair few units for him! As I stated earlier, acoustic treatment is a large part of how I earn my living, so I'm a tad keen to spot these things. Your totally correct though, DIY panels can do a lot more than room correction systems. They are nothing but a band aid. Spend money on treating the room, not tuning it. There's nothing a correction system can do that you can't do with a decent graphic EQ and good ears. But again, it's just hiding the problems. Think how one tunes a PA system, it's purely to stop the worst offending freqs from setting the room modes etc off. No cure at all. It has to be said though, you can mix well in the worst sounding rooms with no treatment if you know your monitors and know the rooms issues, like mixing on headphones, not ideal but if you know what your trying to avoid it can be done.

[Faust]

Yeah dude, for sure no offence was taken It's nice to hear from somebody who does this for a living and knows what they are on about. The snare does seem to be tuned in the last example now that you mention it.

I should point out that the vid isn't from Realtraps (or anybody selling traps) and is just some randomer on youtube. The treatment of the room doesnt seem so scientific from the look of it .....
but yeah "A great way of proving to your girlfriend that the treatment has to be done" as Mslwte points out

Heres a less sensational (and much more informative) vid from Realtraps

youtu.be/dB8H0HFMylo

Although be warned that our host is far from fun, and has a voice almost as biege as the panels he's selling

Good call on the room correction systems... I figured as much (although as said I never heard it action to base my thoughts on anything concrete). I can just imagine that in an untreated room it just well may have the potential to cause more problems without addressing any kind of ringing, decay or combing that may happen from early reflections?

[Mslwte]

That diagram is all well and good, but how many people actually have a whole room for their studio? I only have a studio flat, so am rather fucked for any treatment. I guess I could do the stuff that goes behind the speakers, but is it worth doing only some? Or is it a case of all or nothing to get the benefits?

you would be surprised how handy having other stuff in the room can be. Obviously not everything will work as it will depend on size, material, build quality, but furniture etc can act as bass traps and methods of acoustic control. Sometimes it might be worth spending the money on a decent set of headphones rather than acoustic treatments, and used in combination with monitors can be more beneficial to a mix down than a load of acoustic foam.

i took your advice technoist and got some furniture for my room. i needed somewhere to put my records so i got a large book shelf which covers most of a side wall. i suppose it acts as a diffuser more than anything right? and it did make a difference to the sound. but the best thing was i manged to pick up a couple of corner bass traps locally and they made a massive difference.

[ARiFF]

there's quite some info to be found on building your own diffusers James. I for sure am going to build me one in wood once the building for the studio is ready and i can actually start drawing and thinking about the accoustics. Maybe show your gf this :



than tell her its not going to be that size at all. She'll be giving the green light for sure

[Mslwte]

That looks so comfortable ha ha. I'm sure it's not but it looks a bit over kill lol. Must of cost a fortune!

[Lost to the Void]

there's quite some info to be found on building your own diffusers James. I for sure am going to build me one in wood once the building for the studio is ready and i can actually start drawing and thinking about the accoustics. Maybe show your gf this :



than tell her its not going to be that size at all. She'll be giving the green light for sure

Have fun keeping the dust out of all that.

[gavisthename]

Had a look at another property yesterday. My wife really to moves there because its her granddad old house. She said there was a room there I could use for music. When I checked it out. It was a tiny 1.5m square space under the stairs.

Wives just don't get it man! Trying to explain to her about dimensions for acoustics is impossible!!!

[Hades]

Had a look at another property yesterday. My wife really to moves there because its her granddad old house. She said there was a room there I could use for music. When I checked it out. It was a tiny 1.5m square space under the stairs.

Wives just don't get it man! Trying to explain to her about dimensions for acoustics is impossible!!!

never mind acoustics, cause in this case with 1.5m square you don't even have enough room for your gear