Treating my room

[brandonwhite]

I'm 19 years old and I'm poor.
I record in my bedroom.
I know absolutely nothing about treating the acoustics of a room for recording.
Anybody care to give me the basics?
It would be much appreciated.

[87PRS]

Hi Brandon, welcome to the audioforums! I recorded in a bedroom starting off, many years ago 2 trackin' and nowadays there is a lot more you can do, there are forums to check out specific design treatments for your room dimensions, aurelex, diffusers lotsa products out there...depending on your situation, what you are recording with and desired outcome. Someone will chime in here and give you more info. check out this forum lotsa good stuff
http://www.homerecording.com

[tech1]

There are 2 kinds of acoustic treatments: absorbtion and diffusion. Absorbtion materials absorb sound waves so they do not reflect, while diffusors scatter waves so they destructively interfere with each other. Both are used in treating a room. If you are looking for "low-cost" solutions, then I suggest the following for diffusors:
- egg cartons
- asymmetrical pieces of styrofoam

...and for absorbers:
- large blakets hung over a wall
- carpeting

Cement walls, hardwood floors, low ceilings, and parallel walls need to be dealt with somehow. You may be able to get a good, dry recording by setting up some chairs, draping a carpet over it, and setting up your mic inside. You'll likely have to add reverb later, but you hould be able to at least isolate some nasty reflections.

[87PRS]

Originally Posted by tech1

There are 2 kinds of acoustic treatments: absorbtion and diffusion. Absorbtion materials absorb sound waves so they do not reflect, while diffusors scatter waves so they destructively interfere with each other. Both are used in treating a room. If you are looking for "low-cost" solutions, then I suggest the following for diffusors:
- egg cartons
- asymmetrical pieces of styrofoam

...and for absorbers:
- large blakets hung over a wall
- carpeting

Cement walls, hardwood floors, low ceilings, and parallel walls need to be dealt with somehow. You may be able to get a good, dry recording by setting up some chairs, draping a carpet over it, and setting up your mic inside. You'll likely have to add reverb later, but you hould be able to at least isolate some nasty reflections.

This reminded me of a time when I took all the matresses off the beds (guestroom), including box springs and made a (what i thought was ) soundproof room, using the box springs for overhead, and actual mattresses for sidewalls LOL common gotta laugh...especially when it all collapsed on me ...then I took the matresses and made the "guitar tunnel" put the amp at one end of the boxed in mattresses with a mic and recorded....actually pretty dead inside of there...and so was born in the early 80's Fatt Mattress Studio ...remember you're only limited by your creative ideas.

[brandonwhite]

Is it a good idea to record in a dead room and add the desired reverb later?
I covered all of my walls and my ceiling with big thick quilts. It sounds really dry in there.

[tech1]

It's great if your room sounds bad. Not so good if the room has a good sound already. Let your ears be the judge.

[brandonwhite]

So the key is to deaden the natural reverb as much as possible?

[sabianq]

http://www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html


uhh..
no offense tech1 but setting up a room according your instructions will leave Brandon with a lot of headaches and as Bops says below, a serious fire hazards.

Stay away from blankets and egg crates, the reason you treat a room is so your microphones will record your instruments as close to their response curves as possible. by just "willy nilly" throwing up blankets, you can actually entice the treble, mid-range and bass response to peak and dip by as much as 20 db (+- 4 times in loudness) and to top that off, the bass will lose integrity. Frequency response errors of this magnitude are clearly a problem.

you have to read this article.
Ethan Winer has taken the time to actually write this all down, has a great ear and has some very inexpensive solutions that will help out.

http://www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html

[Bops2000]

Originally Posted by tech1

I suggest the following for diffusors:
- egg cartons
- asymmetrical pieces of styrofoam

...and for absorbers:
- large blakets hung over a wall
- carpeting

.

Egg cartons acoustically will do nothing, but create a fire hazard.
I would suggest get maybe two 'moving van' blankets, try one at a time Hang one on the wall opposite the monitors first then listen for a few days. if you need more, try one hung behind the monitors. you do not want the room too dead. you want some 'bounce' in the room....

[brandonwhite]

Anybody seen any cheap sound diffusers out there?
They all seem to be 300 dollars for a couple square feet.

[sabianq]

I take it you didnt read the article I posted.
http://www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html
you can build one for the cost of wood.

The simplest type of diffusor is one or more sheets of plywood attached to a wall at a slight angle, to prevent sound from bouncing repeatedly between the same two walls. Alternatively, the plywood can be bent into a curved shape, though that is more difficult to install. In truth, this is really a deflector, not a diffuser, as described in more detail below. However, a deflector is sufficient to avoid flutter echoes between parallel surfaces.

Other styles of diffusers, such as the quadratic, can be approximated by use of a bookcase filled with books of different sizes and shapes in a symmetrical left and right pattern.

[87PRS]

I built the bass trapps on Mr Winers site 4 years ago, and they have served me well, the building instructions were very simple, just getting the materials together and I ended up with 4 2X8X4" trapps filled(stuffed) with rigid fiberglass, silicone sealed/caulked, glued and screwed, plus made a mid/high trap that was listed, this also was a 2X8X2" design with many 2" holes drilled in surface, laid over rigid fiberglass with cloth layed on top of the glass to keep it from leaking into the environment...all from J Sayers and E Winers homemade design elements....where do you think "Real Trapps" originated?

Brandon if you have any PA gear (large speakers) stick 'em in the corners of your room, they'll help in the corner where bass waves accumulate...egg cartons went out in 1967, one good thick moving blanket (like Bops sez) stratigecally placed can do wonders...don't kill the room...buying diffusors, and all for $300 a pop won't do the job...and take the time if you haven't already, and read all the link sabianq posted. Good luck

[passerby3141]

I record in an attic, no parallel walls. If you have access to one you could check it out. If I remember correctly, the original Motown studios were in an attic, and they used speakers for bass drum and bass amp mics (or was that the Beatles?)

[terry]

As far as a cheep diffuser goes you can use any 4 x 8 hard/cheep wood and spray on some ceiling popcorn. That will scatter the sound waves in hundreds of directions

[Unclenny]

Getting ready to build a real no-kidding-around studio in the garage as we expand the general living quarters. I'll have the chance to start from scratch and employ all of the above excellent feedback.
But, you know, over my many years of two tracking, four tracking, and eventually protools I have recorded in some odd spaces. Maybe my best space ever was a tiled bathroom in an effeciency apartment that I found myself in after that first divorce....just me, my Martin and an old Teac cassete recorder. There was something special about that space.
Seriously, though, all of those weird spaces taught me alot about mic placement, etc.


http://www.soundclick.com/player/sin...d=4887954&q=hi