Members jamshack81 Posted December 6, 2006 Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 I recently posted asking opinions on preamps. Thanks for all your advice! I think I'm gonna go with the FMR stuff. Just can't decide on the RNC or RNLA. But even with my Rode NTK and mic pre/compressor combo- my room is still way to reverb heavy. I have looked at some of the Auralex stuff and their mobile vocal booth looks great- but it's damn near a grand!!! I am wondering what most of you guys who are on a budget deaden the sound of your room (particularly for vocals) but have a little life to it. Suggestions are much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted December 6, 2006 Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 Put THIS in a frame and cover with fabric and its more effective than most studio foam. Its also flame retardant which is very important. This will absorb much more bass than foam especially if you use 4in of it spaced away from the wall a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted December 6, 2006 Moderators Share Posted December 6, 2006 Originally posted by mrbrown49 Put THIS in a frame and cover with fabric and its more effective than most studio foam. Its also flame retardant which is very important. This will absorb much more bass than foam especially if you use 4in of it spaced away from the wall a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nobrainer440 Posted December 6, 2006 Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 Originally posted by mrbrown49 Put THIS in a frame and cover with fabric and its more effective than most studio foam. Its also flame retardant which is very important. This will absorb much more bass than foam especially if you use 4in of it spaced away from the wall a bit. +1,000 Rigid fiberglass (or Rock Wool), pine, and burlap. Works wonders. Here is some great info about acoustics if you want to check it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jamshack81 Posted December 6, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 Originally posted by mrbrown49 Put THIS in a frame and cover with fabric and its more effective than most studio foam. Its also flame retardant which is very important. This will absorb much more bass than foam especially if you use 4in of it spaced away from the wall a bit. How many of those RF's should I get? Do I need several around the room? My room is fairly big, I believe my room is 16x14. I will be checking into that acoustic site that was provided, but wow is there a lot of information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nobrainer440 Posted December 6, 2006 Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 Rigid fiberglass usually comes in 2ft by 4ft sheets. Get as much as you need. For the whole room, this would be about 60 sheets. You don't need to and probably shouldn't cover the whole room. Read Ethan's article then decide exactly how you want to treat it. SPI is an insulation company that sells rigid fiberglass and rock wool. Sometimes it can be hard to find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted December 6, 2006 Share Posted December 6, 2006 Rigid fiberglass, like foam, can be a useful acoustical treatment tool. The important thing is to use the right tool for the job, and to apply it in the right amounts, in the right locations and mounted in the right ways for the most effective treatment. Thin foam, or (even worse) carpet, when used to cover the entire room or a significant percentage of it, will result in a very unbalanced and un-natural, dead, boxy and boomy sounding room where the high frequencies are over-absorbed, but the bass and low midrange are completely untamed. Recording or playing in such a room can be a nightmare... On a budget, you can use some compressed fiberglass or mineral wool along with some inexpensive fabric (such as colored burlap) and a little lumber and elbow grease and make some very effective absorber panels and corner bass traps. The thicker the fiberglass (you can layer more than one sheet for increased depth) and the higher the fiberglass' cubic density (measured in pounds / cubic foot), generally the better the bass absorption you can expect. 4" of Type 703, or even better yet, the higher cubic density Type 705, built into 2'X4' frames and angled across the corners of the room will provide you with a lot more manageable and controlled sounding bass response in the room. Build them floor to ceiling (two panels on top of each other) and put them into each of the four room corners. If you want even more bass absorption (and it's nearly impossible to have "too much" in a smallish room), you can also mount more of them into the wall / ceiling corners across the top of the walls. Again, build them into wooden frames and cover them with burlap or other permeable fabric. If you offset the fiberglass from the wall a couple of inches, it will be more effective at absorbing sound, and at a wider range of frequencies. Check out the DIY plans on Ethan's site. Side wall reflections can also be a concern. You didn't mention if this is a tracking room, control room, or dual-purpose room. Anyway, in a control room, you don't want those side wall reflections interfering with your stereo image, so some panels on the side walls, and the ceiling above you and between you and the speakers (again, on the ceiling above you) is probably in order. One old trick that works well for determining where to place the additional side wall panels is to use a flat handheld mirror and sit at the mixing position. Have an assistant hold the mirror flat to the wall at various locations around the room, from directly to either side of you forward towards the front of the room and the speakers. If you can see the speakers reflected in the mirror from the mix position, that's a good place to put up some absorption treatment. Even in a tracking room, some attention to the side walls and ceiling are generally in order. Parallel side walls, especially those made of hard surfaces such as brick, block or sheetrock can reflect mids and highs and produce "flutter echoes". You don't want those... but then again, you don't want an overdamped, "dead" sounding room either. A balance of controlled / diffused reflections, along with broadband absorption is the ideal, so don't go too wild with the side wall panels and ceiling panels. The exact amount of absorption you will want will depend on the construction and dimensional details of your room, as well as your personal preferences and what you plan on doing in there, but IMO, the general rule is "the smaller the room, the deader and more absorbent it should be". I would start with about 45% wall coverage in a room of 16'X14', but you may decide to go as high as 60% coverage. Check out the FAQ's at Ethan's site, or at his www.musicplayer.com forum. PS If you're really on a tight budget, some moving blankets hung a few inches from the walls, across the room corners, or used in a three sided "fort"; built with mic stands as the "frames" and covered with the blankets, and built around the mic / playing position, can make things sound a lot better when compared to a completely untreated room. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted December 7, 2006 Members Share Posted December 7, 2006 What a great bunch of posts. Very useful information. If we had FAQs, this would be a great thing to stick in there. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jamshack81 Posted December 7, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 7, 2006 Yes I agree. Thank you everyone for taking the time to help me in my acoustical endeavors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members C JoGo Posted December 8, 2006 Members Share Posted December 8, 2006 A great budget source of acoustics---the packing material of large TVs, Monitors, Stereos,etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members C JoGo Posted December 8, 2006 Members Share Posted December 8, 2006 Should have more than enough supplies during the holidays-- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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