Bedroom Studio - need Acoustics advise

[papamaverick]

First, a big thanks to Ethan for his acoustic primer...helped me a lot.

 

I'm poor so I went with a cheaper route:

3x Ready Acoustics 703 4" Rigid Fiberglass panels

48 sq ft of cheap (too embarrassed to even mention the name!) acoustic foam

 

(I wish I could afford better foam - but hey, you do what you can...and worse comes to worse I'm only out $60-$70)

 

I'd like help placing the panels and foam in the best spots and have attached a hastily-drawn MSPaint picture with the room size. Ceiling is plain (no popcorn) drywall, walls are all drywall, floor is carpet. I'm actually surprised, there's really not much flutter echo as-is; all of my previous bedrooms (this is a new apt) were terrible.

 

My best idea is to put the three fiberglass panels in spots marked "1" "2" and "3" - the two symmetric corners and the spot on the wall directly behind my head. I was planning on putting some foam on spots "4" and "5" (the first reflection points) and maybe on the ceiling above me (same idea - is this a good idea?). I'll use the extra around spot "3" near the fiberglass panel, but I'm not sure what to do with the rest.

 

It might depend on whether the closet and bathroom doors are open (and yes, I sleep in the closet - it allows me to put my desk and monitors in the center of the room and maintain symmetry. It's actually quite nice - more acoustic isolation, blackout effect, etc).

 

Opening the closet door probably acts as its own trap somewhat - but not sure for what frequencies. There's not enough room to fit the third fiberglass panel behind the door, either. The closet is pretty dead between my very thick mattress, boxspring, carpet and clothes. The bathroom on the other side is pretty live with a bad flutter echo.

 

So...doors open? Closed? One of each? How will that entrance hallway effect me? Where should the rest of my cheapo foam go?

 

Thanks in advance for the help,

Dave

[papamaverick]

Oh, I also have a big bookshelf (3'x6'x1') that used to be against the wall in one of the corners where the 703 is going.

 

Where would the best place for that be? And please don't say another room ;-)

[BLAblablah]

I think you have the right idea about the glass panels, except I would maybe put the third one between corners 1 & 2, in front of the large window. Then put your bookshelf at number 3...preferably filled with books of varied size. The books actually make for good diffusion...which is usually what you want in that position.

 

And 4 & 5 along with the ceiling above the mix position should be good spots for the foam...provided that it's good enough quality to make any difference. And leaving the closet door open should provide some benefit as a bass trap.

 

Hope you've done your homework at Ethan's and John Sayer's sites!

Bear

[papamaverick]

Bla, thanks for your thoughts. I thought about the bookshelf/diffuser at spot 3 also - but then I thought what about the live end/dead end stuff? I'm also not too keen on blocking the window if possible...

 

I've had Ethan's site as a favorite for a while now while I saved money for treatment. What is John Sayer's site?

[BLAblablah]

Hi Dave. For anyone who has tried to view your room, they will need to add the .bmp extension to the file before it will come up.

 

My room is actually about the same size; 12'x 13', with a walkin closet in the same rear corner and a double window in front of the mix position. In my case, the window did/does cause problems that a couple of 2' x 4' panels seemed to help. And I actually have a bookshelf in the center rear position for some diffusion. It's far from perfect...but better than it was.

 

As far as John's site goes, here it is:

John Sayers

 

Bear

[Phil O'Keefe]

I think I agree with Bla... I would try all three traps at the front, with two in the front corrners (1, 2) and the third spanning the front window. Put hooks in for hanging it so that when you want the window view, you can remove it.

 

Normally I would agree with you that the "rear" wall should be absorptive in a very small room, but if you HAVE to have that bookcase, the reasonable place to put it IMO would be on the back wall between the

closet / bathroom doors.

 

As far as the location for the foam, I think you're on the right track. Side walls to decrease ER's, above the mix position for the same reason, etc.

 

It would take some serious measurement to know exactly what the closet is or isn't doing, but you can experiment with the most sublime of all test instruments - your ears. Since bass frequencies can tend to roll through a lot of things like a freight train through tissuepaper, you may get some benefit in the lows even with the door closed. You can experiment with the door open or closed - or anywhere in between (some bass trap designs use small percentage openings from the main area into the absorptive "chamber"). I'd probably leave it closed or open only a small crack, with the bathroom door closed, but again - experiment!

 

I'd probably use the extra foam on the back of the closet and bathroom doors. If you have any more left, you could put it on the "1-5" wall, but at the far end of that wall (behind the open closet door in your diagram). For symmetry, you could put a couple of hooks into the ceiling parallel to the "4" wall, at the entrance to the hallway. Hang a sheet of foam, glued to a light 1/8" luan plywood sheet that you would put up only when you were working. Or just put a short curtain rod across that area and hang a blanket or similar "curtain" whe you're working.

 

The "usual" advice on foam placement is to get a friend to help, and have them hold a flat mirror aganst the walls. If you can see either speaker reflected in the mirror, that's generally a good place to start with the foam.

 

Short of more budget / materials, I think those locations are probably about as good as you'll get - if nothing else, they're certainly good starting points.

 

Thx for the great layout diagram - that helps a lot!

[elamberth]

I went through this about 2 years ago with my studio. The Owens Corning 703 and 702 rigid fibeerglass panels is what I ended up with. I believe the 702 has more bass absorbtion, but I would check on this. The cost was $9 per panel. I covered it in 4mm plastic to keep in the fiberglass particles (you don't really want to breath them in then find out it causes something like mesothelioma like asbestos did) then covered them in surplus fabric from a fabric center. Get something you can see/ blow through. The plastic will decrease high freq. absorbtion just a bit, but not bad. Also consider placement behind the mix position.

I am very happy with how the room turned out.

 

I'll try to attach a photo.

 

Also Check out Steve Klein Sound website:

 

http://www.soundcontrolroom.com/help.htm

 

Hope this helps!