Jeffiphone
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Room Treatment Question
Just bought a 36 piece Auralex Roominators foam kit to treat my room. My "studio" is in a very small spare room measuring 8x10. (I should've just posted a picture here, but I forgot). Anyway.....the room has 3 full walls (one with a standard door), and one wall with a mirrored sliding closet door and a window next to it. Via the interweb, I think I've figured out where I should put my panels, but not sure what to do with the window and the mirror. Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated. And also any "must do's" for panel placement would really help me out too! I trust you guys more than stuff I find on the internet. FWIW....I haven't bought corner bass traps yet. That is next on my list. Thanks all. ~Jeff
post edited by Jeffiphone - 2016/09/14 16:06:36
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Mosvalve
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Re: Room Treatment Question
2016/09/14 16:46:32
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You don't want your room too dead so as far as the mirrored sliding closet door and a window I would leave them alone. The mirrored sliding closet door you can temporarily cover with a blanket if need be. You also want your mix position to be on the shortest wall. Hard to say where to place the panels etc the obvious area's which I'm sure you know.
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Bristol_Jonesey
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Re: Room Treatment Question
2016/09/14 16:55:57
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Yeah, the sliding mirror could work to your advantage - making the room more dead/lively depnding on what you want!
Depending on the type of tiles in your kit, try and treat the corners first, from floor to ceiling.
I actually bought a few (4?) triangular shaped ones and glued these to the actual door so that when the door is closed, the tiles run from top to bottom exposing their long edge to the room.
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bitflipper
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Re: Room Treatment Question
2016/09/14 19:55:39
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^^^This. Especially if the mirror is a door to a closet containing clothes, ideally winter overcoats.
I wouldn't worry about making the room overly dead. Any 8x10 room is never going to have desirable acoustics. Make it as dead as you can, I say.
Just bear in mind that those Auralex panels are nonlinear, and will do absolutely nothing below around 500 Hz. The result is the room will be very dead-sounding to your ears, but will remain far from dead to a microphone in the low frequencies. Bass traps in the corners will help; get enough to go from floor to ceiling, as the corners where 2 walls and ceiling/floor meet are the most critical spots for bass trapping.
As for the best bang for the buck placement of those panels, concentrate on two primary locations: the surface behind your speakers, and the reflection points on the side walls. While sitting in your mix chair, have someone hold a mirror up to the wall to your right or left. When you can see your speakers in the mirror, put an "X" on the wall and start sticking up panels there. Then, if you're ambitious, get a step ladder and do the same on the ceiling.
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thedukewestern
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Re: Room Treatment Question
2016/09/14 20:10:47
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☄ Helpfulby glennstanton 2016/09/15 09:51:35
Room setup 101 Make sure the speakers are throwing down the room the LONGEST way. If your in an 8 by 11 room - your speakers should be facing.. if possible... so they are firing down the 11 feet. If the glass you mentioned is at the end of one of those long runs - try to face the speakers the other way so they are not firing into the glass rear wall. If they are - cover the glass surfaces - somehow - with a blanket - or even some of those cool panels you bought. Stay away from any dimension that is divisible by 2. Your speakers should not be at 50% height... they should be right where your ears are.. which is usually a little less than half. Your seated mix position should not be 50% down the room (where usually the largest cllection of nodes and or standing waves collect) it should be at 38%. If your firing your speakers down a 10 foot room, that means your head (ears) should be 3.8 (45.6 inches - 10x12=120 inches x.38=45.6) feet away from the front wall. Now - build a perfect triangle based on that 38% position. Both speakers should be pointed directly inside the triangle at your ears. Now that you know where your sitting, and you have your speakers setup - - sit there. Hopefully - you now have a symetrical mix environment... with this triangle placed equilaterally between the right and left walls. Have a friend drag a small mirror along the LEFT wall untill you can see the cone of the RIGHT speaker in your peripheral vision. That is where your first reflection from that right speaker will be (assuming your sitting in the mix triangle at 38%) Thats where your first sound panel should go. Do the same to the other wall. The 2nd main source of trouble from reflections is the rear wall - and could typically benefit from panels that are at the same height as your speakers. The 3rd and most overlooked place that needs treatment is behind your speakers. More than likely theres a great deal of bass and low mid buildup. You can purchase bass traps, or make them which is typically cheaper... and you get to pick cool fabric colors! I hope this helps
post edited by thedukewestern - 2016/09/14 20:34:00
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thedukewestern
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Re: Room Treatment Question
2016/09/14 20:11:45
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bitflipper
^^^This. Especially if the mirror is a door to a closet containing clothes, ideally winter overcoats.
I wouldn't worry about making the room overly dead. Any 8x10 room is never going to have desirable acoustics. Make it as dead as you can, I say.
Just bear in mind that those Auralex panels are nonlinear, and will do absolutely nothing below around 500 Hz. The result is the room will be very dead-sounding to your ears, but will remain far from dead to a microphone in the low frequencies. Bass traps in the corners will help; get enough to go from floor to ceiling, as the corners where 2 walls and ceiling/floor meet are the most critical spots for bass trapping.
As for the best bang for the buck placement of those panels, concentrate on two primary locations: the surface behind your speakers, and the reflection points on the side walls. While sitting in your mix chair, have someone hold a mirror up to the wall to your right or left. When you can see your speakers in the mirror, put an "X" on the wall and start sticking up panels there. Then, if you're ambitious, get a step ladder and do the same on the ceiling.
I was typing right when you were HAHA!@
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Unknowen
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Re: Room Treatment Question
2016/09/14 20:18:17
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☄ Helpfulby thedukewestern 2016/09/15 10:51:02
Lots of opinions here... that's a good thing! everyone has their own trick and tips that work... You can plug in your room stas at the Auralex site and they will make you a floor plan placement diagram. IMO, I would think that you want to remove the closet doors. And hang up moving blankets, The extra space of the closet and items hanging up as well, behind the blanket will help defuse the bass. And as others said, are all good points. You may want to find out how to build your own traps on YouTube. in a room that small, you will need to work out the issues as you go... Fun times ahead! :) peace!
post edited by Passive Drift - 2016/09/14 20:48:41
Hay look, Somethings are not locked in stone... lol 3/18/2019
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Unknowen
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Re: Room Treatment Question
2016/09/14 20:27:00
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Bristol_Jonesey
Yeah, the sliding mirror could work to your advantage - making the room more dead/lively depnding on what you want!
Depending on the type of tiles in your kit, try and treat the corners first, from floor to ceiling.
I actually bought a few (4?) triangular shaped ones and glued these to the actual door so that when the door is closed, the tiles run from top to bottom exposing their long edge to the room.
lol, I glued panels on a door once... just once, then we bought a new house... ouch. here I used tacks to hold them on the doors.. But now I would say, try and use some type of command strip system... with say Velcro ??? peace!
post edited by Passive Drift - 2016/09/14 20:48:14
Hay look, Somethings are not locked in stone... lol 3/18/2019
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Kev999
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Re: Room Treatment Question
2016/09/14 21:57:48
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Speaking of closets, my room has a pair of closet doors that open on hinges. I keep them slightly open so that they are not parallel to the opposite wall.
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bentleyousley
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Re: Room Treatment Question
2016/09/15 01:27:00
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☄ Helpfulby glennstanton 2016/09/15 09:52:02
Jeffiphone
FWIW....I haven't bought corner bass traps yet. That is next on my list.
Consider these guys: http://www.gikacoustics.c...-flexrange-technology/I recently treated a room of similar size and these traps worked very well. Gik has acoustical engineers on staff that are available to advise you by email or phone. I found their advice an excellent guide to making the correct choices the first time through the process
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tzzsmk
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Re: Room Treatment Question
2016/09/15 05:34:53
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to be honest, acoustic foams for listening/mastering room are usually ****, sorry; 1) thin acoustic foam kills highs, barely mids, so you are stuck with even more exaggerated bass freqs 2) acoustic foam in general has no chance to trap the bass (material not "heavy" enough) 3) pyramids/waves are good only for breaking and diffusing the waves, they don't effectively dampen anything, since the material is "cut" so there is literally no "fat" layer to catch the low freq waves if you really wanna use acoustic foam, then you will need "fat" ones (I have built dead-dry recording studio using the "chocolates" and it does work much more usefully than just "pyramids") to effectively "catch" wider frequency range (especially mid-bass) but don't put them everywhere, and even then, you'll still need "heavy" and "thick" bass traps in corners, if you want decent acoustic treatment, then rather consider mineral wool (rock wool or whatever is it called) - we use "Ecophon" in our radio studios, advantage of that specific product is that the wool panels have already applied "cloth" finish, so it can be used without any additional "layers" on walls, ceilings etc. in just wooden frames "as it is" (yes it costs probably more than good acoustic foam, but it's worth it), from my own experience, I think it's really impossible to treat room right, especially when on tight budget, so maybe just get used to how your speakers+room sound and consider that when mixing/mastering (figuring out optimal listening levels does a lot), acoustic foam panels look cool and definitely make "some" difference, but don't get overly crazy into exact measuring and placement....
post edited by tzzsmk - 2016/09/15 05:56:39
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KingsMix
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Re: Room Treatment Question
2016/09/15 05:48:42
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☄ Helpfulby BobF 2016/09/15 08:35:51
Icing on the cake would be to invest in ARC 2 by IKMultimedia. Worth every penny.
Just my 2 cents.
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Bristol_Jonesey
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Re: Room Treatment Question
2016/09/15 08:00:11
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☄ Helpfulby BobF 2016/09/15 08:36:08
ARC certainly has it's place, but only use it AFTER you've done your room treatment.
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glennstanton
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Re: Room Treatment Question
2016/09/15 09:35:24
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you can put the side absorbers for the mirror wall on stands (e.g. the round base mic stands) so if you need access to the closet it's easy enough to move. leaving the closet open slightly at the far end of the room will help with some LF absorption but the thin foam products are really only meant to treat reflections. you need deep foam or GIK products (or real traps etc) to cover the corners. if the room is 8x10 (w/ 8' ceiling) you'll find that the room response is pretty uneven in the LF range because the even and duplicate values of the room will reinforce (and conversely null) a number of frequencies (primary and their respective harmonics). so deep treatments will be better over all.
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Jeffiphone
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Re: Room Treatment Question
2016/09/15 11:10:04
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Thanks everyone for all your advice! Really helps a lot. I realize I'm not going to have the perfect set-up, but I figure something is better than nothing. We'll see how it goes.
Thanks again.
~Jeff
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mettelus
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Re: Room Treatment Question
2016/09/15 11:36:24
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There is merit to the "long" approach mentioned above. I have hardened surfaces in my room, so fire the amp off and record vocally diagonally to maximize scatter on reflections. Volume is another consideration, since less power = less reflection. There is no requirement to mix at a level that will degrade hearing over time.
I think it boils down more to doing the best with your environment and adapting accordingly.
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Grave Protocol
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Re: Room Treatment Question
2016/09/15 12:08:09
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KingsMix
Icing on the cake would be to invest in ARC 2 by IKMultimedia. Worth every penny.
Just my 2 cents.
ARC 2 is definitely a great help after you have set up your physical room treatments. And only after you have done what you can with traps and foams, monitor placement, etc.
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GregGraves
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Re: Room Treatment Question
2016/11/18 03:04:51
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I think the first thing to do is to go get a hearing test. I've been to concerts where some idiot had his head inches away from the HF driver of the mains. Is that you? I'll type louder. What always killed me in major studios with all the room treatment, room shape etc. is when they'd switch over to the Auratones to "check the mix". You also have to take into consideration that most music is now listened via lossy mp3s played thru earbuds. Grain of salt here.
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AT
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Re: Room Treatment Question
2016/11/18 10:51:30
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depending on how finicky you are, rockwool (or mineral wool) is cheap and you don't actually have to do too much to it for bass absorption. In the US, 12 4-inch thick batts are about $50 at Home Depot/Lowes (you can order and pick up), which is more than enough to help your room. I cut and stuffed 8 or so batts into pillow cases and then burlap coffee bags and leaned them up against some open corners while waiting to hang them. That cleaned up the lower registries nicely. Even worked once up on the walls (including corners).
Now when music fades, it disappears rather than sinking into a soup of low-frequency noise. You'll understand when you hear it. And diminished slap back once they are hung. Sweet.
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