acoustic blankets...

Not a bad thing to have around. You can hang them in front of big glass doors for instance! They could also be draped over something as a makeshift gobo.

I've seen cheaper moving blankets, but those look pretty cool and have gromits on 2 sides.

great idea to cover those doors in the main room

Hey great find! I have a few of these (with no holes which I had to add myself) and they work great for quick makeshift isolation of vocals or instruments. A lot of times you'll see engineers use these over kick drums to reduce cymbal bleed into the kick drum mike. Or thrown over pianos. I like them as hanging temporary "walls" between singers (two sandwiched an inch apart are even better). Every studio should have a few of these laying around.

PS I think I bought mine from Markertek and they didn't look as nice as this one and were about the same price.

that's a pretty good price, the grommets make the deal. I've got some of the markertek ones that Larry has; they're nice for reducing flutter echo in my living room. Also some 'moving' blankets, they work just as well, but aren't as durable.

Tip: I use three of these: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Musicians-Friend-Lighting-Stand?sku=450824 to hang blankets on a temporary basis, and they work great. I use hardware store clamps to fasten the blankets to the crossbar. If I need extensions, I've got some 2x2s that screw into the cross bar to make a truss. It's not too difficult to get 3 blanket walls up around a drum kit to kill close reflections from a wall.

it's the same old story though...

You're probably sucking up frequencies that add character to the tone while the blankets are completely transparent to the frequencies that usually caused the problems in a mix.

You can definitely create a sense of seperation... but is it good for the mix?

I have happily used sound blankets for sound when I'm in a mid size concrete block walled room with a nice hard floor... that kind of room has something worth taming.

I've used blankets matts in gymnasiums when doing sports player interviews... rooms with vicious slap back echo, which can be tamed with sound blanket enclosures as described above.

Using sound blankets in small drywall/frame type room is just like turning down the treble...that may not be so good.

best,
mike

edit spelling

Why would they only reduce high frequencies? Because of their thickness, or rather thinness?

The thickness has a lot to do with it... there's an idea that you can only absorb energy if its present.

There's another idea that sound energy is greatest at 1/4 the distance of any frequencies wavelength from either the source or the relative *start* position of it's most recent reflection.

The lack of mass also has to do with it... even at the appropriate freq... it's just not that massive.

Hi frequencies don't need much mass to get dampened... so that's the easy part.

Bass frequencies need lots of mass to soak into.

Most home studios... rectangular rooms less than 30+/- x 40+/- x 16+/- feet are going to be naturally resonant in the lows and low mids.

Most rooms lined in drywall are not that live in the upper freq. unless they are large and have hard smooth floors.

Any room lined with carpet is unlikely to be lively in the upper freqs.


ADD that all together and you see that only bigger "industrial" styled rooms really need much dampening in the upper freq.


DIFFUSION is another matter... any room can enjoy some carefully chosen diffusion.


best regards,
mike

ORIGINAL: Beagle

that's why I asked my question above. I was wondering if it would only reduce the higher frequencies and might not be as beneficial as one might think.

Have you seen those SE reflection filters? They are marketed as portable vocal booths. Just a small thin curved wall that mounts to a stand right behind the mic. Auralex also makes foam walls that mount to mic stands. It's all the same principle. Just to cut down on reflections in the room or reduce hi freq bleed. It's just spot treatment. That's all.

I agree they are transparent at low freq's (unless you scrunch them up into a ball in which case they are like little bass traps). We shouldn't overstate what it is. They're just heavy duty blankets. But to say they have no acoustical values or properties is wrong. I use them here in my studio mostly like those reflection filters between vocalists. They really do help to absorb some of the sound and cut down bleed into the other mics. I've never noticed that they suck up so much hi frequency that the take is ruined. I have a modestly sized room so most everything is close-miked anyway. If I had a nice big room with separate isolation booths I probably wouldn't have much need for a blanket. But I've seen them used a lot even in big studios (like with the kick drum and also draped over grand pianos).

I think what makes these blankets better (acoustically speaking) than your garden variety bedspread is that they are typically denser and more robust. And like I mentioned, two of then hung about an inch apart (like a sandwich) is even better.

FWIW,

The kick mic sound blanket sock has been popularized by Bruce Swedien.

He uses one to shield the kick drum mic from the hi freq of the cymbals, snare and such... in other words, he's taking advantage of the best a sound blanket can offer.

mike


edit spelling

ORIGINAL: mike_mccue

FWIW,

The kick mic sound blanket sock has been popularized by Bruce Sweiden.

He uses one to shield the kick drum mic from the hi freq of the cymbals, snare and such... in other words, he's taking advantage of the best a sound blanket can offer.

mike

anyone have a photo of the Sweiden set-up?

ps- I live near a base, there is a surplus store with a battered WWII Jeep parked out front that might have a treasure trove of them
that lead on army blanckets is a good one

wow

http://maddoxtrading.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=28&HS=1


these are advertised as "moving or acoustic blankets"

a sham? a deal?(20 bucks a piece) too bulky?

or a great addition for a side wall?

what's your take...

If I just hung these on two or more of my studio walls, I would think they would reduce the room tone and resonances in my recordings. Right? Seems like it couldn't hurt.