The Steel Guitar Forum

I was hoping some of you might have some ideas for deadening a pretty large room. It's about 20' x 40' with about a 15' ceiling. We've only got about $500 to buy materials and I don't want to use egg cartons .

Any suggestions regarding specific materials for curtains or baffles, and where to procure them, would be much appreciated.

Thank you!

There are a coupla books on the subject. Check Amazon. "Home recording studio on a budget."

Put large items like guitar and drum cases in the corners, or a couch, big chairs, or hang a heavy blanket.

You do not need to treat entire walls or ceilings. You have an advantage with a high ceiling. Maybe suspend some baffles.

The audio foam stuff is very good. Auralex.
These are 2ft by 4ft. Space these out at ear level every few feet or so.

You can treat the ceiling with good old ceiling tiles. You can space them out.

One wall can be absortive, the opposite wall reflective. I have used moving blankets with good success. NAil them loosely to the wall.

good luck

Ron

Have a look on www.soundonsound.com for their "Studio SOS" series. You can read the older articles without subscription.
They did an article about a cheap way of building proper acoustic panel absorbers.
Cheers
Dave

Henry, here are some links to web pages with pertinent reading. I spent some time in August reading up on room acoustics modifications. Then I started looking around and I found a local wholesale contractors' supply outfit that was stuck with loads of 2"-thick Owens 703 rigid fiberglass, and I was able to buy several boxes at a very reasonable price. I used it on ceilings and walls (doubled to 4" and covered with muslin and/or colored burlap), made suspended ceiling baffles, and used it to make gobos as well.
http://www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html
http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/setup/acoustics/BassTrapsp2.html
http://studioforums.com/eve/forums/a/frm/f/3756015614
http://studioforums.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/3756015614/m/1031087891/p/1
http://www.3daudioinc.com/3db/forumdisplay.php?s=8b1d682692f297b9657e021f3ab95870&f=12

Hope this helps some.

Hal

Thanks very much all of you! I'll try to remember to report back what we come up with.

Henry,
I will look to see if I have an older article on Ethan Winers Real Traps....He goes into detal on how to build them , as Hal has mentioned ....He sells them outright for more money, but you're talking $500 for a 20X40 room, which is gonna be hard to do right for $500 even if you build them... That's a lot of area to tame !!...Ethans traps work better than most I have seen on the market , and quite a bit better than a lot of the foam stuff you see advertised .....I'll try to find the spec's that I have somewhere on my computer ...Good Luck ....Sincerely, Jim

I know that I will get flamed for this but here goes....
When I helped build my studio,I used insulation and burlap. Its an old and inexpensive way to solve your problem. My studio was 1000 sq ft..I did all the iso. booths (3) and tracking room and control room for under $150.00. Worked for me!

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Bb is where it's at!

Sounds good to me Junior... The alternative to burlap could be that nylon screen mesh they sell at Home Depot to repair screen windows.

As long as you couldn't see the insulation
...go for it! Oh...the burlap comes in colors.

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Bb is where it's at!

Cloth covered insulation with cheap used plywood panels
hangin at slight angles will help deaden a room
and trap or break up wave build up.

See the left wall in this looking from above
layout for the control room.
It need not be; as close deep, or many, to be helpful.
This is a meter deep in the drawing,
but along your walls 1 foot will do.
Also if you have too few panels, make them pretty random along the walls.

But save and concentration for the corners ,
and make it as deep as you can afford.

Pack the insulation lightly around the hangin panels.
You won't see them so get used bad wood scraps and just get them hanging and free swinging.

If you do this in the corners and out across some walls it will to a lot to dampen the bad stuff.

So get scavanging!

Cloth covered insulation with cheap used plywood panels
hangin at slight angles will help deaden a room
and trap or break up wave build up.

See the left wall in this looking from above
layout for the control room.


It need not be; as close deep, or many, to be helpful.
This is a meter deep in the drawing,
but along your walls 1 foot will do.
Also if you have too few panels, make them pretty random along the walls.

But save a concentration for the corners ,
and make it as deep as you can afford.

Pack the insulation lightly around the hangin panels.
You won't see them so get used bad wood scraps and just get them hanging and free swinging.
The movement helps damp bass waves.
Plastic wire ties and cheap 2x2's will support it.
Cover with cloth.
But FIREPROOF cloth is recommended,
or demanded by building codes.

If you do this in the corners and out across some walls it will to a lot to dampen the bad stuff.

So get scavanging!
<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 16 December 2006 at 12:07 AM.]</p></FONT>