# Room Acoustics Newbie Questions



## VoiceOfReason (Jul 14, 2010)

I do voice-overs and I just moved to a new apartment (and new city). I'm realizing that while my old apartment was cramped (I lived and worked in less than 300 sq feet) the density and arrangement of the studio (apartment) worked pretty well acoustically. My new place is much bigger with a designated work space (~10X10X8) but the acoustics are pretty awful.

I do most of my recordings in a sound isolated whisperroom so it is mostly getting the rest of the workspace into shape as a listening area for mixing and tweaking my sound. 

From reading around the internet and forums it seems like I'll need some bass traps but I don't want to deaden the sound to much. Are there any DIY diffusers? I checked out QRDude--which looks awesome--but I'm not sure how to move from that to construction. On another forum someone mentioned actual egg crates. The part of me that loves being ghetto fabulous (and saving money) things that's awesome, but I am very skeptical.

Thoughts? Are diffusors necessary in a squarish room of my size? Is there a DIY solution--at least temporarily until I can fork over the $$$ for ready-made panels?

Thanks, and go gentle I'm new at this! :blink:


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

Welcome to the forum.

Skip the egg crates. They'll do absolutely nothing. 

Diffusion isn't what a small, square room needs. You need broadband and bass control in the space. Front corners, behind monitors, center of rear wall, and a cloud over your head. 

Probably the least expensive way to do it is to use 4" mineral wool for all of those applications. Make 2'x4' panels. Easy 1x6 frame, slide the mineral wool in, and cover with cloth stapled to the back. The extra frame depth will extend their performance. 1 panel each corner, 2 over your head, 1 behind each monitor, 2 behind you on the rear wall.

If budget allows, having another 2x4 panel on each side wall for early off axis reflections will help with those.

Bryan


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## VoiceOfReason (Jul 14, 2010)

Thanks for the pointers! I'll stop worrying about diffusors and start building some bass traps. 

Unless there's a dissenting opinion?


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## VoiceOfReason (Jul 14, 2010)

bpape said:


> Welcome to the forum.


Thanks!


bpape said:


> Skip the egg crates. They'll do absolutely nothing.


Sigh. I was actually looking forward to trying to source those :bigsmile:



bpape said:


> 1 panel each corner, 2 over your head, 1 behind each monitor, 2 behind you on the rear wall.


Would something like a corner trap work better than a flat trap?


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## spacedout (Dec 17, 2007)

Hi Joel, welcome to the forums.

I'm no acoustics expert - unlike Bryan - so I'll not comment on that, but you might also want to check out the sE Reflexion Filter. It won't do anything for your acoustics  but it's designed to prevent any room colouration being introduced into your recordings. Good luck!


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## VoiceOfReason (Jul 14, 2010)

Thanks for the tip. I looked at the Sound Reflector and honestly, if I didn't already have a Whisperroom I would have snatched that up for half the price. It still is tempting for my portable studio, hmmm . . . I'll file this one away on my B&H wishlist.

My real problem now, which Bryan's suggestions address, is cleaning up my listening space. If when I'm done, the room sounds good enough to record in all the better!


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## chonc (Jun 9, 2009)

I once had to do treatment for a room very much like the one you described. My solution was pretty much what bpape describes above, and it worked like a charm so I can voucher for that solution!

I had a pair of Event small monitors with a modest low end on that room... what monitors do you have as this will probably impact the amount of treatment needed.


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## VoiceOfReason (Jul 14, 2010)

I'm looking at the Focal CMS50s or 40s--they're the most similar to the ones I gave up when I moved.


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## 0bazooka_joe0 (Mar 22, 2010)

the corner traps are to trap bass frequencies and prevent modes and nulls. Modes occur when low frequency wave forms (which are long in cycle) that are the half the length, or other similar multiples, as the length, width or height of your room bounce back off the walls an essentially overlap causing a significant dB increase in those particular frequencies. Nulls occur in the opposite manner, where for example if the length is the same as the room when they bounce back they run opposite each other, causing them to decrease in dB or even just cancel nearly completely.

broadband absorbers are designed to minimize reflections of a large spectrum of frequencies keeping things like first reflections and flutter echo down, giving you a clear image and stereo field when listening back.


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## Ted White (May 4, 2009)

Side comment: It's common to consider using bass traps to keep low frequencies from leaving the room to the neighbors. Essentially the theory is to use bass traps to soundproof a room. This does not work.


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## VoiceOfReason (Jul 14, 2010)

Thanks Ted. In this case I'm not looking for more soundproofing but I did check out your website and your company offers some interesting products. 

For the most part the noise floor in the room is low enough plus I use a whisperroom for most of my recordings which drops the dB to below 60 (unless they're jackhammering outside the house which they, whoever they are, seem to getting fond of lately)


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

Don't you just hate it when that happens? :hsd:

Bryan


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## VoiceOfReason (Jul 14, 2010)

Ha! Great icon.


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## fractile (Mar 15, 2009)

To tame a room I think you have to listen a lot from everywhere in the room to see what's going on. Lying on the floor with your eyes closed is one way to hear reflections going on; you may want some of these for vitality.

For low frequency resonance listen at the back wall and in the corners.

It was said that bass traps do not prevent low frequency bleed into an adjacent space, but I fail to see how this could be true, if the resonance is attenuated at the source. Maybe Ted can clarify.


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## AudioMagic (Jul 9, 2009)

Hi. I've recently completed a design for a gobo for post production editors with diffusion on one side and absorption on the other that should help you out considerably. This gives you an acoustical appliance that is both adjustable and portable - take it with you next time you move. 

The design is free to anyone who wants to download a pdf of it from my website, www.mediaroomstech.com .

FYI, for me, diffusion placed at the critical reflection points is the number one thing you can use to improve the sound of a room.

- Bruce Black


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