Acoustic Treatment

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JD01
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Acoustic Treatment

Post by JD01 »

OK, so I'm finally thinking of getting some acoustic treatment to the upstairs office where I record vocals - its a pretty small office, probably just over 2m wide and just over 3m long with a laminate wood floor. As anyone who's listened to my mixes will know, its not an ideal room for vocals.

One end is pretty much all window and curtains so that's done.
I reckon I have space to get about 1m2 of treatment the walls in front of me and behind me, possibly on the wall behind the door too and there's obviously space on the ceiling.

Now I don't just want boring panels 'cos its mainly my mrs office - I want it took look nice. Was thinking I could get something like a layers of sponge/polystyrene in a wooden frame, about 5cm thick, and then maybe cover it in a layer of canvas with some art on it. Anyone done anything similar lately? What cheap, crap, botched solutions have you guys tried?
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miroslav
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Re: Acoustic Treatment

Post by miroslav »

"sponge/polystyrene"...?
That's a new one.

If you're looking for cheap, and non-permanent, and it has to look good to please the Mrs....just hang some thick tapestry/rug type shit on the walls.
It will do about the same thing as sponge/polystyrene.

Build some traps, kinda like the ones I did...you just don't have to make them that deep. That way they are portable, and when you are done, move them out of the room so the Mrs doesn't complain.
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Tadpui
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Re: Acoustic Treatment

Post by Tadpui »

You've gotta be careful about what materials you select for the filler and the wrapper. Anything too reflective will either make no difference or be worse than before.

If you're going to DIY, I'd stick with the materials that have proven to be effective for this purpose: mineral wool or rigid fiberglass for the filler, and an acoustically transparent fabric for the wrap.

Guilford of Maine has a couple of fabric series that are perfectly suited for this purpose (FR701 and Anchorage), but I don't know if they distribute to the UK. If you pick a nice bland fabric, you could take it to someplace like this http://www.merchasylum.co.uk/ and have it silkscreened with graphics to make a nice art panel. I really don't think that I'd trust canvas as an acoustic surface.

GIK Acoustics has a UK outlet, but I know from experience that they're not exactly a cheap option. They offer Art Panels, where you can provide a digital photo and they'll dye it onto the fabric of your panel. Of course, those are more expensive than regular panels.

For vocals, I'd recommend a couple of gobos or acoustic screens. Mine have proven invalueable in my little reflective office/studio. Fold 'em up and stash them out of the way when not in use, or unfold 'em and make a little vocal booth when needed. Between those and just a few bass traps, the acoustics in my office are drastically different than before. Much less small-room reverb while tracking, and a much more reliable bass response while mixing.
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JD01
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Re: Acoustic Treatment

Post by JD01 »

miroslav wrote: Tue Aug 29, 2017 1:59 pm "sponge/polystyrene"...?
That's a new one.

If you're looking for cheap, and non-permanent, and it has to look good to please the Mrs....just hang some thick tapestry/rug type shit on the walls.
It will do about the same thing as sponge/polystyrene.

Build some traps, kinda like the ones I did...you just don't have to make them that deep. That way they are portable, and when you are done, move them out of the room so the Mrs doesn't complain.
There's no space in the corners of the rooms to put traps, one corner has a desk, another a bookshelf, and other shelves and the other one is the door.

I was thinking of quite a deep frame that I could fill with something absorbent and then stick a nice canvas picture over the front of it, so kinda like hiding acoustic treatment behind something acoustically transparent. I just don't know what qualifies as treatment and what qualifies as transparent.
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JD01
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Re: Acoustic Treatment

Post by JD01 »

Tadpui wrote: Tue Aug 29, 2017 2:11 pm You've gotta be careful about what materials you select for the filler and the wrapper. Anything too reflective will either make no difference or be worse than before.

If you're going to DIY, I'd stick with the materials that have proven to be effective for this purpose: mineral wool or rigid fiberglass for the filler, and an acoustically transparent fabric for the wrap.

Guilford of Maine has a couple of fabric series that are perfectly suited for this purpose (FR701 and Anchorage), but I don't know if they distribute to the UK. If you pick a nice bland fabric, you could take it to someplace like this http://www.merchasylum.co.uk/ and have it silkscreened with graphics to make a nice art panel. I really don't think that I'd trust canvas as an acoustic surface.

GIK Acoustics has a UK outlet, but I know from experience that they're not exactly a cheap option. They offer Art Panels, where you can provide a digital photo and they'll dye it onto the fabric of your panel. Of course, those are more expensive than regular panels.

For vocals, I'd recommend a couple of gobos or acoustic screens. Mine have proven invalueable in my little reflective office/studio. Fold 'em up and stash them out of the way when not in use, or unfold 'em and make a little vocal booth when needed. Between those and just a few bass traps, the acoustics in my office are drastically different than before. Much less small-room reverb while tracking, and a much more reliable bass response while mixing.
Cheers Tad, can you post me up a pic of your tracking setup... or better still a rambling 25 minute video!!!

I'll check out the other links in work tomorrow. We've got some cracking surfing pics of her that would be great blown up and stuck on fabric to cover some acoustic treatment.

It's a pretty small room so putting stuff up and then away again prior to tracking might not be useful as I'd only be moving them about a metre, tops! And we don't have that much space in the house anyway.
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Minerman
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Re: Acoustic Treatment

Post by Minerman »

I'm in the same boat on the bass traps dude, the way my room is made/constructed, I could only bass trap 2 corners, & can't do anything permanent, so I'm stuck until I get another place (I was hoping this summer, but it ain't happenin'...maybe next year :frown: )...

The good news is the 2" panels I made a couple years ago make a pretty big difference in the reflections/flutter echo here, so I'm sure they'll help your space too...I second Tad's suggestion of the tried & true methods dude, rockwool covered in breathe-able fabric...I used burlap on mine (which was cheap), & for looks, well, they ain't much, but I'm pretty sure the burlap doesn't do anything to reflect or any of the sort, it just looks like shit...You can find a nice looking fabric to cover your panels dude, just do the research needed to make sure it's right for the job...

I gotta say Miro's panels look just great, you could use his panels as a template, just make 'em thinner ( like he mentioned)...Just guessing your room is probably about like mine, I'd have to have wall to wall basstraps in order to make 'em work, which in turn would make my room about a foot smaller...lol...

In my experience, the rockwool was the most expensive thing to buy, but I already had a bundle from my ISO cab build...Keep us posted dude...
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rayc
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Re: Acoustic Treatment

Post by rayc »

Art on fabric, if it seals the gaps in the weave, will reflect some freqs. If the "art" is actually a piece of printed fabric, (like a bed sheet etc) then you'd be fine. If you find the sweet spot in the room (no nulls or build ups) and reduce reflections and use a cheapie like Image then you won't record too much of the room.
Cheers
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miroslav
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Re: Acoustic Treatment

Post by miroslav »

That's why I suggest going the portable route.

When you need to use the room...you hang/or stand up a few traps...do your work, and then move them out.
Keeps the Mrs happy...gets you some acoustic treatment...and you can then use those traps elsewhere until the next time..

2" would be OK for broadband...4" would be better if you want to focus on the low end some more.
You don't have to lose your mind like I did...Keep It Simple Stupid.
Basic wood frame (GIK has some ready to assemble frames, but you could make them easy enough)...some 4" planks, and just cut them to the size of your insulation sheets. Then find some basic burlap or porous bed sheets or whatever...and do a full wrap, or just a front/side wrap if you plan to always put them against walls...otherwise, full wrap if you want to use them on other positions too, like make-shift gobos...etc.
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ido1957
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Re: Acoustic Treatment

Post by ido1957 »

I've read that putting something behind the singer is more effective than in front, so I put stuff on the wall behind me.
From what I can hear on recordings it seems to work. I use that foam stuff - 2 X 4 X 4"
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JD01
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Re: Acoustic Treatment

Post by JD01 »

Cheers - I'll look into this. Could be a good winter project. Ray, I like that thing that you posted up. What's it called?
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rayc
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Re: Acoustic Treatment

Post by rayc »

Sound reflection screen, screen vocal booth, vocal recording shield. I use one as it stops stuff reflecting from the front - I use a full book case behind - with books of various heights thickness and at random depths to break up reflections from there.
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antichef
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Re: Acoustic Treatment

Post by antichef »

yeah - if you're using a cardioid mic, it's better to treat behind the singer than in front - the mic won't pickup the sound from its backside anyway, so it's the sound bouncing off whatever is behind the singer (and into the front of the mic) that causes the most issues.
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JD01
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Re: Acoustic Treatment

Post by JD01 »

OK, I'm formulating a plan :)
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JD01
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Re: Acoustic Treatment

Post by JD01 »

Ray - is this the thing you were talking about:

What you recon, gents? Think this is worth the cash?
Amazon won't post for some reason:
Image
its 66 quid.
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rayc
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Re: Acoustic Treatment

Post by rayc »

These are closer to mine - a cheaper unit than the one in your image...
Mudguard
or this
VoxGurad
or this
Reflexion Filter
Or fairly cheap and fairly effective but something on the wall behind you like a bookcase or curtains is also needed to keep room boxiness out.
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rayc
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Re: Acoustic Treatment

Post by rayc »

JD01 wrote: Tue Jan 09, 2018 6:21 am Ray - is this the thing you were talking about:
its 66 quid. Mine was much cheap but not as solid looking.
James, see above...
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JD01
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Re: Acoustic Treatment

Post by JD01 »

Cheers, Ray. They look good too.
I have the curtains behind me so that should help too.

I'm just hoping that something like this will actually really make a noticeable difference.
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Tadpui
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Re: Acoustic Treatment

Post by Tadpui »

I think I'm gonna buy the sE entry level reflexion filter soon and give it a workout. I highly doubt that it's going to do much in an untreated space, but that's my own bias talking. I'll see first hand soon!
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JD01
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Re: Acoustic Treatment

Post by JD01 »

Tadpui wrote: Tue Jan 09, 2018 11:33 am I think I'm gonna buy the sE entry level reflexion filter soon and give it a workout. I highly doubt that it's going to do much in an untreated space, but that's my own bias talking. I'll see first hand soon!
Cool. Tell me how it goes cos I'm planning on getting one to do some vocals at the end of the month.
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JD01
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Re: Acoustic Treatment

Post by JD01 »

Just got myself one of these things and have got some other ideas to deaden my vocal space too.
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