So, after an age of detailed research (my wife calls it procrastination!) I've finally got the materials together to put some acoustic treatment into my home studio.
I'm planning to build some panels so I thought I'd detail the work here in case anyone was thinking of doing something similar or could offer any thoughts/advice.
I'll put some photos etc up at the weekend but the basic detail are as follows
Studio - 3m x 4m
Treatment - Rockwool RW3 100m slab which will be built into frames and covered in Cara fabric.
I've got an omnidirectional mic which I did some tests with ages ago so I'll redo those before and after.
I pick up the wood on Saturday and have everything else so there's no excuses now!!
I know there are problems in the room especially at the low end some I'm trying to reduce some of the bass, control the mids/highs a bit and stop 1st reflections.
Comments
At 3m x 4m your room is a gnat’s whisker bigger than mine. Bass is going to be your biggest issue.
Do you have a floor plan that you can share? Best layout is nearly always to have the speakers firing down the long side. There’s some theory floating about to suggest that the best listening position will be 38% of the room’s length back from the front wall so, in your case, that’s 4m x 0.38 = 1,52m back. I usually work sitting forward of the point but I have a reference point so that I can push my chair back for critical listening. Monitors should be set up to form a equilateral triangle with the point at this position (tweeters at head hight).
Absorbers. I have 100mm thick 1200mm x 600mm panels at the first reflection points (walls and ceiling) spaced 100mm from the wall to extend the frequency range. What you are trying to do with a broadband absorber is to take the Kinetic Energy of the moving air and turn it into minute amounts of heat. When you have a standing wave the air isn’t actually moving at the wall, the max KE is at the ¼ wavelength and this is where your absorber is most effective. 200mm from the wall equates to about 400Hz. It will work below this frequency but not so effectively.
The best place to control the bass is in the corners. I have ‘super chunks’ in my front corners (triangles of RW3 stacked to the ceiling), mine don’t go floor to ceiling as they are sitting on my worktop but floor to ceiling is best and all 4 corners if the room allows.
I’m thinking of re-doing my entire room which will involve taking out the worktop, installing a custom built desk and rebuilding the corners. I’m thinking of having a limp mass membrane in front of the chunks (mineral loaded vinyl) and further 100mm rockwool slabs in front of the membrane. There’s a good article in last month’s Sound on Sound. I’ve been thinking about doing this since I first read about the technique more than 10 years ago – so I can’t be accused of rushing into doing it.
I’ll get a plan up in the next few days after I’ve thrown it together on SketchUp. I did have one but can’t seem to find it.
Phase 2 was to be RW3 super chunks. I’ve already got idea for those (and enough RW3) and I’d move/ditch the cupboard and fridge or do the back and block the door temporarily.
https://soundcloud.com/bill-saunders
and this one shows the door and windows in really annoying places
Ideally you want the listening position around 38% of the length of the room.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
The frame
The RW3 in the frame
And the finished panel
It came out really well I think.
Put your desk in the right place to suit that and form an equilateral triangle between your ears and the speakers- this might require speaker stands.
This gives you an idea of how to set things up:
My speakers are a compromise, the Kii Audio monitors are closer to the perfect spacing than the ATC'a.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
I wish I was capable of this as I ended up getting ceiling to floor bass traps from Blue Frog Audio. I'm pleased and they make a big difference. Have they done the job?
I reckon it’ll come out at about £45 - £50 a panel.
The Cara fabric is well worth the money as, acoustic properties aside, it enables a good cosmetic finish (plus it's fire retardant). The first traps that I built used simple cotton fabric, but I learned from that mistake.