Hey guys

My studio is a wooden octagonal hut of about 4m across, with a roof that goes to a peak. I am making mainly dance music so am just trying to get an optimum space for creating and mixing my music. I have my speakers/desk setup against one of the 8 walls, so from left to right i am symetrical in the room.

I am looking to put up some absorbers, and firstly was wondering if this material would be ok, and what the optimum thickness is, should I double up the 50mm slabs?

http://www.studiospares.com/sound-insulation/rockwool-rw3-x-8-1-pack-per-c onsignmt/invt/401982/&bklist=

secondly, I was wondering exactly where should these panels that i make be placed in realtion to my listening position. From what Ive read it seems maybe one above my head, behind the monitors, and one to each side of my head. But how far above my head and how far out to each side should I go?

Any feedback aboutthis would be amazing, as ive been struggling wit it for a while!

Cheeeers

Alex

im looking to convert a space soon and have been reading these forums avidly, so far ive gleaned that studio spares and similar places seem to mark up the prices on these products going to builders merchants seems to be the way forwards from what i can work out

--------------------
www.humandrums.com
online session drumming at realistic prices

Hi Alex, and welcome to the SOS Forums!

2-inch thick rockwool really needs to be doubled up to have any effect down to a few hundred Hz. However, in an octagonal space you’ve lost all the advantage of being able to put slab traps across the corners (which normally gives good absorption down to about 100Hz), since all the corners have already been cut off

On the other hand, in a typical wooden structure most of the low bass will pass straight through the walls, so it’s a swings and roundabout situation

For placement of traps at the side and ceiling, just put them at the mirror points (where you can see a reflection of your loudspeakers in a mirror placed at the proposed trap position while you’re sitting at your mixing position).

Most people place side ceiling traps a few inches away from the walls/ceiling to maximise the remaining mixing area while making the traps operate down to a lower frequency. However, once again this may not matter as much to you acoustically, so you could simply attach them directly to the walls/ceiling

By the way, humandrums makes a good point - builders merchants sell vast quantities of rockwool and tend to offer more competitive prices. Just make sure you buy material of a suitable density (45Kg/m3 or 60Kg/m3)


Martin

--------------------
YewTreeMagic

Hi Martin

Cheers for the advice. I will double up the 50mm stuff thento make it more efective!

My ceiling is pitched quite steeply, so its not at all parrallel to the floor, does this mean i still need an absorber above my head? I cant really stick the traps to the walls because of the shape/layout of my room and things in it! What I was thinking of doing was making the abosrbers with a wooden frame for left and right of my head and then hanging them off wires from the ceiling, so are half way between the wall and my head, as I have a woodburner and chimney etc whichwill stop me puttting them right up to the wall! Is this going to cause any problems? Obviously there will be a point where they are too close to me yeah? But surely the further away from the wall the more effective against bass frequencies they'll be?

Ive been looking at builders merchants and cant seem to find the right stuff, its frustrating. Wickes has 30mm stuff, but thats it.

Whats better out of 45Kg/m3 or 60Kg/m3?

Thankyou so much for your help!

Alex

Quote Robodelfy:

---

Hi Martin

Cheers for the advice. I will double up the 50mm stuff thento make it more efective!

My ceiling is pitched quite steeply, so its not at all parrallel to the floor, does this mean i still need an absorber above my head?

---

Hi Alex!

Ideally yes - otherwise you're bound to get some reflections bouncing off the ceiling and back to your ears.

Quote:

---

I cant really stick the traps to the walls because of the shape/layout of my room and things in it! What I was thinking of doing was making the abosrbers with a wooden frame for left and right of my head and then hanging them off wires from the ceiling, so are half way between the wall and my head, as I have a woodburner and chimney etc whichwill stop me puttting them right up to the wall! Is this going to cause any problems? Obviously there will be a point where they are too close to me yeah? But surely the further away from the wall the more effective against bass frequencies they'll be?

---

That should work well, although the whole point of putting bass traps across corners is that that's where they are most efficient, because you normally get the largest buildup of bass energy in the corners. Spacing them away from walls/ceiling will certainly help traps be effective down to a lower frequency, but beyond a certain spacing you'll probably lose the advantage of the extra boundary energy. Have a wander around the room while playing some bass-heavy music and see how much the low end alters, then try to place your side reflection traps somewhere that's convenient for your gear/woodburner/chimney placement yet not too far away from the walls.

Quote:

---

Ive been looking at builders merchants and cant seem to find the right stuff, its frustrating. Wickes has 30mm stuff, but thats it.

Whats better out of 45Kg/m3 or 60Kg/m3?

---

Not much in it, but since you're going to be hanging these traps it would probably make more sense to pay a little more and have them more rigid in their wooden frames, in which case go fro the 60Kg/m3, which should sag less when suspended.

Lots of people (including me) have bought rockwool/rocksil or equivalent from Travis Perkins in the UK for a good price.

Good luck!

--------------------
YewTreeMagic

Hey, thanks again

I thought the point of these absorbers was more for high frequencies than to be bass traps...have I misunderstood? I thought bass traps woud normally be different in material and shape etc.

Should the absorbers i make hang parallel to teh wall or not, because I can either hang them parralell to the wall or parrallel to my head if you see what I mean! And also these slabs come in 600 x 1200mm pieces, will these be an adequate size for either size of my head an above my head?

The only way i can really hang them on the sides will mean having a gap from the wall of about 2ft, is that just way to mucH?

And finally, I cant really have any proper trap/abosrber permanantly fixed behind my listening position because its the door into my kitchen! I can however hang a duvet easily from teh ceiling, would these be a good idea, and if so how close to teh back wall/door shoudl I hang it.

Thankyou so much for all this, its so useful and I think Im close to it all making sense what I need to do! Cheers

Quote Robodelfy:

---

Hey, thanks again

I thought the point of these absorbers was more for high frequencies than to be bass traps...have I misunderstood? I thought bass traps woud normally be different in material and shape etc.

---

Although many side/ceiling absorbers tend to be thinner because there's lots of other bass trapping elsewhere in the room, unless you're going to fit lots elsewhere then having reasonably broadband traps at the side and ceiling mirror points make perfect sense to me

Quote:

---

Should the absorbers i make hang parallel to teh wall or not, because I can either hang them parralell to the wall or parrallel to my head if you see what I mean! And also these slabs come in 600 x 1200mm pieces, will these be an adequate size for either size of my head an above my head?

---

Well, since we're hoping that as broadband absorbers they don't bounce anything back it shouldn't matter unduly, although personally I'd place them parallel to your head rather than the walls. Size depends on the distance they are away from your head - my litle studio is only 8-feet wide so I have a single 1200mm high and 600mm wide trap on either side, but I've got a double one above my head at 1200mm by 1200mm.

If your side traps are going to be more than six feet away from your head then I'd go for 1200mm by 1200mm on both sides and above.

Quote:

---

The only way i can really hang them on the sides will mean having a gap from the wall of about 2ft, is that just way to mucH?

---

No, that should still be OK.

Quote:

---

And finally, I cant really have any proper trap/abosrber permanantly fixed behind my listening position because its the door into my kitchen! I can however hang a duvet easily from teh ceiling, would these be a good idea, and if so how close to teh back wall/door shoudl I hang it.

---

What about a trap hanging on the back of the door? This has worked for plenty of people here.

Quote:

---

Thankyou so much for all this, its so useful and I think Im close to it all making sense what I need to do! Cheers

---

My pleasure - let us know how mich better everything sounds with the treatment in place. Of course the beauty of hanging traps attached to a wooden structure is that it's fairly easy to move them if you find your acoustics sound even better with them elsewhere


Martin

--------------------
YewTreeMagic

Hey,

thanks for all the infO!

So if I was to use a single 1200 x 600 bit on each side of my head, say two feet from the wall, I would have this long ways yeah, so the 1.2m lenght would be horizontal...is that right?

I think then I might do the 1200x1200 one above just like you. Then its just behind me which I think i might just hang a duvet near a couple of feet from teh back of the room. Apart from that, i already have a big mattress leant against my wall, a book shelf on another, soft carpet, and other bits of furntiure, its a very full room which is a good thing for this i think!

Hopefully ill get round to doing it all in the next week or two!

Cheers again