Folderol Towers music room

[Folderol]

To briefly recap, I'm using my back (2nd) bedroom to get as far away as possible from road noise. Up till now I had the kit positioned across the (bricked up) chimney breast, and the results were pretty dire.

However I've now changed things round, so that the unit is across the window. The door into the room can still open fully and I can get in and out quite easily. The speakers are now firing down the greatest distance, 3.5M, while the width of the room is 2.5M and the ceiling height is also 2.5M.

The single divan bed is still there against the furthest wall, so hopefully helps, and all the hangings on the walls seem to manage the higher frequencies well enough. The acoustics are still rather poor at low frequencies, but nevertheless better than they were. I don't know what I can do that is practical and relatively inexpensive to improve this. At the moment I use headphones for getting levels right.

[RichardT]

I’d recommend some broadband trapping, Will - Sam Inglis did a video a couple of years ago of a quick and easy DIY technique.

[Exalted Wombat]

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques ... sound-good

[Eddy Deegan]

I’d recommend some broadband trapping, Will - Sam Inglis did a video a couple of years ago of a quick and easy DIY technique.

Was it this one? Even if not it might be useful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPU6_1prLyA

[RichardT]

I’d recommend some broadband trapping, Will - Sam Inglis did a video a couple of years ago of a quick and easy DIY technique.

Was it this one? Even if not it might be useful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPU6_1prLyA

Thanks Eddy, that’s the one.

[Folderol]

That's a very interesting link, but unfortunately I have a number of problems. The (inward opening) door is right where one of the bass traps would need to be!
If I used the opposite end of the room, then what would I do with the bed? It can't go under the window - it would block the door, and if it was alongside the only other flat wall it would be in the way of just about everything! I don't want to to get rid of it as (on very rare occasions) I have visitors staying over.

Cost (as always) is of course an issue but these days, so is D.I.Y. I'm much slower than I used to be, and always seem to have a pile of jobs waiting to be done - the latest being the shower packed up this morning

[RichardT]

That's a very interesting link, but unfortunately I have a number of problems. The (inward opening) door is right where one of the bass traps would need to be!
If I used the opposite end of the room, then what would I do with the bed? It can't go under the window - it would block the door, and if it was alongside the only other flat wall it would be in the way of just about everything! I don't want to to get rid of it as (on very rare occasions) I have visitors staying over.

Cost (as always) is of course an issue but these days, so is D.I.Y. I'm much slower than I used to be, and always seem to have a pile of jobs waiting to be done - the latest being the shower packed up this morning

For lower frequencies, it’s not so critical where the trapping is. Pretty much anywhere it will help.

What I’ve done in the past is select some low frequencies, play sine waves of that frequency and measure sound levels at various available locations using a sound meter on my iPad. Then I’ve chosen a location that on average performs best.

If you have Sonarworks or REW and a suitable mic you could do some measurements first to help select the important frequencies.

Sorry to hear about the shower!

[Hugh Robjohns]

The speakers are now firing down the greatest distance, 3.5M, while the width of the room is 2.5M and the ceiling height is also 2.5M.

Firing down the length of the room is usually the best option, but with identical width and height that room will inevitably have a very lumpy bass response.

The acoustics are still rather poor at low frequencies, but nevertheless better than they were.

To be expected, and difficult to improve without major bass trapping which is likely to be impractical.

At the moment I use headphones for getting levels right.

Probably the best option. To reduce the LF response variations you'll need to install a considerable volume of bass trapping, ideally in the corners (wall-ceiling corners count!), and/or behind the monitors.

In many cases such requirements clash unacceptably with the domestic practicalities...

However, you may be able to make a useful improvement by suspending thick winter duvets at the back of the room from removable wooden frames etc.

[amanise]

Every room's different - obviously - but the things I did that made the most difference were bass traps in the ceiling corners and wall corners, and a diffuser panel in front of me on the wall between my speakers - and two corresponding ones on either side on the far wall behind me opposite that (but on either side if that makes sense). I did install diffuser panels on the side walls - but in my room they had less incremental impact. Trouble is - it gets harder and harder to tell if what you're doing is having the same amount of impact as your early measures.

The bass traps were undoubtedly the best bang per buck as they were really cheap. Are you using mics to record vox or acoustic instruments in there?

[James Perrett]

It is worth remembering that you can use any corner in the room for bass trapping - not just the vertical corners but also the wall to ceiling corners.

[Lostgallifreyan]

I put my speakers halfway down the longest walls, not too close to them, and sit with one end wall behind me, in a big chair that damps any immediate reflected sound that might otherwise happen behind me. A low bed, curtains, lots of stuff, tend to reduce the worst problems in the room. Others may well remain but it's amazing what we can get used to if working habits become consistent. I decided things were ok once I could move around in the chair while sitting in it, and not hear ghastly disturbances in the sound when I did so.

All bets are off when I get out of the chair, but doing that can reveal things I missed, so it's all good. Walking down a corridor and into another room can be a lot of help. Hearing it as others might...

[RichardT]

Something I’ve done in the past- subject to storage space - is to have free-standing traps that you can put away when you want to use the room for other purposes.

[Folderol]

Thanks a lot for all these suggestions. I didn't know ceiling traps were an option. In view of the height of mine, that seems a promising idea.

[Sam Spoons]

Bear in mind the bed will serve as a bass trap too and the space under it, if any, could have a couple of rolls of something soft stuffed in there. An elegant (partial) solution would be a fold up bed with a large absorber in the underside but that may be more than you'd consider worthwhile.

In my experience of doing my own room the first three or four panels make the most dramatic difference and as you add additional treatment it's effect becomes less obvious. Bass trapping is always a compromise between making them big enough to be effective without reducing the space remaining too much.