Attempting to DIY sound treat my room, need advice

[Kilo beats]

Hey guys

I'm having some issues regarding soundproofing my room.. I hope someone here can guide me in the right direction.

Basicly I have spent the whole day (and most of the night!) researching soundproofing & accoustic treatment, and I can say I understand the basics well.. So this week im going to make some DIY accoustic panels and bass traps for my studio, this thread is just to explain what im thinking of doing in the hope that someone who knows a thing or two about this can tell me if im doing it wrong

Anyway, heres the general idea...

Buy a "General Purpose Insulation Slab (10 pack)". 1200mm x 600mm x 50mm from http://www.wickes.co.uk/red-plastic-wal ... vt/161197/

These will be the mid-high sound absorbers (not bass traps), they will be placed on all parallel surfaces like so...

3 panels placed verticaly side by side on the wall in front of me (above my monitors). 2 panels placed either side of my studio setup (on the same front wall) but on the lower half of the wall. 1 panel placed horozontally directly behind my monitors & pc monitor. 1 panel on my right wall (where a first reflection is). 1 panel on my door. And the last 2 panels on my back wall

Unfortunatly I cant have anything placed on the left wall because the window practicly takes up the whole wall. Also I am thinking of buying a diffusor for the back wall.

Once the mid-high sound absorbers are done I will add the bass traps:

Cavity Slab Insulation (12 pack). 1200mm x 445mm x 100mm brought from http://www.wickes.co.uk/red-plastic-wal ... vt/161235/

Being 100mm thick I think these should make sufficient enough basstraps, also they have 12 in a pack, so I can compleatly cover all the corners of my room

as for design i think im going to make frames for the slabs and use wood glue to hold them together, then it should just be a case of cover with some cloth and job done!

so... what do you guys think? worth the effort or waste of time?

[wormcode]

Personally I think unless you can build or modify the actual room, as in put up whole walls or rebuild current walls that it's not worth the money. By all means try to make a couple of bass traps, maybe it will make a difference to your room. They are all different. I find I don't monitor loud enough to warrant it myself, even having worked in large studios I just prefer it pretty quiet and didn't notice much of a difference with their treatment. The ideal treatment is a room inside a room, so if you can 'emulate' that go for it.

If you're going to do this, definitely cover that window up with something as the glass is no doubt one of the first things that's gotta go.

I think you should isolate your monitors before anything else if you haven't already.

And don't overpay for name brand normal everyday stuff like Auralex advertises.

[lowpass]

How much does all that come to?

I went the GIK acoustics route in the end and am not disappointed with the result. Very nice sounding products and compared to other manufacturers relatively inexpensive.

[daft cunt]

Yeah worth time and effort. It's actually quite fun to build and if you can find some pretty sheets it may even be decorative.
One very important point tho is the density of the rockwool you're going to use. The denser the better, up to 100 kg/m3 for basstraps.
Here are a few links that might help if you didn't find them already:
http://www.dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.p ... 5#p2490315
http://www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/oct10/a ... 1010-2.htm
http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-make- ... on-389972/

[daft cunt]

As for the cost, it was about 150 € worth of material to build up to 10 120x60x10cm panels.

[daft cunt]

Regarding the diffusor, I thought about doing it on the back wall as well and it's been suggested by Macc - who knows a thing or 2 on the subject - to just kill it dead for now.

Also, keep in mind that good monitors placement is as important as all the panels you're going to build.

[Ongelegen]

I don't know much about acoustics and the treating of them, but you just can't make/buy and put them where you think they should be without constantly measuring the frequency response of your sweetpot, or can you? Without any measuring you could be making adjustments which do not complement to a flat frequency response. I think, and please correct me if I'm wrong, you should measure the frequency response in the untreated state and based on these measurements you should correct it by placing the trap/foam etc. Then measure again and rinse & repeat. Anyone know more about this?

[DrastikMeazures]

Sounds like you've got a pretty good plan, I treated my own room in a similar way and it made a huge difference for me. Wood frames are a great idea, that's the way I did it as well. Like someone else mentioned, get the same color fabric for all the diffusers and they'll look really good on your walls. Density is very important, I found wrapping the rock wool allowed me to compress it tighter, squeezing more rock wool into the frame and there by increasing the density. Try to treat the ceiling directly over your sweet spot as well, that was one of the areas that made the biggest difference for my room.

Project EX... technically your correct that there's alot more you can do to try and get a "perfect" room treatment. But I've always felt that almost anything's better than nothing, and honestly diffusers aren't going to have really drastic affect on the room anyway. I think the idea is to deaden the worst offending reflections and hopefully keep the bass in check at least a little. (bass being the most difficult freq to treat for)

[Kilo beats]

definitely cover that window up with something as the glass is no doubt one of the first things that's gotta go. I think you should isolate your monitors before anything else if you haven't already.

I have a thick curtian that is usually drawn while producing. the window is about 10 inches from the curtain, i have no option available to do anything other than get an even thicker curtian..

I think you should isolate your monitors before anything else if you haven't already.

what do you mean isolate my monitors? do you mean using something like isolation pads?

the monitors (when i get them next week!) will be on my table, im thinking of cutting a 2" thick slab of rockwool to "isolate" them, and also to lift them up so the tweaters are at my ear level.. will this be good enough for isolation? or did you mean something else??

Here are a few links that might help if you didn't find them already:
http://www.dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.p ... 5#p2490315
http://www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/oct10/a ... 1010-2.htm
http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-make- ... on-389972/

Thanks man, I have been through them all... took long to watch all the ethan winer vids lol

Cheers guys

[nowaysj]

Check ats acoustics, really good broad spectrum absorbing rockwool at very very good prices, not sure if they supply uk. Rockwool may be carcinogenic. Study that overturned previous findings of possibly carcinogenic is not objective.

Just a thought on hanging in your environment.