Help with sound treating a Studio!

[taea3]

The house im about to buy (hopefuly) has an awesome basement that i want to convert into a full studio. Its 2 rooms about 250 sq ft each. only problem is the walls are cinder block and the floor is tile, so it echos quite a bit.

Anyone have any semi cost efective ways to deaden the sound? i will most likely lay down a few rugs to take care of the floor, and eventually make bass traps like any other studio, but i need something to cover the walls with first to reall kill off most of the echo.

Thanks!!

 

[ShadowAMD]

Issue is, you can take away the echo but your still letting frequencies bleed all over the place! Where are planning to track / mix?

250Sq foot is massive, it might be worth partitioning one side on the place off with a "Fake" rockwool wall then enclose it as a normal mixing setup. Finally use some sort of carpet to removed the echo's and also place absorbers / bass traps 's up strategic locations.

 

[taea3]

Hey, Thanks for the reply! I should mention that only 2 walls in each room are cinder block, and the others are normal drywall.

I don't really think 250sq ft is massive. each room room is about 16ft by 16ft, one slightly larger than the other. not huge but about perfect size for a good home studio. the room that is smaller is because it has a closet under where the stairs come down that would make a perfect vocal booth.

I plan on making this the mixing room, and ill probably put all my effort towards sound treating this room first. i have about 50 1ft squares of studio foam to put up mainly for looks and a small amount of treatment, and ill will defiantly be making bass traps and putting down rugs/carpet like you said to treat the floor. Im mainly looking for a good material to cover the cinder block walls with to treat them.

Any more info or ideas are more than welcome! thanks

 

[Baelzebeard]

Instead of committing to glueing foam on the walls, you could put up some heavy velvet curtains on rods so you can custom tailor the ambience to each situation. I've seen curtains in lots of studios. HTH

It can look classy too if done right.

 

[taea3]

Good idea! i think putting up some bass traps then putting up some thick curtains like you said over them would be perfect. And we all know a studio has to look classy too!

 

[TRENCHLORD]

If you do decide to eventually foam it up, then this place has some much better deals then the music gear supply sources.
The most de-bang for the buck is this 2.5" eggcrate foam that comes in 72" X 80" sheets. It's comparable to the 2.5" wedge foam in deadening ability.
They have some other better looking stuff in big sheets for a bit more.
Bedding, Packaging, Soundproofing, Acoustical Foam, Eggcrate Foam

also, nice thick-padded recliners in the corners and couches on the sides are decent bass traps in their own right.

 

[KingAenarion]

Just absent mindedly sticking up foam to deaden walls and whatnot is a really dumb idea, so large amounts of foam are not needed.

I'd read Stavrou's book "mixing with your mind"

There is a huge section in there about setting up your control room and your monitors and whatnot.

You want to treat your room around your listening setup, not put your listening setup in the middle of a treated room.

That said. You need to understand the difference between absorption, reflection and diffusion in acoustics. The cinderblock may not be as bad as you think, particularly if the surface is uneven (it will diffuse higher frequencies). You may be better off using diffusion based acoustics on parts of it rather than absorption.

 

[taea3]

Just absent mindedly sticking up foam to deaden walls and whatnot is a really dumb idea, so large amounts of foam are not needed.

I'd read Stavrou's book "mixing with your mind"

There is a huge section in there about setting up your control room and your monitors and whatnot.

You want to treat your room around your listening setup, not put your listening setup in the middle of a treated room.

That said. You need to understand the difference between absorption, reflection and diffusion in acoustics. The cinderblock may not be as bad as you think, particularly if the surface is uneven (it will diffuse higher frequencies). You may be better off using diffusion based acoustics on parts of it rather than absorption.

Thanks for the reply. Like i said before im mainly looking for a somewhat cost effective way to treat the echo that is in the room. i already have a pretty decent understanding of sound treatmeant, and i will definatly be treating the rooms properly, but the main issue at this point is the echo. Once the echo is tamed i can begin to figure out the best way to acctully treat the room.

Good point though, if the rough texture of the blocks is defusing some of the highs, it might be good to see how much of the echo is tamed by laying down some rugs then treating the walls as needed.

 

[taea3]

If you do decide to eventually foam it up, then this place has some much better deals then the music gear supply sources.
The most de-bang for the buck is this 2.5" eggcrate foam that comes in 72" X 80" sheets. It's comparable to the 2.5" wedge foam in deadening ability.
They have some other better looking stuff in big sheets for a bit more.
Bedding, Packaging, Soundproofing, Acoustical Foam, Eggcrate Foam

also, nice thick-padded recliners in the corners and couches on the sides are decent bass traps in their own right.

Thanks for the link! will definatly keep this in mind if i need any foam!

 

[walshy0420]

I recently treated my small home studio with Vicoustic absorbtion panels at the angle of first reflection, bass traps etc. It's turned out really good.

There's a great little series called Studio Rescue on YouTube endorsed by Rode Microphones. Though it's more for bedroom project studios, it's well worth checking out. It certainly helped me.

 

[Sonicassaultphil]

Go to the gik acoustic's website and grab a bunch of bass trap's. Or if your on a budget there are plenty of youtube video's out there to show you how to make them on your own. They are the best way to tune your room. also like other have said, make sure you rockwool out all the corner's in the room. try to make the walls as far from parallel from each other as you can .