John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Hello!

Im doing a research paper on the treatment of Low frequencies in smaller recording studio listening environments,

Im finding that there seems to be no treatment specific to smaller rooms, is this the case?

By small rooms im looking at around the 12ft x 10ft x 8ft sort of area, not as a specific, just as an average..nowhere near any nice sized 28ft walls..

What are peoples thoughts on the specific treatments for smaller rooms?

Many thanks

Ben

England UK

welcome! i recommend reading up on this site as well as Ethan Winer's Real Trap site, GIK Acoustics site where they specialize in discrete treatment products typically used in small rooms as well as large ones. as a general rule, the more isolation you have, the more you need to treat the room to compensate for the trapped energy. so addressing modes, non-modes (like general LF pressurization), and resonances due to both can be addressed through a variety of tactics and treatments such as room ratio, angles to shift axial to tangential or obliques, absorption by various means including panels, slats, porous, perforated metal, etc.

Thanks to Glenn for the mention. These articles specifically address the OP's questions:

Acoustic Basics
Test Methods for Acoustic Treatment Products
Front Wall Absorption

Tons more here:

RealTraps Articles
RealTraps Videos

--Ethan

Thank you very much for your input,

I've read a lot of the Ethan Winer articles when doing a measurement project, im just struggling to get ideas together to make a good dissertation topic,

Im looking at the treatment of low frequencies in small rooms, do you think low frequency treatments can be optimized in anyway to suit smaller rooms better?

Ben

ben-taylor wrote:do you think low frequency treatments can be optimized in anyway to suit smaller rooms better?

Yes, and it should be obvious after you read the articles I linked. The #1 "optimization" for traps in small rooms is for them to be broadband rather than tuned. Small rooms have peaks and nulls at all low frequencies, not just those related to the room's dimensions.

--Ethan