John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Hey all.

Right now I have an empty room well except for the drum kit.

I'm thinking I'm gonna use the Ultratouch.
Converted garage 24' x24'. Looking to do corner treatments and wall treatments. In regards to the Ultratouch I've read here that it's not great for low end if it's too thick, then I read you need about 10 inches to have effective low end results.

After hours of reading the various threads and rabbit holes they take you to I don't know which end is up. I've found 3 different thicknesses of the UT. 2" - 3" & 5.5"

Also I've seen floor to ceiling corner treatment and upper corner triangle treatment. A simple explaination of why one over the other? please.
I'm looking at wrapping mine with landscape fabric seems perfect for that. $30 for 4ft. x 225ft. at Sams club.
Thanks!

Hi. Please read the forum rules for posting (click here). You seem to be missing a couple of things!

I'm thinking I'm gonna use the Ultratouch.

For what? In designing and building the acoustic treatment for a room, there's many places you could use that product, and for many different things.

Converted garage 24' x24'.

Sqaure? That's a problem already. Take a look a "room modes" and "room ratios" to get an idea of why that is a large potential issue.

Is this room already isolated? Is your question only about treatment, not about isolation? In other words, is the isolation that the room already has, sufficient for your needs?

Looking to do corner treatments and wall treatments.

For what? Is this room going to be a control room, for mixing and mastering, or is it going to be a live room, for tracking and rehearsal? Those are two very, very different acoustic paths.

Also I've seen floor to ceiling corner treatment and upper corner triangle treatment. A simple explaination of why one over the other? please.

Unfortunately, there is no simple explanation. There are some reasons why you might want floor to ceiling treatment in a vertical corner, and other reasons why you might want it in the horizontal wall/ceiling corner. There are yet other reasons why you might want it in panels against the wall, or in ceiling clouds, or inside tuned resonant traps. Tuning a room is all about first understanding what is wrong with the room, then figuring out what needs to be done to make it right. You didn't mention what is wrong with the room, so it's hard to say what treatment you will need, or where you will need it.

I'm looking at wrapping mine with landscape fabric seems perfect for that. $30 for 4ft. x 225ft.

Are you sure? What are the acoustic properties of that fabric? Does that match what you need on the treatment devices?

Price is almost never the first factor that you should look at when choosing materials to make your acoustic treatment devices. The very first thing you need to look at, is what effect the product will have, acoustically. If it does not have the right acoustic properties for the device you are designing, then you need to look for some other product that does. Buying acoustic treatment based entirely on price is like buying a car based entirely on the color of the seats!


- Stuart -

Hey Stuart,

Thanks for the reply. Sorry for the missing stuff. Yes it is about treatment
It'll be a live room for tracking, rehearsal etc.

Unfortunately 24x24 is what I got. Dual 5/8th's drywall is already up. 4 doors and one 4ft. window. One door has the typical (4 steps) garage to house entry.
Armstrong Acoustic Panel Ceiling Tiles on the ceiling glued directly to the drywall (probably not the best but I figured that would be better than a tape and textured painted ceiling), Laminate flooring.

Basically I have a square hard surfaced room except for the ceiling and I have echo slapback etc. so I just need to deaden the room so I can acheive a good sound without all the reverb etc of the room.

The landscape fabric seemed liked it would be good regardless of cost that was just a benefit. Don't know the acoustic properties but it's designed to let through air and water but filter out the dirt and stuff. Didn't know if maybe someone has used it with success.

Thanks again!

Thanks for the reply. Sorry for the missing stuff.

You fixed it, so all is good!

Unfortunately 24x24

You didn't mention height, but let me guess: 8'? 3x8 = 24... So if you have an 8' ceiling in a room that is 24 x 24, then you have a potential disaster! All of the room modes will line up perfectly with each other, in all directions...

OK, it's not the end of the world, but it DOES make it harder to treat. Fortunately, it's just a rehearsal / tracking room, not a control room, so it doesn't have to be neutral....

Armstrong Acoustic Panel Ceiling Tiles on the ceiling glued directly to the drywall

Ummmm..... Can you still locate the joists through all that? You will need to find them, as you will need them to hang the REAL ceiling treatment.

Laminate flooring.

Basically I have a square hard surfaced room except for the ceiling

Acoustically, the ceiling is hard as well. Those "acoustic ceiling tiles" do practically nothing for low frequencies, which is where pretty much all of your problems will be. The way you mounted those tiles is not the way they are designed to be used, and they aren't meant for studios in any event.

I have echo slapback etc.

Not surprising! But that's the easiest of your problems to deal with. The much tougher one is the modal issue.

so I just need to deaden the room so I can acheive a good sound without all the reverb etc of the room.

You don't necessarily need to deaden it. That might be an option, yes, but what you REALLY need to do, is to kill the slapback and flutter echo, and deal with the massive modal issues at 46 Hz, 60 Hz, 96 Hz, 117 Hz and 141 Hz. After doing that, then you can decide if the rooms needs to be more dead or not. It might be better to make it more diffuse. It's a fairly large room, so you do have plenty of options.

I would suggest that you start by doing a REW test, then post the MDAT file so we can analyze it, and help you figure out a course of action.



- Stuart -

ok so I had to look up REW test lol.. and found the roomeqwizard. I'm guessing I can't just use the built in laptop mic?
I downloaded and ran measurement with only my laptop but don't know if that will work and can't figure out how to post the file.

ok so I had to look up REW test lol.. and found the roomeqwizard. I'm guessing I can't just use the built in laptop mic?
I downloaded and ran measurement with only my laptop but don't know if that will work and can't figure out how to post the file.

Here's how to use it:

http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... =3&t=21122

That lays out what you will need, and how to calibrate it and use it correctly.


- Stuart -