DIY Sound Absorption

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mus

Long story short: I have a small room in my house that I'm going to build a set in.

Problems I've run into; it sounds like crap; reverbery and all that jazz, and I don't have money for studio foam. What can I do to compensate for this? What other, preferably household, materials could function as a stand-in for studio foam or what other sound-proofing techniques could I do on a Z-budget?
 
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mussonman said:
Long story short: I have a small room in my house that I'm going to build a set in.

Problems I've run into; it sounds like crap; reverbery and all that jazz, and I don't have money for studio foam. What can I do to compensate for this? What other, preferably household, materials could function as a stand-in for studio foam or what other sound-proofing techniques could I do on a Z-budget?
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Cheapest solution is Owens Corning, 703 foam. Big studios use it, and frame it in wood, covering it with burlap. I covered mine with orange burlap. https://scontent-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/h...6_10202870976402130_1441127850132877593_o.jpg

It's about 1/10 of the cost of fully covering with studio foam, and it cancels even more noise. Remember the 70% rule. Don't cover all of the wall.
 
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know how to design your set. things that audio location scouts look for are practical ways in which sound can die such as large, soft furniture, deep shelves, closets, things like this will help your sound more than you realize
 
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mussonman said:
Long story short: I have a small room in my house that I'm going to build a set in.

Problems I've run into; it sounds like crap; reverbery and all that jazz, and I don't have money for studio foam. What can I do to compensate for this? What other, preferably household, materials could function as a stand-in for studio foam or what other sound-proofing techniques could I do on a Z-budget?
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Read my message above. Check out this link...

http://www.acoustimac.com/owens-cor...ABVh18R6RlTPBzfaTjCCG2_FMc1xHrDpEGRoCsh_w_wcB

It's only about 2 inches thick, and you can cover it in Burlap of any color. Essentially turning it into a decorative piece. Plus, it's well known for its acoustic properties.
 
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The budget solution is lots of C-stands and lots of sound blankets (with grommets). (You can substitute moving blankets, not as effective, but better than nothing.) Don't stretch them tight, lots of folds. Do not place them parallel to walls, it helps to subdue standing waves.

Whats nice about the C-stand/blanket solution is it's easily movable as you shift around the room, and you can crowd in very close to the frame.

Add as much carpeting (with padding) as you can. Lots of "soft" furniture as SW1k mentioned.
 
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mussonman said:
What other, preferably household, materials could function as a stand-in for studio foam or what other sound-proofing techniques could I do on a Z-budget?
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Presumably you're talking about acoustic treatment rather than "sound-proofing"? Sound proofing is where you proof the room against sound entering/escaping.

sfoster said:
I'm considering buying this http://m.guitarcenter.com/Auralex-2...-Panels--24-pack--109709618-i1134551.gc?rev=1
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Why? There are different shapes and sizes of foam, different types of foam and other types of materials besides foam. Each of them has a different absorption co-efficient, IE. It is better or worse at absorbing certain ranges of frequencies, there is no one material which absorbs equally well across the entire frequency spectrum. So, you would use one type of foam or other material to treat an acoustic problem in one frequency range and another type of material to treat a problem in a different frequency range. In other words, you are considering taking a particular medicine without knowing what illness you're suffering from. Before you buy any treatment, you first need to find out what you are treating!

Kingda Ka said:
Can someone elaborate on this "Rule of 70%?" regarding covering a wall?
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There is no rule as such. There's just the basic principle that it's generally undesirable to cover the entire room in absorption. Acoustic treatment is usually some combination of absorption and diffusion which is entirely dependent on the room being treated. A word of warning though, much of what you're likely to find about room treatment pertains to music studios rather than to audio post.

Sound blankets are not the best solution to hardly any acoustic problems, which is why they're not used in the acoustic treatment of editing/mixing/recording studios but Alcove's advice is by far the most sensible in this case, not only is it relatively cheap but it's flexible. If they're not solving a particular problem, they can be easily repositioned to usually improve the problem well enough for the OP's purposes.

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I might do some tests and see what I can do with blankets. I've got some pretty thick blankets. I need to shoot a lot in this room and I can't have it sounding the way it does
 
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sfoster said:
Thats what a friend had recommended and it seemed affordable. I also recently produced vocals on a song so maybe that got me in the mood.
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I didn't mean why do you want to treat your room, I meant why that particular treatment? To use my previous analogy again; a friend may recommend aspirin and aspirin is affordable but it's not going to be of much use if what you're suffering from is say diabetes!

G
 
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AudioPostExpert said:
I didn't mean why do you want to treat your room, I meant why that particular treatment? To use my previous analogy again; a friend may recommend aspirin and aspirin is affordable but it's not going to be of much use if what you're suffering from is say diabetes!

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Just took my friend at his word but apparently I need to test my room and then get a specific type of foam according to it's current acoustics ?
 
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