Tricks to overcome bad acoustics

anyone have any tricks or tips for getting a decent sound even though you arent producing in a room with the best acoustic setup?

yeah, get acoustic treatment.

Get the 112 db Monitor plug in . it helps a little . investing good Acoustic treatment is the way to go . and one advice about it . dont buy Room Corrections Hardware . it is a waste of time :smiley:

[quote]howiegroove (04/01/2011)[hr]yeah, get acoustic treatment.[/quote]



Haha thanks howie! :slight_smile: ok, any cheap suggestions then?

[quote]J.HiZ (04/01/2011)[hr][quote]howiegroove (04/01/2011)[hr]yeah, get acoustic treatment.[/quote]



Haha thanks howie! :slight_smile: ok, any cheap suggestions then?[/quote]



Egg cartons are cheap :w00t:

The best cheapest solution is to go over to the gearslutz forum and look at the various helpful threads there. You can build your own bass traps and learn other various tips



Then when your ready start a detailed thread there in the format other users do.

Treating a room is not always possible or practical and in those cases the only answer is a good pair of headphones.

I use a make shift solution of draping a quilt over a clothes airer and place it behind me, acts like a bass trap. I have a problem with bass collecting in the corner of my room. And I’ve made some portable absorbers that I place behind my speakers on the wall. I just keep em in my wardrobe and pull them out when required. Cheap and dirty but it works. A good quick tip my pal showed me is to clap directly at the speaker intersection point ( where your head should be ) and listen for reflections it should be totally dead.



Here’s a link to where I got the tip for the panels





http://www.idmforums.com/showthread.php?t=30197&highlight=Absorbers

[quote]vibes (04/01/2011)[hr]I use a make shift solution of draping a quilt over a clothes airer and place it behind me, acts like a bass trap. I have a problem with bass collecting in the corner of my room. And I’ve made some portable absorbers that I place behind my speakers on the wall. I just keep em in my wardrobe and pull them out when required. Cheap and dirty but it works. A good quick tip my pal showed me is to clap directly at the speaker intersection point ( where your head should be ) and listen for reflections it should be totally dead.



Here’s a link to where I got the tip for the panels





http://www.idmforums.com/showthread.php?t=30197&highlight=Absorbers[/quote]



Thanks for the info vibes!

[quote]Mussi81 (04/01/2011)[hr][quote]J.HiZ (04/01/2011)[hr][quote]howiegroove (04/01/2011)[hr]yeah, get acoustic treatment.[/quote]



Haha thanks howie! :slight_smile: ok, any cheap suggestions then?[/quote]



Egg cartons are cheap :w00t:[/quote]



They’re a myth, they don’t work because they arn’t thick enough to have any effect on the sound moving around your room.



Even the spikey foam ones only really effect your higher frequencies above 1khz, below that they’re useless.

[quote]Roben (05/01/2011)[hr][quote]Mussi81 (04/01/2011)[hr][quote]J.HiZ (04/01/2011)[hr][quote]howiegroove (04/01/2011)[hr]yeah, get acoustic treatment.[/quote]



Haha thanks howie! :slight_smile: ok, any cheap suggestions then?[/quote]



Egg cartons are cheap :w00t:[/quote]



They’re a myth, they don’t work because they arn’t thick enough [/quote]



you’re thinking of sound proofing and not acoustic treatment one is to stop sound leaving the room the other is to shape the sound with in a room.

[quote]Jon_fisher (05/01/2011)[hr][quote]Roben (05/01/2011)[hr][quote]Mussi81 (04/01/2011)[hr][quote]J.HiZ (04/01/2011)[hr][quote]howiegroove (04/01/2011)[hr]yeah, get acoustic treatment.[/quote]



Haha thanks howie! :slight_smile: ok, any cheap suggestions then?[/quote]



Egg cartons are cheap :w00t:[/quote]



They’re a myth, they don’t work because they arn’t thick enough [/quote]



you’re thinking of sound proofing and not acoustic treatment one is to stop sound leaving the room the other is to shape the sound with in a room.[/quote]



Yeah but as Roben said, they’re only effective in the higher frequencies(And even at that I’m willing to bet that they arn’t either).



For anybody that is interested in this stuff the best place IMO is gearslutz. They have a whole forum dedicated to it and they have numerous professionals on there.

[quote]Jon_fisher (05/01/2011)[hr][quote]Roben (05/01/2011)[hr][quote]Mussi81 (04/01/2011)[hr][quote]J.HiZ (04/01/2011)[hr][quote]howiegroove (04/01/2011)[hr]yeah, get acoustic treatment.[/quote]



Haha thanks howie! :slight_smile: ok, any cheap suggestions then?[/quote]



Egg cartons are cheap :w00t:[/quote]



They’re a myth, they don’t work because they arn’t thick enough [/quote]



you’re thinking of sound proofing and not acoustic treatment one is to stop sound leaving the room the other is to shape the sound with in a room.[/quote]



No i’m thinking of accoustic treatment.



I know the difference Jon lol, perhaps you read it wrong. The point of accoustic treatment is to scatter and/or absorb frequencies, a wafer thin cardboard eggcup isn’t enough to really make any difference what so ever.

If you look at those spikey foam square pads you can get, you can buy them in different thickness’, the thicker they are, the better.

But like i said, they’re only any good over 1khz.

I dont know about egg cartons for acoustic treatment, but I know they were used for sound to stop it from going between walls. I know of a few bands that had them in their basement.

[quote]Roben (06/01/2011)[hr][quote]Jon_fisher (05/01/2011)[hr][quote]Roben (05/01/2011)[hr][quote]Mussi81 (04/01/2011)[hr][quote]J.HiZ (04/01/2011)[hr][quote]howiegroove (04/01/2011)[hr]yeah, get acoustic treatment.[/quote]



Haha thanks howie! :slight_smile: ok, any cheap suggestions then?[/quote]



Egg cartons are cheap :w00t:[/quote]



They’re a myth, they don’t work because they arn’t thick enough [/quote]



you’re thinking of sound proofing and not acoustic treatment one is to stop sound leaving the room the other is to shape the sound with in a room.[/quote]



No i’m thinking of accoustic treatment.



I know the difference Jon lol, perhaps you read it wrong. The point of accoustic treatment is to scatter and/or absorb frequencies, a wafer thin cardboard eggcup isn’t enough to really make any difference what so ever.

If you look at those spikey foam square pads you can get, you can buy them in different thickness’, the thicker they are, the better.

But like i said, they’re only any good over 1khz.

[/quote]



It’s the shape that changes the way that the audio changes. thickness of material only matters with absorption, placement is more important that the material used.



not that i would ever recommend using egg boxes but used correctly along with other materials they can work.

[quote]howiegroove (06/01/2011)[hr]I dont know about egg cartons for acoustic treatment, but I know they were used for sound to stop it from going between walls. I know of a few bands that had them in their basement.[/quote]



I’ve also been in studios that have used this method, possible the best way for stoping sound though is a room with in a room as its not as much the material between the walls as it is the space between the layers. egg boxes could work well with two or more layers with a thin layer foam or something in between, the shape of the boxes helps and if the top layer is not in the same position as the back layer this should work even better.

[quote]Jon_fisher (06/01/2011)[hr][quote]howiegroove (06/01/2011)[hr]I dont know about egg cartons for acoustic treatment, but I know they were used for sound to stop it from going between walls. I know of a few bands that had them in their basement.[/quote]



I’ve also been in studios that have used this method, possible the best way for stoping sound though is a room with in a room as its not as much the material between the walls as it is the space between the layers. egg boxes could work well with two or more layers with a thin layer foam or something in between, the shape of the boxes helps and if the top layer is not in the same position as the back layer this should work even better.[/quote]



I can’t remember what it is called but you can buy basically a huge box that you assembly inside a room. Probably more suitable for musicians rather than producers

[quote]Mussi81 (06/01/2011)[hr]I can’t remember what it is called but you can buy basically a huge box that you assembly inside a room. Probably more suitable for musicians rather than producers[/quote]



You mean a VocalBooth?

[quote]jwalley08 (07/01/2011)[hr][quote]Mussi81 (06/01/2011)[hr]I can’t remember what it is called but you can buy basically a huge box that you assembly inside a room. Probably more suitable for musicians rather than producers[/quote]



You mean a VocalBooth?[/quote]



Ha ha no it was like a large Perpex enclosure probably at least double the size of the vocal booth. Big enough to have a comfortable space, several synths etc. It was about 3 grand. Can’t find it though

[quote]squeak2199 (06/01/2011)[hr][quote]Jon_fisher (05/01/2011)[hr][quote]Roben (05/01/2011)[hr][quote]Mussi81 (04/01/2011)[hr][quote]J.HiZ (04/01/2011)[hr][quote]howiegroove (04/01/2011)[hr]yeah, get acoustic treatment.[/quote]



Haha thanks howie! :slight_smile: ok, any cheap suggestions then?[/quote]



Egg cartons are cheap :w00t:[/quote]



They’re a myth, they don’t work because they arn’t thick enough [/quote]



you’re thinking of sound proofing and not acoustic treatment one is to stop sound leaving the room the other is to shape the sound with in a room.[/quote]



Yeah but as Roben said, they’re only effective in the higher frequencies(And even at that I’m willing to bet that they arn’t either).



For anybody that is interested in this stuff the best place IMO is gearslutz. They have a whole forum dedicated to it and they have numerous professionals on there.[/quote]



yep gear sluts is full of professionals, but what is a professional other than someone who earns money doing something which is exactly what i did for a few years with acoustic treatments before i became stupidly depressed with it.



when it comes to the low end nothing will stop it but things will control it and if you want a good job then pay someone that knows what they are doing like howard did