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Hey all,

thanks for the responses on my home studio post!

Now, let's talk studio acoustics.

I am going to make my own treatments but I have heard a lot of different stuff about Owens Corning 703, 705, R13, R19. Any opinions?

Also, does anyone know anything about the iK Multimedia ARC program or the KRK Ergo?

Thanks for your help as usual!

Peace,

~JM~

Hi Here are some links to help you select the things you might need.. I use a Se electronics filter sound booth and it is pretty good.

http://www.mveducation.com/invt/31474/
http://www.realtraps.com/p_pvb.htm
http://www.vocalbooth.com/
http://www.advancedacoustics-uk.com/Problem_Solved/
http://www.petethomas.co.uk/home-soundproofing.html
http://www.dv-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2956

I don't know the difference in the Dow Corning fiberglass types (I try to avoid fiberglass as the little fibers are terribly toxic to your lungs - wear a HEPA-quality mask when installing). The R13, R19 designations are just the thickness of the insulation. R19 is probably 8-10" deep.

Don't confuse insulation with room treatment. They are entirely different subjects with entirely different solutions. Also, room isolation (keeping sound in or out) is a different subject than acoustic treatment as well.

You don't want a "dead" room filled with thick fiberglass panels. You want a natural sounding room with minimized room modes and ideally a roughly equal amount of reflections from all frequencies. That can only come from some basic (at least) room analysis and then proper placement of the absorption panels in the right places with emphasis on the right frequencies.

You should definitely, definitely get some bass traps and put them in the corners. That and getting wood or thin carpet (like indoor/outdoor) on the floor will improve the sound of just about any room.

I put four Auralex LENRDS in my corners and they made a huge difference in sucking up extraneous bass - and they aren't even the best bass traps by a long shot. I also have bamboo hardwood flooring which sounds wonderful with acoustic guitars. If I need it "deader", I can always throw a carpet on the floor, but so far, it's been fine.

Hey Joshua,

Congrats on the home studio build! It is so much better when you can record at home, without spending money, to work as much as you like to get it just the way you want!

Ok, your question is very broad. Each of the items you listed has it's use and place in building a studio or treating a room. Here is what each is typically used for:

703 - 2" thick 3lb density fiberboard usually in 2'x4' panels
building broadband absorbers, fronts of bass traps, hanging clouds

705 - 4" think 5lb density fiberboard usually in 2'x4' panels
bass traps, hanging cloads

R-13 - General insulation (The pick stuff) comes in rolls
Could be used in wall construction but really too small of an "R" value for real benefits

R-19 - General Insulation (the pink stuff) comes in rolls
used in wall and ceiling construction

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If you can provide me with what you are trying to do I would be happy to help where I can. I have about 20 studios built under my belt and love to help out where I can. Please post specs so I know what you are working with, what you are trying to do, and what your budget is like.

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There are many, many great "off the shelf" solutions. Some mentioned here by others. Most of these products work great right out of the box. The biggest draw back to these products is that they are expensive and building your own would save you a lot of money.

Building your own treatments has several benefits. The most being cost. But by building, and better, understanding why you are building gives you the added benefit of knowing what is happening with sound and your room. It gives you an edge when picking mics, locations to place an instrument/voice to record, and other "sound" related decisions you will need to make as you record. As you build your own room or treat your own room you will discover it's personality and how to best use the space to capture the purest sound within it.

I have found that http://www.johnlsayers.com is the best resource for DIY studio building and treatment online. Even after years of building studios for clients I still find myself visiting the site on each project as a resource. There are many, many great people on the site that are more than willing to help out!

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Ok, the KRK Ergo and other items like it are used to correct bad room sound. Anything that is trying to correct a bad room is doing just that and effecting your sound. If you have no other solutions, like can not build or treat a room, than these devices are great. But the money you would spend on any of these devices can better be used to actually treat your room to sound as transparent as possible so you don't have to use them. I highly suggest fixing the room, not the sound coming from your speakers!

Hope this helps a bit and gets you started in the right direction.

Peace,
Jai
www.IamMusicNetwork.com
www.TheMixStudio.com

I recently went through researching the IK ARC programme, as it looked tempting.

After reading a very positive review from Craig Anderton, I looked through the videos and considered getting it.

My situation is that I don't have a separate room for my home recordings, and use a vocal booth solution like Big Jim.

After reviewing the material from IK, I decided against it, though. The ARC program is basically an eq filter you set up by going through the procedures. It is aimed to correct your perception of a poor room, while performing your mixing.

After setting the ARC system up, you apply the plug-in on the master bus when you start mixing. When you're done you bypass it before mixdown.

Personally, I found this a bit too quirky for 500$, allthough the reviews points out it can help a lot. I'll save the bucks untill I get a seperate recording room, though, and make the proper room treatments.

If you get that done, I think you won't need ARC. You can always reconsider the ARC system after you've evaluated your room treatments. If you are still not 100%, the ARC might provide the last 5-10%. I would think thats the best it can do.

I also bet it does not eliminate the noise of traffic rumbling by.

No it actually doesn't do anything, except for distorting your perception while mixing. IK of course says it's in a good way, but I'm not convinced.

Magne my perception is bad enough without having something distorting it even further. LOL
$500 in any currency seems a lot to pay for a filter especially one that you actually by pass post record.

For my personal use, a couple cheap beach wind screens and a carpet on the floor is a real good supplement for my vocal booth thingy.. when I need the guitar to ring, I remove the carpet :-)

Big Jim, thanks for the links. Very informative.

Jai, those studios that john l sayers built were works of art.

In the past few years I've been in 8 different studios (3 TV studios that don't count). I only felt comfortable in 2 of them. One of the 2 was the kind of studio that you could fit a philharmonic orchestra in. In fact they did that and big college bands too. They have been around since the 50's.

The other was a small studio that recorded one instrument or one vocal at a time. They could do more but specialized in this method. The control room was the same size as the sound room but it was separated by another room. The control room could make eye contact with the performer too. Some thing that I think is important. Sliding glass doors and picture windows separated everything.

He would put any amps in a small closet type room and close them in. You could barely hear the amps when they were cranked. There are lots of different ways to go with sound proofing. Kinda hard to tell what you need sight unseen. But good luck it sounds like fun.

Some really good information in this thread.
I am getting ready to do some sound control in the space I am building. Sound Proofing isn't a problem but the acoustics will be.
These links will help.

Thanks for posting this

I think this vocal booth would work
Oh shoot!! no it won't I only have 8 foot ceilings

Custom 13 x 13 Platinum Series VocalBooth™ $36,115.00 $24,999.00**

# Custom Height 9’ 4” (11’ Ceiling Height Required)
# 3 x 3 Platinum Series Wall Window
# 3 x 3 Platinum Series Wall Window - Lowered 6"
# (2) 6 x 3 Platinum Series Producer Wall Window
# Vent Silencer Upgrade w/ High Flow Fans
# Custom Ceiling Mounted Ventilation
# Interior Fabric Color - Camel
# Exterior Color - Brown
# Door Hinge Right (from outside room)

I was investigating soundproof booths like that for my last studio but then I happened to see what a specialist studio builder would cost in a broadcast forum. I was surprised at how little it could be done for.

The thing is - there are all these rich studio guys who want fancy acoustics and want it to look like it was expensive. They're good at publicising themselves so we hear about their expensive studio builds in all the magazines. Then there are people who are working in acoustically treated rooms every day who just want to get the job done. They're not necessarily running music studios but maybe working in post production or in broadcast. If you find a builder who concentrates on the second set of users you can get a much better price.

The guys who built my last studio (in just over 2 weeks from start to finish) were moving on to rebuilding the BBC World Service studios after they finished mine.

Cheers

James.

The IK Arc seems like an attempt at a quick fix really. I'ts good to experiment with a few ideas instead of full booths though. Carefully placed tiles in a small room can work wonders.

Online Mixing Studio

I wonder if too much is being made from all of this soundproofing nonesense......A pro studio is one thing but home studios......very few people apart from top pros would either be able to afford such soundproof equipment or have the space available to have a dedicated soundproofed room. Heck most folk I know and certainly the majority of JPFs cannot even afford or have the know how to use half decent recording equipment. How many musicians even those making a good living can afford to or would want to spend many tens of thousands on equipment never mind soundproofing in a home studio.
If you have that amount of money to burn then spend it in a pro studio. $25,000 buys a lot of recording time.

I'm beta testing this around L.A. It does very little for isolation but it does tighten up and condition the sound going into the mic. Possibly a viable $500 alternative... FOAM BOOTH 1
FOAM BOOTH 2

Let me know how it goes....I am using a SE filter screen just now that works quite well for deadening area behind and around a mic.

Hmmm could take all the shelves and sutff (cept the beer) out of the fridge.. and it'd look just the same... possible do the same job.... maybe I should buy that bigger fridge the wife wants... it'd be big enough to fit at least two maybe three harmonisers......

LOL..I was like you when I saw the thing...I thought if he is using that for recording where is he keeping the beer and lamb chops.

hello everyone... new to this forum and I must say that it is one of the fantastic post I am reading...

Eh, didn't realize it's an old thread.