Ableton Forum

Hi,

I have a question about room treatment on a budget. Im moving house soon and the new one has a detached garage sized to fit one car in. It has a pitched roof. From inside the timber is showing on the roof and there is no ceiling. The floor is concrete and the walls are bare brick. The only entrance is the main metal garage door that takes up the majority of the front wall. Apologies i dont have photos, i havnt moved in yet

Pretty much an empty shell inside. This may be great for building the walls up with timber, drywall and accoustic treatment etc. maybe some green glue between drywalls... However i am unfortunaly in the position that i only have £200 - £300 to make any 'improvements'. Over time im sure i can build on it but in the short term what would you suggest will get me the best accoustic treatment for my buck?

Soundproofing will be totally out my budget. I was planning on making some broadband absorbers using timber frames, rock wool and some breathable material.

Im not expecting a great room, or event a really good one. But an improvement within my means will be sufficient for now.

If anyone has any suggestions it would be much appreciated!

hi

try rugs for the floor and drapes or curtians for walls
try nailing some to the ceiling too

devobtch

Moving blankets.

http://audio-video-supply.markertek.com ... &IMAGE.y=0

If you don't care about looks either...

Insulate the walls/ceiling and leave it exposed.
Big shag rug on the floor.

The problem is you might spend your entire budget on trying to improve the room with little to no results. I would suggest as an alternative to invest in very good headphones that you can use in the meantime while you slowly renovate this room to spec. Just my 2c.

I'm not sure what country you're in. If you're in the US, look on craigslist for free carpet. Cover most (but probably not all) of the floor with carpet, and then get as many used mattresses as you can find. Mattresses are great sound absorbers. Don't bother with the box springs. Get some thick carpet you hang on the garage door when it's down.

You'll also probably want some things to help diffuse the sound. In a room, bookshelves filled with a variety of different sized books work well. In a garage, shelves with different paint cans, buckets, different sized objects would work well.

go to the local electro domestic store pick up some polystyrene or rigid foam packing from tv's, fridges, etc and with a can of expanding foam stick them up in the corners and along the edges, as well as on the walls of your room... spray with a can of paint to your color of choice

Hd

Edit: remember 'diversity' is very important!

Thanks for the responses guys! Definately some point to consider! Im not too concerned about the look of the room to be honest!

crazyabouthouse wrote:The problem is you might spend your entire budget on trying to improve the room with little to no results. I would suggest as an alternative to invest in very good headphones that you can use in the meantime while you slowly renovate this room to spec. Just my 2c.

I have fairly decent headphones but its always good to get the monitors on. I'll Just need to see how things go! Your right though, my time and effort may be wasted but i guess its a good way to learn these things!

I seen some acoustic foam panels and bass traps. It was a set for £120. But this would be going on bare brick walls until i could get dry wall up... would that treatment be wasted on brick wall?

Thanks again for the help!

Sorry but the only good advise there was from crazyabouthouse. Curtains and drapes will only work minimally on very high frequencies leaving the lower frequencies a mess. My advise is visit the studio building and acoustics section at gearslutz and brace yourself for a learning curve.

kev herb wrote:Sorry but the only good advise there was from crazyabouthouse. Curtains and drapes will only work minimally on very high frequencies leaving the lower frequencies a mess. My advise is visit the studio building and acoustics section at gearslutz and brace yourself for a learning curve.

+1. I agree. I converted an external garage. It included double walls (inside room not touching outer walls) insulation, drywall, carpet etc and the room is pretty well useless during the day for audio recording. You will be surprised what shows up in your recordings.

kev herb wrote:Sorry but the only good advise there was from crazyabouthouse. Curtains and drapes will only work minimally on very high frequencies leaving the lower frequencies a mess. My advise is visit the studio building and acoustics section at gearslutz and brace yourself for a learning curve.

I believe my advice is solid given his budget and wants.

p.s. throw in an extra $100 and you have 2 corners stacked with rolls of fluffy pink, very suitable bass trapping if you don't mind the loss of space.

shuutobi wrote:If you don't care about looks either...

Insulate the walls/ceiling and leave it exposed.
Big shag rug on the floor.

This is a great answer as well. You can eventually cover the walls with some cloth and you're probably pretty close to good.
The garage door itself will always be a problem though.

Room EQ Wizard is free and very useful.
http://www.hometheatershack.com/roomeq/

Machinesworking wrote:

shuutobi wrote:If you don't care about looks either...

Insulate the walls/ceiling and leave it exposed.
Big shag rug on the floor.

This is a great answer as well. You can eventually cover the walls with some cloth and you're probably pretty close to good.
The garage door itself will always be a problem though.

Room EQ Wizard is free and very useful.
http://www.hometheatershack.com/roomeq/

You can insulate that as well, but the R value for these products is typically R-3/9:
http://www.homedepot.com/buy/building-m ... 22989.html

@OP : Please keep us informed on which route you decide to take and what difference or improvements its made for you.

thanks

Thanks for the further replies! I will keep you posted on what route i go down.

Might even post some pictures of the mess i make of the place. Not sure anyone will learn from them tho! a "how not to" blog! haha. Wont be till at least May anyway.

I have done a lot of research on the way to do this right and problems you can encounter even with a larger budget and the best intentions. I know carpets etc are not ideal (at least i never mentioned egg cartons!).

Im sure whatever i do wont make it worse that exposed brickwork and im sure i will learn a thing or 2 along the way so i'll do some trial and error and learn from mistakes! it will be a long process im sure as improvements are made when further budget becomes available.

Anyway! What do you think of this plan:

1 - Carpet the floor
2 - Build some broadband bass traps (timber, rockwool, cloth). I plan to put these in the corners and along where the ceiling should meet the wall at the end the desk is in. I will also have these on the brick walls (or an inch or so from) at either side where the point of first reflection should be.
3 - get my hands on whatever carpet/ rug material and hang it over a rafter a few feet in from of the garage door so i can still get in that door but the carpet is between that door and my mixing desk (probably wont make a huge difference but all the same).

I could technically replace the home made broadband absorbers with accoustic foam panels and foam corner bass traps as i seen some at a reasonable price but i think the broadband choice may be a better one for me in that environment?

I wont be doing much recording as such. Its just just all really to minimalise the reflections and bass building up etc.

I really appreciate the help and thoughts guys!