R/E/P Community
R/E/P => R/E/P Archives => Acoustics in Motion => Topic started by: Former Oceanway drone on October 15, 2006, 07:22:31 PM
-
Mr. Manzella, et. al.,
I listen to and play music in a room that is 18' 3" (556cm) long 13' 2.3" (402cm) wide and 11' 1.8" (340cm) high. My walls are made of ceramic/stone building blocks covered in plaster and are between 14 and 57 cm thick (they don't move much). The floor has a thin carpet on top of linoleum on top of thick 2 cm softwood planks. The ceiling is lath and plaster. There are three doors in this room and, two large recessed windows. Quite run of the mill here (Berlin) but rather unusual construction for those of you in North America I suspect.
The room is a bit lively and has some significant reflection problems. These are significant understatements. I, while adoring the notion of perfection, am interested in taming as many sound problems in this room for as little money as is possible. I rent here so large-scale investments would be foolish.
Where should I begin and what general course of action should I follow? Should I contact an acoustical consultant directly or am I still in a DIY situation? I've utilized a on-line mode calculator to determine the axial, tangential and oblique modes but I have little idea as to what I should do with this information. Finally, I suppose I should mention that I'm using a Mac should anyone wish to recommend software.
Thanks for your time folks. I know it's not a control room, but it would be nice if my guitar sounded even remotely balanced tonally in here. To say nothing of my stereo.
If my query is inappropriate, I apologize for taking your time.
Many thanks,
Alan Tomlinson
-
Alan,
Your inquiry is inline and properly placed (on the forum).. we can't design a room for you, but we can help you with some friendly advice and point you in the right direction...
There are many off the shelf absorption solutions you can buy and install without doing permanent additions for your rental property...
As we've discussed in many threads (you could do a search), you want to cover the areas of early first reflections first, and then fashion some bass trapping, most likely in corners. You can do this with foam, flat fabric covered insulation panels, etc.... You can make the bass traps in a number of ways as well... see a couple of recent posts.
You definitely need to apply a reasonable amount of absorption to get this very reflective environment under control...
1. I suggest you experiment with speaker/listening positions to get the smoothest (sounding or measured) bass response.
2. Then start treating first reflections.
3. Install some type of bass trapping. can't do too much.
4. possible purchase some modular diffusors and install at rear wall....
That's the really simple version of "getting started with my out-of-control room"... let us know how things go.