For those that have built bass traps

[jangoux]

So, I finally spent some money on acoustic treatment and bought two box of rockwool that should be here in ten days. The rockwool i bought is around 3 inches deep. Do you think one per frame is enough or should i stack on over the other to make 6 inches bass traps ? Will there be any difference?

Cheers
Ivan

 

[DominikJW]

Sure there will be. More rockwool -> wider Q of the trap but less efficency. Less rockwool - opposite way I'd highly recommend doing some research about acoustics before making anything.

 

[Zack Uidl]

you could make 3" panels for the walls and then 6" for the corners.

all of my acoustic treatment is 4"....

 

[jeid]

I'm making bass traps too. I'm going for 4" on corners and reflection points.

The ones that are in the corners just now are being replaced by the big beast seen here to the left of the mic stand

And I've just put this black one behind my iMac. Scary shit!

4" is what I was recommended and read to get. Good luck, and post pics when you're done. I love a good DIY project

 

[jangoux]

Well, I bought two boxes with 5 pieces of 130cm x 60cm x 7.5cm size (around 11.8in x 23.6in x 3in), so I was thinking of doing, well, 10 traps ehehhe Two for the celling over the drums, 4 for each corner, and 4 for the 'sides', and that would be upgraded later, when I have money. I don't mix at this place (i mix on the studio I work on), so what i really expect is an improvement on the bass clarity. What would you guys suggest to do with what I'll have ?

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

all of my acoustic treatment is 4"....

Same. I wish I had more room though, I would beef up my corner traps.

 

[nialldoran]

i reccently treated my (very small) room and everything was four inches, and i wish i had more room cause no corner traps go fully from ceiling to floor, but wow im still trying to get used to the sound differance,

its the little things like the light switch or typing on a keyboard, or the door snapping shut that made me realise that its not been a complete failure

 

[Wisheraser]

How thick you make them depends on the density and on what frequencies you're looking to treat. Roughly 3-4 pcf is a happy medium for the density. Make them 2-4" for treating high and mid frequency reflections (ie: for your ceiling cloud and side reflection points).

For bass traps, make them AT LEAST 4", preferably 6", and straddle them across corners or have them spaced off the back/side walls (wherever there are modal issues that bass traps can treat) equal to their thickness. That means place a 4" trap 4" from the wall, a 6" trap 6" from the wall, etc. Doing this will allow you to absorb lower frequencies than they would if they were pushed right up to the wall. You can use different distances too, but this will begin to make the absorption characteristics unbalanced. By that I mean that it will absorb certain frequencies more and certain frequencies less. You can use this to your advantage if you do some research into the exact problems that need fixing in YOUR room.

I would highly recommend doing some studying over at the gearslutz studio acoustics forum so you can make the best use of your money and get as good of a result as possible.


edit: Here is an excellent tutorial covering the basics of room measurement and treatment.
http://www.realtraps.com/art_measuring.htm