$600 to help tune a basement studio. Advice?

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MaximmixaM <hellomix@aol.com> wrote in
news:1110175469.e19d8e21b4cb1ba92a42ff2f1d8a5497@teranews:

> I have a basement studio, and the room is about 25' x 16'. I
> use
> near-field monitors to mix down here. I have to do some updating this
> spring, so I have only about $600 to spend on foam and bass traps to
> make a mixable room. Any advice on that kind of limited budget? I
> anticipate needing someing in each corner of the room to absorb bass,
> and then an assortment of HF pads stuck along the walls, as many as I
> can buy.
> Better yet, perhaps someone can point me in the direction of a
> faq.
> Any advice about specific products to look into is greatly
> appreciated.


Here's a second question. I have an electronic drum set in the
middle of the room, approximately 15' behind the mixing desk. What if I
put a large "curtain" of HF absorming foam basically sealing off the
front half of the room. It would be a lot of pads, but it could cover
7' tall x 16'wide and cut the room off. Maybe I could mount the foam on
3/4" hardboard. Is this a ridiculous idea? Thanks.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

MaximmixaM wrote:

> Here's a second question. I have an electronic drum set in the
> middle of the room, approximately 15' behind the mixing desk. What if I
> put a large "curtain" of HF absorming foam basically sealing off the
> front half of the room. It would be a lot of pads, but it could cover
> 7' tall x 16'wide and cut the room off. Maybe I could mount the foam on
> 3/4" hardboard. Is this a ridiculous idea? Thanks.

Whatever you do, don't do *that*. You'll get a horrible, boomy
reflection coming right back at you, and the foam won't do much to help.
Making your mixing space smaller is not a good idea unless one has a
budget far exceeding yours (except in the case of building interior
spaced-walls, and actually that is beyond your budget as well), and/or
great experience in the subject. Use whatever space you have presently
available. BTW, it is even possible that the drum set may help slightly
by adding some sound diffusion. Having irregular reflective surfaces
well behind you can be a good thing.

As for the rest of your questions in the earlier post, others more
scientifically inclined and experienced in acoustics could answer much
better than I. You should google this group with appropriate keywords as
much has been written on the subject over the years. Google the web as
well. Your budget, as I'm sure you realize, suggests a DIY project.

Here is an interesting link: http://www.ethanwiner.com/basstrap.html

I am basically a perennial semi-pro [disclaimer]. I use Tube Traps and
some old home-made bass traps that I've had for years. But mostly I take
advantage of the fact that I have a very large space and mostly mix at a
relatively low volume. But I maintain that you can get used to any
reasonable mixing area as long as you listen to your mixes outside on
various systems, listen to professionally mixed CDs on your system, and
give yourself time to learn and adjust. And really *listen*. Don't
indulge in wishful listening. Be not afraid of the truth!

-Naren

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

"MaximmixaM" <hellomix@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1110175469.e19d8e21b4cb1ba92a42ff2f1d8a5497@teranews...
> I have a basement studio, and the room is about 25' x 16'. I use
> near-field monitors to mix down here. I have to do some updating this
> spring, so I have only about $600 to spend on foam and bass traps to make
> a
> mixable room. Any advice on that kind of limited budget? I anticipate
> needing someing in each corner of the room to absorb bass, and then an
> assortment of HF pads stuck along the walls, as many as I can buy.
> Better yet, perhaps someone can point me in the direction of a faq.
> Any advice about specific products to look into is greatly appreciated.

http://www.realtraps.com/prices.htm
This place sells large expensive and smaller lesser expensive traps.
There's a faq there too.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

In article <1110175469.e19d8e21b4cb1ba92a42ff2f1d8a5497@teranews> hellomix@aol.com writes:

> I have a basement studio, and the room is about 25' x 16'. I use
> near-field monitors to mix down here. I have to do some updating this
> spring, so I have only about $600 to spend on foam and bass traps to make a
> mixable room. Any advice on that kind of limited budget?

On a budget like that, you'll need to do some experimenting. Get a
bunch of 2x4 sheets of 2" rigid Fiberglas insulation (the Corning 703
or equivalent that everyone tell you to use but is hard to find when
you're not a building contractor). Cut them in half so you have 2x2
pieces, then cut those diagonally so you have triangles 2 feet on a
side. Stack those triangles up in corners for most of the height of
the room and see what that does. It's a good start.

Wear old clothes, a dust mask, and disposable gloves. Take a lot of
showers. Working with Fiberglas itches.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers (mrivers@d-and-d.com)
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

in article znr1110200284k@trad, Mike Rivers at mrivers@d-and-d.com wrote on
3/7/05 6:02 AM:


> Wear old clothes, a dust mask, and disposable gloves. Take a lot of
> showers. Working with Fiberglas itches.
-
> I'm really Mike Rivers (mrivers@d-and-d.com)

Ugh, isn't THAT the truth.

What Mike says is true, but there's a better way IMHO. It's going to sound
wierd, very wierd, but i have put up a lot of fiberglass (built my studio
building from scratch for example) and here's what I found works, and why:

-The absolute best would be to be nude. But that has other issues,
especially when hammers, staple guns, utility knives are involved. You do
the math.

-Failing that, wear loose cotton shorts, like hippie shorts. Hippie shorts
work great and you just might have some laying around if you are a music
person <g>! (hippie shorts defined: very large cotton shorts with a
drawstring waist in a fabric and print that is both nostagic and
embarrassing Mine are all late-80's/early 90's vintage) Keep the waistband
very loose and no underwear.

-turn up the heat. Sweating is a not a bad thing.

-DON'T rub yourself anywhere. Compulsive forhead-scratching will become
self-propogating. Like the idea I had to carve back-scratchers out of
poison oak stem wood. Perpetual motion.

-When you are done go STRAIGHT to the shower. Do not pass go, do not
collect $200, do not sit down, hang out, do another chore, bang your
girfriend/boyfriend/whatever/whoever. And keep the water coool at first and
just rinse, no scrubbin'.


The reason this works is that the fiberglass particles floating around are
not in themselves irritating to your skin. What is irritating is when they
get rubbed INTO the skin. What rubs them into the skin is collars, cuffs,
etc. So let the god damn stuff get all over you; it's just sitting there on
your skin. Then wash is the hell off as soon as you are done and it's
amazing how little discomfort you will have. Ugh. I'm starting to cuss
just typing about the stuff.

This is from someone who is getting itchy just typing this. I hate the
stuff. The other day I was driving along and a pink puff off it glanced
off my windshield. I was psychosomatically itchy for hours! Anyway, even
if you go with Mike's meathod, keep the cuffs and collar very loose. Or
maybe duct-tape them to your skin.

-jeff