Studio Acoustic/Thermal Treatment

[John Bell]

I have finally found some time and dosh, to start sorting the ceiling & loft area in my rehearsal studio.
Now that we are using a Line 6 300 Low Down Pro bass combo, the sympathetic vibrations were approaching structural damage levels at certain frequencies.
I have lined the plasterboard ceiling with 2x layers of 50mm compressed mineral fibre slabs (Wickes)
www.wickes.co.uk/General-Constructional-Insulation/General-Purpose-Insulation-Slab/invt/161197
and loft boarded over that. www.wickes.co.uk/Sheet-Chipboard-Flooring/Loft-Panels/invt/116420
They were laid on top of the slabs and just slotted together as a floating floor.
This has converted the ceiling into a great absorber panel, which has tightened-up the low end really well.
Still not fully finished yet. I am hoping my right hand will recover quickly from the scissor cutting RSI injury by next week-end.
John.

[Rick Sarson]

Any snaps?

[John Bell]

I will sort a couple of pics this week-end.
John.

[John Bell]

I didn't have time to sort some pics, but I did manage to almost finish the insulation and loft boarding.
I just ran out of mineral fibre slabs, leaving just the rear entrance hall ceiling to be completed. I cut them with a chunky Stanley knife this time, to save further injuries.
Certainly much warmer inside and the sound leakage has been greatly reduced. The stereo imaging is already more focused in the "G" spot.
I will now make some acoustic secondary panels for the external fire doors

I am also going to purchase some proper acoustic tiles for above my drum kit and extend them to cover the "mirror area" of my far field monitors, (otherwise known as my 1.3k FOH cabs, 12"+comp mid/highs and 18" subs). Great for that live sound, which I am used to and what the bands like to hear.
This translates well onto the demo CD's, as they certainly rock in car stereos, like a live performance in a good sized venue.

My rehearsal/recording studio will then be ready for the first Sunday sessions with Release The Peach, to test the neighbours. They are OK with Saturday afternoons, but I have never dared Sundays before.
John.

[John Bell]

Finally finished all of the studio loft insulation and boarding, but the Auralex acoustic tiles have not yet arrived from Dolphin Music. 3 week-ends of mineral wool itch, have not been pleasant.

Meanwhile, my eldest son has temporarily moved back home, so I have finally relented and removed the 4x hand-pumps from my studio bar (not used for many years, but look great) and turned the bar into a DJ booth for his decks and mixer and boxes of 12" tunes.
There is still enough room at the end of the bar where the flap is to have a beer and some munchies though and that is about all we had anyway, due to all the back-line, keys and guitars.

John.

[John Bell]

I managed to insulate/sound-deaden my main external studio door yesterday.
I used 30mm compressed high-density mineral fibre slabs (Wickes),
www.wickes.co.uk/General-Constructional-Insulation/Heavy-Density-Insulation/invt/161189
edged with white gaffer tape and faced with 2 layers of white plasticized dust sheeting, all screwed with big washers directly onto the door. I then screwed back on all of my laminated brewery posters, to give it some protection and look good.

It took quite a while to cut and prepare, around the security bolts, chains and lock, but it certainly works well enough.

There was no room, without sacrificing any more of the last 4 remaining club-style comfy fitted seats, to put on a secondary door, so this will have to do.
Those seats make a good bass trap, so they serve a dual purpose.

John.

[John Bell]

Sunday's recording session with Release The Peach went well.
No complaints about noise and the studio stayed nice and warm.

It was Judith's first session in the studio and I was surprised to have to use a pop-shield in front of an SM58. She sounded great though, with a bit of IK Multimedia analogue filter wizardry.

I had to re-arrange the guitar storage to accommodate Jim's 3 tier keyboard rig and put a powered monitor on top of the Roland 120 Jazz Chorus, (which was already on top of 1 of the 18" subs), for the keys.
Fortunately, the 17 cabinet "wall of sound" is very stable and only the minimum FOH and the combo's are connected up.

I now just need to find the time to put up the new Auralex Wedgies (24x 1' square foam panels), above my Premier drum kit, to tame the cymbal splash to the rear of the overheads.

John.

[Rick Sarson]

Here is a simple and cheap idea you might like to try. A friend with a small studio hung curtains against the blank wall behind the desk. That, combined with a couple of those very expensive Canford sculpted foam panels on the ceiling, really calmed the room down. He was also able to experiment with how far open or closed they were. Obviously this has no effect on low frequencies but tamed the HF combing very well indeed. Just a thought.

[John Bell]

I have a large England flag on the wall behind the desk.
I was thinking of using the left-over 30mm compressed mineral wool slabs, to make an absorber, with the flag wrapped around the front.
The opposite wall, with all of the FOH cabs, drumfill and keyboard monitors and guitar and bass combos, at all angles, makes a great diffuser.
The Auralex Wedgies, in a 3' x 8' configuration, above the drum kit, will also cover the mirror positions on the ceiling, of the far field monitors. (I have no room for near fields, so I use very good Sennheiser Ovation Hi-Fi headphones, to check the mix).

If the flag absorber doesn't work very well, I will try the curtain approach. Cheers, John.

[John Bell]

The Auralex Wedgies are up and the drum overheads are now picking up much less room sound, so the reflections from the ceiling are being dealt with. They look the business, using an alternating pattern as shown on their web site.
www.auralex.com/acoustic_foam_wedgies/acoustic_foam_wedgies.asp
The ultimate test will be at the next recording session.

I didn't use the Temp-Tabs in the end and as there was not enough adhesive to correctly bead the panels, I used 9 blobs instead. This took a bit longer as I had to hold the panels for longer, to prevent them from coming unstuck from the bare plasterboard ceiling. They all stayed put though.

I also insulated the remaining studio external door in the same fashion as the other. This has also improved the sound in the small entrance hall, (about 8' x 3'), which I now may be able to use as a vocal booth with a bit more treatment. John.

[John Bell]

I tried out my latest purchase, at a recording session with Jonestown, in my rehearsal studio last weekend.
It is an SE Reflexion Filter, which I have mounted on a heavy round-based mic stand, with the horizontal slotted bar reversed, to balance the whole thing.
It seems quite stable but heavy at both ends and if it was accidentally pushed hard, it could fall.
I have fitted a Shure Beta 58a to it, with a Shure Popper Stopper, but it is too long for the filter to be fully affective.

Needless to say, Jonestown are quite loud and the filter had little chance of taming the drum spill into the vocal track.
This weekend I will convert my studio, short entrance hall, into a vocal booth and try again and eventually purchase a proper studio mic.

I am thinking of an AKG C3000B or AKG Perception 220 or an SE 2200A.
Any comments on these or alternatives that don't cost the earth and are fairly rugged. John.

[Rick Sarson]

I have read good reviews of the AKG 214 www.dv247.com/invt/51651/ if that is any help, I have always loved the 414 and it is supposed to have the family sound. Are you looking for an all purpose mic or something for a particular job? On a similar subject, how are you finding the Reflexion filter? I do a lot of shows using live voice overs and was wondering ifI could up the clarity and quality by using one?

[Rick Sarson]

Heard of this? www.recording-microphones.co.uk/Budget-ribbon-microphone.shtml

[John Bell]

www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/search/index/?keyword=Reflexion+filter&search_button=

Hi Rick, the SE Reflexion Filter works in 2 ways. It helps prevent the sound source (ie, vocals/voice) from exciting the room acoustics and also helps prevent the room acoustics and back-ground noise from entering the mic.
It is really only efficient with a studio type mic, as stage mics protrude beyond the filter boundary.

It seems that most users have to had to modify the mounting so that the assembly balances on a conventional mic stand.
SE do make a very heavy duty boom-stand for it, but it costs quite a bit.

Now that I have converted my short, studio entrance hall, into a vocal booth, by fitting home-made absorbers, (Wickes compressed mineral fibre panels and Focus cotton dust sheeting, decking screws and repair washers), to all 4 doors and part of the ceiling, the filter should work very well, (with a studio mic ).
I am looking for one that I can use for recording vocals, and is fairly robust. I get good rock vocal recordings from Shure Beta58's, but they don't fit the filter.
I didn't want to try the instrument version of the filter, as it looks too small and unstable for vocal use.
John.

[Rick Sarson]

I have just bought myself a Blue "Bluebird" for some voiceover work. It is supposed to be the first 'general purpose' Blue mic. If you have ready access to some domesticated muscians I would be well up for popping over and trying it out on some instruments. It might help narrow your choice of mic? Following your advice I borrowed a reflexion filter and found it works very well for recording voice overs. I will try it live next week.