Musicians
Question: Shonelle W. / Scat Vocalist & Jazz
Musician (Detroit, MI)
Hello, I’ve made a room in our basement into a place where I can write,
play and record my music. I’ve uploaded some pictures from before I
started and some as the room is now. Overall, I’m pretty happy with the
sound. Vocals sound pretty good, tight. Bass sounds don’t sound very
good though. They are muddy and thick – even worse on the recordings. I
also uploaded an example MP3 so you can here what I’m talking about. As
you can see, I have sound treatment on just about every surface and
still can’t figure out why the bass sounds bad. Any ideas? Thanks.
Sound-Answers.com
The foam panels that you have already treated your room with are 2
inches thick. They look like they are either SONEXpyramids by SONEX
Acoustical Products (www.sonex-online)
or Studiofoam Pyramids by Auralex (www.auralex.com).
You mounted these directly on the painted, concrete block, basement
walls. Generally this is a good approach because the block walls are
highly sound reflective and you desire more sound control (absorption)
for singing and playing/recording music. However, most thin
sound-absorbing materials (like these foam panels) are only capable of
absorbing mid to high frequency/pitch sound, 500 hertz and above. These
thin materials are not nearly as effective at absorbing low pitch sound.
You can gain even more control in the low end by increasing the
thickness of some of the treatment (50% of wall area minimum) so that it
is 4” to 6” thick. This will provide an appreciable betterment in sound
control in the 250 Hz octave band and even into the 125 Hz octave band.
But, even after increasing the thickness, you will still likely find
that some very low pitch sounds (32 hertz to 125 hertz) are still
problematic. This relates to the size of the room and the associated
room modes. It is impractical to keep increasing material thickness to
try to absorb these very low pitch sounds; the depth would need to be
multiple feet. Instead, there are specialty low frequency membrane
absorbers such as Modex Modules or Modex Corners by RPG Diffusor
Systems, Inc. (www.rpginc.com).
Different Modex Modules/Corners are tuned for different resonant
frequencies. Based on your room’s dimensions, you would need to install
four each of the 40 Hz, 63 Hz and 100 Hz units (12 units in total). They
can be installed on the walls up high in the corner with the ceiling so
they are out of the way. These would replace the foam already located
there.
Beyond the question ~ We would not recommend the foam ‘bass
control’ products offered by manufacturers.
