In other words, acoustic systems that reduce echo and resonance.
A room that has almost no furniture, only bare walls, is exposed to many sound reflections, resonances and standing waves generated by low frequencies.
This is especially a problem if the room is to be used as a home studio for recording, creating and processing music. Acoustic adaptation of such a space is not easy, but with the help of special calculators, we can determine reflection points or the distribution of problematic frequencies based on, for example, the position of the speakers and the listener. Wall absorbers panels will help to absorb medium and higher frequencies, and corner bass traps such as Super Chunk are great for absorbing lower frequencies.
Materials:
- Rockwool Sonic 10cm mineral wool
- OSB 12mm board
- agrotextile
- Inari upholstery material
- lots of staples and screws
- wood glue
- furniture hangers
Tools:
- table saw and miter saw
- ruler or tape measure
- upholstery stapler
- carpenter’s clamps
- drill screwdriver
- hammer
- wallpaper knife
Wall absorbers
The first step is of course the design and planning of the dimensions of the panels and purchasing the necessary materials. Useful online tools for calculating the optimal cutting of wood:
The interior of the panel was best made to the dimensions of a sheet of mineral wool (61 x 100 x 10 cm). To this I needed to add 12 mm of OSB board thickness. Side walls to a height of 10 cm. After cutting out all the parts, it was time to glue and screw all the elements. Some of the panels had an additional cut-out in the middle of the back wall.
Then I had to place a sheet of mineral wool in the middle of the panel (preferably with protective gloves) and secure the panel with a layer of agrotextile.
The next layer is the upholstery material. It is best to choose something that is air-permeable and has a fairly loose weave. Inari fabric is ideal for this. The whole thing needs to be sewn together with an upholstery stapler and wrapped appropriately, stretching the material.
Corner bass traps
I chose a fairly popular and universal solution, the so-called super chunk corner bass traps. This is a fairly simple frame structure with a triangular base, exposed on three sides, filled with mineral wool and upholstered with material. I calculated the dimensions of the base of an isosceles triangle with a longer side of 61 cm, so as to build 5 traps 120 cm high and use two packages of mineral wool.
The construction process was very similar to acoustic panels: cutting, gluing and screwing, upholstering with agrotextile and finally with material.
In two corners of the room behind the speakers I placed two traps on top of each other, the last one I placed in the corner in front of the speakers.
Material costs:
- 1 piece of acoustic panel ~70 PLN (shop value 220 PLN)
- 1 piece of bass trap ~85 PLN (shop value 450 PLN)
The measurements taken before and after showed a more balanced frequency distribution graph. Resonances disappeared, especially those in the lower ones around 61 Hz, and the reverberation decreased significantly.
