Best Temporary Solution 4 Bass Problems? 12x12 room, hardwood floors

A

AG Beats

New member
What is the absolute best way for me to improve my listening environment until I get the $ up to buy bass traps?

I'm in a 12x12 bedroom with hard wood floors. Anything I can do? Mixing bass is awful. I can hardly make beats cause I can't get an accurate picture of how my bass sounds. Using 808's is especially a problem.

Is the only way OC 703 traps? As many as I can get?
 
First up room height? It plays as much of a role in the problem as do the width and length........

Then we can offer a broader solution that attacks all bass freq modes and other issues.

First step though is to put a rug on the floor - all of the floor if you can - use two rugs to get the coverage needed if necessary.
 
AG Beats said:
What is the absolute best way for me to improve my listening environment until I get the $ up to buy bass traps?

I'm in a 12x12 bedroom with hard wood floors. Anything I can do? Mixing bass is awful. I can hardly make beats cause I can't get an accurate picture of how my bass sounds. Using 808's is especially a problem.
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Headphones. No blankets or simple things like this will trap bass.

AG Beats said:
Is the only way OC 703 traps? As many as I can get?
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Well they don't necessarily need to be 703, but some form of bass traps utilizing rigid fiberglass or the like. Otherwise, if you buy any from a company, make sure they are tested.

Your room is 12x12 so I'd imagine you have some really huge bass peak at around 45 Hz or so that just shakes the whole room (around F to G in the low sub octave)
45 Hz is a pretty difficult frequency to treat, and considering you're in a perfect square it will multiply that to be really strong. You'll likely need much more than just 4" of OC703, but that would help with most of your problems other than 45 Hz.
 
i used to have the same problem when i had subs for production, i use a headset now but i am wondering the same thing, is jsut covering the hardfloor in carpet enough though?
 
Rug or Carpet would make a huge difference in a room that size, and could be done cheap if the room is square 12x12. a 9x12 thick rug would cover the corners of the side of the room your stuff sits on, make sureto center your setup(if it isn't already), it doesn't have to sit in the middle of the room, but away from all the walls at least a couple feet.
 
see this

Acoustic Treatment and Design for Recording Studios and Listening Rooms - Ethan Winer

and this

Bruce Swedien's Westviking Studio - ASC studio acoustics

and this

Acoustics of small rooms - Sylvio Bistafa

and this

Room mode calculator for actual and then idealised room sizes

I make no guarantees about the accuracy of this calculator beyond the fact that I carefully researched this and then triple-checked all of the math before making this calculator available. My sources for the math and the various room ratios are quoted at the bottom of the page.

This calculator will not help you decide on what to use to treat your problems. It will identify what frequencies begin to cause resonance problems - you can even get a feel for multi-modal room resonance issues in terms of the band of frequencies which become
 
Thanks for everything guys! Can't wait to make improvements cause I think that will really improve the quality of my work, and I'll have more fun making music haha
 
AG Beats said:
Thanks for everything guys! Can't wait to make improvements cause I think that will really improve the quality of my work, and I'll have more fun making music haha
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Carpet will not affect anything that low - neither will foam, or blankets. If you're having bass problems the only solution is to treat it or use headphones (or a different room, though, all rooms have bass problems).

deRaNged 4 Phuk'dup said:
A plus is, even when you add semi-professional treatment(do it yourself foam kits), a room that small can be done cheap.
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This isn't really true. Foam doesn't absorb low frequencies very well at all. You'd have to spend tons of money to get any improvement at 150 Hz or so, and you wouldn't be able to affect anything under that with foam. And the more you add, the more you deaden the room, making it further imbalanced to work.

You can check out the tests we've done on bass traps vs foam here: Comparing Acoustic Foam to GIK 244 Bass Traps
You can also check out an article I wrote on decay times, which explains why putting carpet or foam all over the walls won't help control bass, and can actually make your room sound worse. You can find it at the bottom of our "Articles" page here: Articles - Acoustic Panels | Bass Traps | Diffusors | GIK Acoustics
 
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Auralex DS-2 Pro Designer Kit | GuitarCenter

This is what I mean by "cheap foam kit". And while I'm sure you can come up with better solutions on a bigger budget, we can both agree carpet and a cheap foam kit like the one above can make night/day differences and tame his room very well.

I think you're under the impression I'm saying that's the best result. But it's by far not the worse and more than enough to set up a semi professional environment and get a good enough output for accurate mixes.

Now if we're talking about ripping out walls and building on top of stuff, would we be in a 12x12 room in the 1st place? :cheers:

I agree there are better options that come with better budgets, but this isn't even a full finished basement we're talking about. It's a 12x12 room with a guy currently using headphones in it in it if I remember correctly? What would you suggest based on the OP's personal situation(not trying to take a bad tone, you really know what you're talking about, I'd like to hear your solutions)?
 
Yeah, this was a thread about the best temporary solutions until I get the bread for a real treatment kit.


I feel you though GIK. I see ya'll all over every forum putting in work for your product so when I'm ready to order I'll be checking you guys out.

But in all honesty, when I'm ready to do things right I'm probably going to order an assload of 703 and just build the bass traps my self.


I have a shit ton of foam already, but I'm not even bothering with it because all that would do is kill my high-mids and highs, leaving the bass to run rampant.

I do have a mean flutter echo though so maybe I should throw a couple pieces up at first reflections. Maybe not.

I have senny HD 280's so I can get by, I just don't like to rely on them to mix. So I switch back and forth. You'll hear that my mixes arent the worst in the entire world, I just feel I could greatly improve them with treatment. Plus I never wanna run here and run there to A B C D E F G test my mix lol so I guess I'm still partially to blame
 
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deRaNged 4 Phuk'dup said:
Auralex DS-2 Pro Designer Kit | GuitarCenter

This is what I mean by "cheap foam kit". And while I'm sure you can come up with better solutions on a bigger budget, we can both agree carpet and a cheap foam kit like the one above can make night/day differences and tame his room very well.

I think you're under the impression I'm saying that's the best result. But it's by far not the worse and more than enough to set up a semi professional environment and get a good enough output for accurate mixes.

Now if we're talking about ripping out walls and building on top of stuff, would we be in a 12x12 room in the 1st place? :cheers:

I agree there are better options that come with better budgets, but this isn't even a full finished basement we're talking about. It's a 12x12 room with a guy currently using headphones in it in it if I remember correctly? What would you suggest based on the OP's personal situation(not trying to take a bad tone, you really know what you're talking about, I'd like to hear your solutions)?
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I understand what you meant. But the OP was asking for solutions for his bass problems, and foam doesn't treat bass frequencies. This is why I didn't suggest it.
Unfortunately, there aren't really any temporary bass treatments like a blanket that just "looks like whatever but works for the time being". The only option is bass traps. :)

AG Beats said:
Yeah, this was a thread about the best temporary solutions until I get the bread for a real treatment kit.


I feel you though GIK. I see ya'll all over every forum putting in work for your product so when I'm ready to order I'll be checking you guys out.

But in all honesty, when I'm ready to do things right I'm probably going to order an assload of 703 and just build the bass traps my self.


I have a shit ton of foam already, but I'm not even bothering with it because all that would do is kill my high-mids and highs, leaving the bass to run rampant.

I do have a mean flutter echo though so maybe I should throw a couple pieces up at first reflections. Maybe not.

I have senny HD 280's so I can get by, I just don't like to rely on them to mix. So I switch back and forth. You'll hear that my mixes arent the worst in the entire world, I just feel I could greatly improve them with treatment. Plus I never wanna run here and run there to A B C D E F G test my mix lol so I guess I'm still partially to blame
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Whether you order from us or not - I just hope you're able to mix easier & faster without needing to do the back and fourth over and over again. I've been there before - its not impossible to work - and it really isn't too much a pain to switch back and fourth between monitors and headphones to double check (and good practice anyways). Its just nice to not have to worry about it and focus those bits of time fine tuning. Though of course, you already know this..just reiterating it.

If you DIY, just make sure you aren't putting 2" panels everywhere. You'll need sufficiently thick (at least 4", but 6" preferably) traps in the room along with treating the corners.

For now, just keep your first reflection points treated with the foam and perhaps behind the speakers and in the corners. That would probably be your best bet for now. As you know, so long as you don't cover your room with it, it should be slightly beneficial for the time being..
 
What you want to do is get a few cartons of eggs and then walk around your room testing the bass from your farts after having consumed all them boiled eggs, then go and build some proper bass traps.:p
 
lol

The room has the following base nodes of resonance

HeightWidthLengthSpeed of Sound
9'12'12'1130fps
Axial Nodes
DimensionHWL
Frequency62.78Hz47.08Hz47.08Hz
PitchB[sub]0[/sub] +26.80 centsF[sup]#[/sup][sub]0[/sub]/G[sup]b[/sup][sub]0[/sub] +28.62 centsF[sup]#[/sup][sub]0[/sub]/G[sup]b[/sup][sub]0[/sub] +28.62 cents
Tangential Nodes: adjacent walls
DimensionHWHLWL
Frequency78.47Hz78.47Hz66.59Hz
PitchD[sup]#[/sup][sub]1[/sub]/E[sup]b[/sup][sub]1[/sub] +14.09 centsD[sup]#[/sup][sub]1[/sub]/E[sup]b[/sup][sub]1[/sub] +14.09 centsC[sub]1[/sub] + 28.62 cents
Oblique Node: corner nodes
DimensionHWL
Frequency91.51Hz
PitchF[sub]1[/sub] +76.48 cents

that is, to cover the bass response of this room adequately a broadband bass trap needs to be installed or a multi-node trap tuned for the indicated frequencies.

Installing corner bass traps would seem to be the best response to this rooms needs: floor to ceiling and joining the adjacent walls. The trap should probably be tuned to the Tangential Node frequencies for the adjacent walls (WL node freq, 66.59Hz) with additional tuning at the top and bottom where the Oblique node.

Using the sort of approach identified here - Scroll down to bedroom studio - and here - slat resonators - will do more to address the problem than anything else
 
bandcoach said:
lol

The room has the following base nodes of resonance

HeightWidthLengthSpeed of Sound
9'12'12'1130fps
Axial Nodes
DimensionHWL
Frequency62.78Hz47.08Hz47.08Hz
PitchB[SUB]0[/SUB] +26.80 centsF[SUP]#[/SUP][SUB]0[/SUB]/G[SUP]b[/SUP][SUB]0[/SUB] +28.62 centsF[SUP]#[/SUP][SUB]0[/SUB]/G[SUP]b[/SUP][SUB]0[/SUB] +28.62 cents
Tangential Nodes: adjacent walls
DimensionHWHLWL
Frequency78.47Hz78.47Hz66.59Hz
PitchD[SUP]#[/SUP][SUB]1[/SUB]/E[SUP]b[/SUP][SUB]1[/SUB] +14.09 centsD[SUP]#[/SUP][SUB]1[/SUB]/E[SUP]b[/SUP][SUB]1[/SUB] +14.09 centsC[SUB]1[/SUB] + 28.62 cents
Oblique Node: corner nodes
DimensionHWL
Frequency91.51Hz
PitchF[SUB]1[/SUB] +76.48 cents

that is, to cover the bass response of this room adequately a broadband bass trap needs to be installed or a multi-node trap tuned for the indicated frequencies.

Installing corner bass traps would seem to be the best response to this rooms needs: floor to ceiling and joining the adjacent walls. The trap should probably be tuned to the Tangential Node frequencies for the adjacent walls (WL node freq, 66.59Hz) with additional tuning at the top and bottom where the Oblique node.

Using the sort of approach identified here - Scroll down to bedroom studio - and here - slat resonators - will do more to address the problem than anything else
Click to expand...

Thanks for that BC!

I figured I would need at least 8 4" traps out of the 703 to be effective.

I could have 2 in each corner, one on the floor and one hanging from the ceiling. Then I could just put some foam up at first reflections and that might be enough? Or do you think I'd still need more bass traps?
 
AG Beats said:
Thanks for that BC!

I figured I would need at least 8 4" traps out of the 703 to be effective.

I could have 2 in each corner, one on the floor and one hanging from the ceiling. Then I could just put some foam up at first reflections and that might be enough? Or do you think I'd still need more bass traps?
Click to expand...

I think you'd see a big improvement with this plan, but I would recommend making a few 6" panels as well.

As bandcoach pointed out, you will likely have really low bass problems (under 50Hz) which is typically a big problem in rooms with a 12' dimension. Its really hard to treat under 50 Hz without tuned trapping, and even then can get quite tricky. 4" and even 6" panels won't go this low. A large soffit type trap will go that low, but requires a lot of real estate. Other than that first axial resonance though, your plan is off to a good start.
 
GIK Acoustics said:
I think you'd see a big improvement with this plan, but I would recommend making a few 6" panels as well.

As bandcoach pointed out, you will likely have really low bass problems (under 50Hz) which is typically a big problem in rooms with a 12' dimension. Its really hard to treat under 50 Hz without tuned trapping, and even then can get quite tricky. 4" and even 6" panels won't go this low. A large soffit type trap will go that low, but requires a lot of real estate. Other than that first axial resonance though, your plan is off to a good start.
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You guys do packages for specific rooms?


I'm a long ways off some buying so if you have hotter prospects to deal with, by all means lol even I would advise you to do so. But if you guys have something that would be perfect for me even if it is more expensive than building my self.....if it's easier it'd be worth it.


I'm supposed to get my job back April 1st so I'll be saving!
 
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