How I built my bass traps

christopher dwyer · Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2009 7:38 pm Post subject: How I built my bass traps

I decided i needed to build bass traps. I live in Los Angeles, but am from Northeastern PA, its hard to find a decent space out here. I share mine with a band. The space is almost 300 square feet, its a giant rectangle. Many thanks to JWL for helping me with bass traps.
Here are some pics.
(Sorry pictures taken with my phone, i don't do photography, ha!)

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And Done! I still have more to make!
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MoreSpaceEcho · on a wing and a prayer Joined: 07 May 2003 Posts: 5794

the holes in the frame are cool. do you have the fabric wrapped around the frame as well? hard to tell from the pix. i'd leave those frames exposed just cause they look nice.

JWL · Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2009 12:39 am Post subject: Re: How I built my bass traps

Nice job!
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christopher dwyer · Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2009 1:51 am Post subject: Re: How I built my bass traps

Yeah I wrapped the fabric over the frames. I would of left it exposed but some of the wood i got was kinds crappy, plus I would of wanted to finish it nicely with some stain and some clear finish but I just didn't have the time or the materials, and I am a perfectionist. So i just stapled the fabric to the back of the wood.
I also used a product called John Manville which is identical it OC 703, except its alot cheaper!
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thegeek · takin' a dinner break Joined: 18 Nov 2009 Posts: 153

Just curious how the whole build went down. The first few pics make sense but what's the spray for?

Also, what's the silvery material?

oilcanstudios · Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2009 9:56 am Post subject: Re: How I built my bass traps

id guess it was to adhere the aluminumy stuff to the foam
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MoreSpaceEcho · on a wing and a prayer Joined: 07 May 2003 Posts: 5794

the silver stuff is the FRK facing on the rigid fiberglass.

christopher dwyer · Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2009 2:50 pm Post subject: Re: How I built my bass traps

The silver stuff is FRK. I had to install it myself. From what I understand it helps keep your room more live sounding. I did this because at my space there is carpet on the floors and walls, I didn't want it to sound too dead.
Thanks.
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nordberg · Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2009 6:09 pm Post subject: Re: How I built my bass traps

northeast pa, huh? i'm in scranton. where are you from? those traps look nice, by the way!
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Boogdish · Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 10:18 am Post subject: Re: How I built my bass traps

those look great!

christopher dwyer · Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 6:23 pm Post subject: Re: How I built my bass traps

pskjr · gettin' sounds Joined: 04 Sep 2008 Posts: 117

those look awesome. the space i'm working in now is fairly decent size, but has no treatment whatsoever. the floors are concrete with a very thin, cheap carpet over them, and the walls are all drywall. There is a ton of insulation in the walls, but it'd be nice to have some treatment setup. Just curious as to the cost of the build, and what specific material did you use? I need something that's also portable, as the space is used for more than just recordings currently and I can't leave anything setup that I use. I was thinking about just building a few, rigging them up on stands somehow, maybe hanging some from a support beam.

MoreSpaceEcho · on a wing and a prayer Joined: 07 May 2003 Posts: 5794

you can get 2" thick, 2'x4' sheets of johns manville 814 (same thing as 703) for around $10 a sheet. fabric is like $3-4 a yard and you need about a yard and a half for each one.

you can just use one sheet for mid/high absorbers. for bass traps, glue two sheets together so they're 4" thick. my total ghetto solution for hanging them is to simply screw a small piece of 2x4 to the back of each sheet, screw another 2x4 into the wall, and just rest the panel on top of it. put another screw in the wall a foot below the 2x4 so the panel rests against that and it'll hang straight on the wall.

christopher dwyer · Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 6:14 pm Post subject: Re: How I built my bass traps

Hey man I think total it costed me 300.00 to build six 4" bass traps.
Fabric was like 3.00 a yard from Walmart, Lumber and screws and crap was like 50.00 bucks I think. The Fabric was 98.00 dollars for 12 1" pieces and he has a couple extra from an unopened box he just gave me.
The fiberglass is called Johns Manville it is identical to OC 703, I threw on the FRK (which is optional) so the room is not too dead, but since then I moved my studio to a house in Malibu and the traps are in my control now and sounds awesome!
Good Luck![/quote]
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millzners · ass engineer Joined: 28 Dec 2007 Posts: 43

Are the holes in the wood more effective than using a thinner 2" frame and mounting the 703 to the face of the frame so that the full 4" of the foam is showing? This design has the foam recessed inside the wood frame but other designs I've seen just have the foam sitting on top of the wood frame leaving a 2" air gap behind the foam. Aesthetically speaking the design here looks a lot better, and only sticks off the wall 4" instead of 6" like the one I'm referring to...

I'm taking the plunge in to making a few and this made me think twice.

Also: what store did you buy the Johns Manville? I'm only an hour away from where you are so I wouldn't mind driving a little to get a good deal like that.

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