DIY Bass Traps/Gobos

[bluesman]

Tell me what you think!
I got this idea from a friend of mine who owns a studio & uses the cardboard boxes that computer towers come in, stuffed with clean old clothes, then covers them with carpet. He uses these as gobos. They are stackable & look really nice, the carpet matches his room carpet. I had the idea of doing the same thing using the cardboard boxes that bicycles come in, which measure about 60"X 30"X 8". I am thinking that, If I really stuff them tight with old clothes & cover with carpet, they would do a pretty good job of acting as low frequency absorbers as well as gobos. I checked the price of OC-705 & only one acoustic supply company in town will order it.....if I buy 2 skids of it @ $4.67 per square foot + freight.....cost prohibitive. I realize that these boxes of clothes will not absorb low frequencies as well as the dense insulation does, but the price is right & I can keep adding them in as many numbers as I wish...Im thinking somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 to start...I am blessed with a pretty large studio
By the way, before any comments are made I would like to go on record as admitting that I got this idea from Walters!
All your comments will be appreciated.

[kkll00b]

http://www.dougploss.com/tubetrap.htm is a step-by-step to build some very nice traps.

I found another site, which got lost when my PC hosed, but it basically was stuffing 55-gallon trashbags full of foam peanuts and leaving them in the corners of the studio. Perhaps you could try filling your cardboard boxes with foam peanuts and see how that works.

[bluesman]

Foam peanuts??? I thought that low frequency absorbers had to be pretty dense.....& the more dense they were, the better they would work, which was the reasoning behind the tightly packed boxes.

[standup]

What about stuffing with those Armstrong fiberglass ceiling panels you can get at home depo?

[bluesman]

if this idea REALLY sucks, I would like to know that too.

[timmcallister]

You said BASS traps, so don't screw around here...

You need to build "superchunks" from floor to ceiling in every corner possible.

You can use mineral or rock wool instead of OC 703 or 705. It is way way cheaper and has the same absortion characteristics as OC.

I built 4 superchunks, and SOLVED the bass problems in the room for about $300. $100 of that was the covering material.

details of how I did it are here:
http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5895


and least thats what I think

[Scodiddly]

if this idea REALLY sucks, I would like to know that too.

Possible fire hazard, a big deal if you're a business. Carpet is rated differently for laying flat vs. on a wall, since fire spreads more easily up a vertical surface. So there's that...

[goldstar]

Sco has the right idea here:

flammable room treatments + enclosed (commercial?) space = really bad idea.

Frank

[brianroth]

Just remember that deadly fire at "The Station" nightclub in Phode Island a few years ago.

it doesn't require pyros to start a fire, either.

Bri

[bluesman]

Believe me, I am hip to the flamable aspects & will purchase covering materials accordingly.......other than that, what's wrong or right with my idea?

[curtiswyant]

I bought enough rockwool to treat my entire room for about $100. It's already in "panels" and is more professional than dirty undies. I don't know how many old clothes you have, but I can't imagine having enough to treat an entire room (and even then, it wouldn't be treated properly). Donate the clothes to goodwill and buy some insulation, yo.

[lancebug]

Dirty underpants absorb lower frequencies much more efficiently than clean ones.

[bluesman]

Just so you know....you can buy trash bags full of laundered (clean) old unwanted clothes from Goodwill or the Salvation Army for a couple 0 bucks per bag......dirty pantys are for stuffing hollow body blues guitars....I have a source for these as well, but I'm keeping that one for myself...!!!!

[Harry]

You can get a roll(or a bat?) of insulation for about $10

You could stuff a lot of boxes with one roll.

and if it makes a difference??? I have seen the pink stuff used in pro studios.

[bluesman]

so, I am gathering that stuffing cardboard boxes & covering with some flame retardant material for appearances might not be such a bad idea, but using insulation rather than cloth for stuffing is preferred for fire safety? I just want to use the boxes because they are stackable, movable (in the case of gobos) and the price is right (FREE) I have checked around at Lowe's, National Home Center etc.....they ALL told me that they had never heard of rock wool insulation & that it was not available to order from their sources. I had each store's the department manager check while I waited. I am not opposed to using some type of insulation, but tell me if I should forget about the box & buy some MDF for gobos.
By the way, a friend of mine uses the clothing stuffed, carped boxes for stackable gobos in his studio & says that they work great & offer some low frequency absorption. I've seen them & they certainly don't look DIY at all, in fact they come off looking pretty expensive!
thanks to all