using heavy drapes for sound treatment (mix room)

[groover]

I was thinking that hanging heavy drapes, with a velvet-like texture, might be an effective sound treatment for my side walls.
The way I want to orient my mix position, what will be one side wall has a window, and the other has closet with sliding doors. So having drapes that could be opened or closed would be handy.

Anyone have thoughts or experience with using drapes for sound treatment?
It seems to me that they might provide broadband absorption and be non-relfective and non-resonant, especially heavy velvet ones.

[jhharvest]

Our TV studios have two layers of molton fabric (a thick, non-reflective cotton) and it does not help the acoustics below 1kHz.

[Brian]

I f you get curtains with heavy cloth, mount them a little away from the wall, and if you can, put some plastic backing on them and they will attenuate below 1khz.

[Jeff White]

I have very thick show drape hung on my control room walls and I agree, it doesn't do the 703/bass trap thing. It cuts down some reflections for sure, but you'll need to do a bunch of other treatment as well.

Jeff

[RodC]

I think that would rank right up there with Egg cartons. You would end up dampening the highs and would prob end up magnifying any low issues you have.

[groover]

How do you figure it would amplify LF issues? It seems to me that drapes with some real weight to them would act like a membrane absorber, "giving" a little with the high-energy LF pressure waves.

[RodC]

How do you figure it would amplify LF issues? It seems to me that drapes with some real weight to them would act like a membrane absorber, "giving" a little with the high-energy LF pressure waves.

From what I have read, from a listening standpoint, if you dampen the highs and leave the lows un-treated, problems that exist in the low end now cause you more issues.

The reading I have done suggests that if you cant properly treat the lows you should prob not mess with the highs. I'm no expert by any means, just passing along what I found a few years ago when I treated my room.

[MoreSpaceEcho]

my thoughts on room treatment can be summed up thus: if it's not 703 (or rockwool), and lots of it, it's basically bullshit.

i know that's not the answer you want but it's the truth. treating high frequencies is easy, anything soft on the walls will do. the low end is always the hard part, and the only way to really deal with it is to use as many bass traps as you can afford/fit in the room.

[groover]

I fine with that answer, I'm not opposed to treating with 703, and I have a client with good carpentry skills who can build frames etc for traps as a barter for time, so that's very accessible.
I'm just trying to learn more about this stuff, and my own reasoning suggested that drapes might be helpful.

Is it possible to have TOO MUCH 703 in a room?

[Brian]

I fine with that answer, I'm not opposed to treating with 703, and I have a client with good carpentry skills who can build frames etc for traps as a barter for time, so that's very accessible.
I'm just trying to learn more about this stuff, and my own reasoning suggested that drapes might be helpful.

Is it possible to have TOO MUCH 703 in a room?

Make a room out of 703 and get back to us about the results.
Of course it is.
It's possible to have too many bas traps too. It all depends on the room and what you're doing in it.
Are these just rhetorical questions for passing the time of day?
I miss the OFF TOPIC forum.

[groover]

Are these just rhetorical questions for passing the time of day?
I miss the OFF TOPIC forum.

Not at all, I really want to improve my room, and to that end I am trying to learn as much as I can. I don't know why you would think that, nor do I see what is off topic about any of this.

[jhharvest]

I think it's a perfectly valid question and with a slightly counter-intuitive answer. Because theoretically it should be a joy to mix in a completely anechoic room: no reflections to mess up your mixes. Right? Well... Maybe not. It would be pretty much the same as mixing with headphones.

Conventional wisdom states that soft ceiling-hard floor, and have some of the walls diffusive rather than absorptive. What's the right ratio of diffusive to absorptive? Damn if I know. There's so many recipes to make that soup work.

[groover]

How about hard ceiling/soft floor? My floor is carpeted (short pile), my ceiling is currently sheathed in 1/4" plywood rather than drywall, painted with a typical flat-finish paint.

[jhharvest]

Yeah, sure thing. That's the other common option. I'm not sure if you could still get reflections between the desk and the ceiling if you have a hard ceiling but it's probably negligible.

[vxboogie]

Yeah, sure thing. That's the other common option. I'm not sure if you could still get reflections between the desk and the ceiling if you have a hard ceiling but it's probably negligible.

In a tracking room maybe, but since he stated mix room, I think it would be an issue. Every acoustics article I've read is very clear about putting absorption material at the first reflection points. Primarily the ceiling and side walls. I think the floor is usually somewhat less of an issue since there is usually a desk in the way of the floor bounce.

In a tracking room, you might be able to get away with soft floor, hard ceiling, but as someone who has tracked drums in my basement, the bounce off of a low hard ceiling is not good especially for the overheads.