Lookin to kill flutter in my dorm room.

[ScienceOne]

Any good suggestions? Would some cheap foam be an OK way? Where can I get cheap foam? I can't put up carpet or heavy stuff cause it would require serious mounting and I can't fuck up the walls at all unless I want to pay at the end of the semester. We're talking 12 foot high ceilings and all-plaster walls here, so my problems aren't going to be totally fixed, but I need to do something to knock out some of these reflections. Thanks!

[soundguy]

I suggest a harem of sorrority girls.

human body is a great absorber.

dave

[drumsound]

U-Haull paking blankets are cheap. Go buy a few of them and either hang them on the wall somehow, or just drape them over boom stands set like a "T."

[ScienceOne]

Yeah, but condenser diaphrams don't do well when someone with wet beer breath tries to play American Idol. Plus we don't have sororities. Alas.

[earth tones]

A guy that used to tell me a lot about acoustics claimed that a large group of dead baby rabbits makes the best absorber. A rectangle of soft bunnies on a wall will also add that desired avant-garde feel to your recording environment.

[treble king]

Perhaps some red velvet curtains like the Lodge in Twin Peaks.

Although I seem to recall some odd audio artifacts in that room.

[bmsander]

Buy a cheap book case. The biggest one you can afford/fit in your room. Put books in it.

[xSALx]

I suggest a harem of sorrority girls.

human body is a great absorber.

dave

A couple of Kappa Kappa Gammas will do.

[soundguy]

Yeah, but condenser diaphrams don't do well when someone with wet beer breath tries to play American Idol. Plus we don't have sororities. Alas.

well, in that case, if you want a non permanent solution, you can drape blankets on stands around the mic when you record and that will help you some if the room is big enough to do it. I had acoustic foam on my dorm walls with velcro and that sorta worked.

dave

[JGriffin]

we don't have sororities.

Transfer.

[Bear's Gone Fission]

Futons or failing that, mattresses, against two adjacent walls. (I assume four walls, rectangular.) Futons make the best studio furniture because they also double as gobo's.

Bear

[joelkriske]

i found this advice, um, either searching on this board or on google...
can't remember, but i'll cut and paste is from my stickies for you, and many thanks to whoever wrote it!


ordinary R-19 fiberglass insulation (about 6 inches thick ) is as good a general purpose absorber as you can find and costs about 30 cents a square foot. You can tack it right to the wall, paper side down. Of course this is ugly as sin and breathing fiberglass is not good for you, so you want to cover it up with some lightweight cloth. More attractive absorbers can be made from Insul-shield (a solid wall insulation material) or various foam products sold through audio supply houses. (Again see sidebar) These all work down to 100 hz or so. Carpet on a thick pad is a decent absorber down to about 250hz. It is the simplest way to control floor to ceiling standing waves, and if hung in deep pleats works well as a wall treatment also.

We can get away with materials that poop out below 100 hz because normal wall and floor construction is absorptive in the low end but very reflective above 200 hz. This means that the reverb in an empty room is almost always bass shy.

[Professor]

Cloth and blankets and foam and fiberglass all need to be held up to the wall in some way.
I would suggest that you pull the mattress up off your bed and stand it against the wall. Then simply face the mattress and put the mic in front of you. If you're getting flutter off the side walls, then take your roommate's mattress and place them side by side in the corner. You probably find that the sound will start to get too dry, so simply adjust the mattress placement to taste.

-Jeremy

[ScienceOne]

Alright, some good ideas. Thanks folks. I don't have a roommate, but I can find spare mattresses.

[I'm Painting Again]

no roomate and no frats? Sarah Lawrence or Vasser ? lol

i used to steal acoustic tile from various ceilings when I was in school..free and effective..