DIY bass trap material

N

naps

Audiophyte
I have a small project studio where I make bass-heavy music. The room is basically 11'6" wide X 9'6" length X 6'6" tall that I mix down in. I have all the walls covered in 3" Auralex foam. I have a rough idea of the room mode(s) and resonant frequencies in this tiny little sh*thole, and I'll just have to work with it!!

I have been reading a lot about getting control of the low-end in any room by use of a bass trap. I want to build a bass trap. I have been comparing absorbtion coefficients of various materials and it seems that owens corning 703 or fibrex 1240 might be the stuff I am looking for.

BUT,
my question is this: as far as DIY materials is concerned, does anyone have any experience using down feathers as bass trap material?

also MEMORY foam (visco-elastic Tempur-pedic stuff)??

both of these materials seem promising for good absorbtion, but what about below 125 hz????
 
N

naps

Audiophyte
John,
I do appreciate your links.
I have indeed read both of these articles previously and they were very informative.

I most likely will purchase the rigid fiberglass, but the actual question in my previous post has more to do with the discovering the unknown absorbtion qualities of memory foam and/or feathers.
 
B

bpape

Audioholic Chief
Just keep in mind that if you use rigid fiberglass, acoustical cotton, foam, etc. - they'll act as broadband absorbers - not just bass traps. For just trapping broadband BASS, you need to construct resonant panel traps with absorbant material inside. If you want to go the cheaper route (and easier) you can also just cover the absorbant material with a thick paper to emulate somewhat the performance of FRK 703 or 705 so it will reflect the mids/highs and still pass the bass for absorbtion.

If you WANT or can tolerate broadband trapping with all that 3" already up, 4" 3lb rigid fiberglass or Acoustical Cotton is the best material to work. The foam (IMO) just doesn't get down deep enough - especially if you know you're working with bass heavy material AND you have a small room where you need the most you can get out of every square foot of coverage.

Also, if you really want the room nice and tight, you'll likely need more than 1 trap. In small rooms like that, think about at a minimum, 2'x4' straddling the corners at 45 degrees at the wall/wall/ceiling junction. Floor to ceiling will be better.

The ultimate is to cut the 4" (or whatever) into 8 triangles from a 2x4 sheet and stack them on top of each other so the whole corner is filled - not just 4" spaced out from the corner. Realistically, 4" spanning the corner will give you 80%+ of the tightness and control of a solid corner.
 
N

naps

Audiophyte
yeah.....thats what I am thinking about doing......cutting the boards into triangles, and stacking them in the corners.

what you said about the foam sounds right too....it doesn't absorb as well in the lower freq's.......but I was just curious about the memory foam......

I still am curious to know what you think about 'down' as material for a bass trap......

and by the way, it looks like the Fibrex 1240 6" has the highest absorbtion rate at 125 hz of all the rigid fiberglass products I could find...
 
N

naps

Audiophyte
I am still curious about the absorbtion quality of 'down' feathers
 
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B

bpape

Audioholic Chief
I have no idea about the down feathers. My gut tells me that it would be extremely expensive to get enough to get the density required. Even with that, it's not all about density. I mean concrete is pretty dense but it doesn't make a good absorber ;) I'm just not sure about the combination of density and gas flow transmissivity. Hey, for $80 :eek: , you could pick up 4 real down pillows and throw them in the corner and find out.
 

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