Hello Everyone

I have been putting this off for years and finally decided to post this. I am only doing this because I want to give back to the online community that helped me all the way through my acoustic panel build and placement project. I do not claim to be an expert by any means. I just wanted to share my photos and design plans in hopes that someone else may find this information valuable. I can't thank the online community enough for their generosity and support. Specific shout-outs go out to Ethan Winer and Glenn Kuras. I know neither of you have any idea who I am but I have read thousands of your words on the web. .

So below you will find 3 "albums." One is the acoustic panel build diary, one is the studio at my former home, and the third is my most recent and current studio. I tend to over-research anything I'm unfamiliar with. I spent countless hours reading, measuring, and designing each of my studio's in Google Sketchup. Each of my 3D layouts were designed to the inch. I cannot stress enough how much this helped me accurately place my acoustic treatment and visualize it. I highly recommend designing, analyzing, and then executing.

Disclaimer: I invested in my acoustic treatment first, then gear (hence the very little and low-end gear. :D)

Acoustic Panel build:


Build continued in next post...

Studio #1 in next post...

My first studio (Don't laugh at my monitors! I know they sucked! )

Google Sketchup design plans



Studio #2 in next post.

Studio #2 build

I converted the storage closet in my current home into a vocal booth. Works perfect!





Studio #2 continued in next post.

ceiling of booth:


Studio #2 continued in next post.

Sorry for the long post. I just wanted to share and help others in need of acoustic panel building and placement! My first focus was first reflections and bass build up in corners. The rest was all pick and choose.

Thank you to all the acoustic experts out there!

Can you send me your design plan that you used to make your panels??

My email is [email protected]

Looks good.. just a few notes.

1)It looks like you had facing on the front. You could have kept that on and used for any panel that was not used in the early reflection points.
2) I liked how you hang the one panels from the ceiling to space it out from the wall. I have done that myself, which can look pretty cool and work well.

Over all good job. How does the room sound?

Woa, my 2 year old thread has been resurrected!

I didn't have any formal written "design plan" for the construction of my panels. This thread is as detailed as it gets!

Hey Glenn!

It's an honor to have you comment on my thread!

I kept the facing only on my rear 4" panels to retain SOME liveliness in control/"live" room. None of my early reflection point panels have the facing on them.

To my ears, it sounds fantastic!! I haven't fully geeked out with room response waterfalls yet. But that's mostly because I don't have an ideal microphone specifically for a room test. I have 2 mic's that have Omni patterns though. I suppose I could try those sometime..

P.S. I have just recorded a Home Studio Tour video (packed with tons of audio tips/tricks for the non-audio geeks). I'll be posting it, along with the launch of my blog, within the next week! I may just post the video on this thread for those who want a more in depth look into my crap.

Thanks guys!

I put together a video tour of this studio. WARNING: It's full of tips and tricks about home studios which may bore the typical audio geek here on gearslutz. If you just want to see my gear, design layout, etc - I made chapter links in the youtube video description.

Enjoy!

Jordan,

Personally - if the room "works for you" I wouldn't bother testing it.........

Sometimes it's easy to get hyper-focused on what's "wrong" with spaces and loose track of the fact that they work......

The only reason I can see for anyone to bother testing their spaces is if they are having problems with their mixes translating, or as a part of the initial construction.

Rod

plus 1 BIG TIME!

You know you're absolutely right. I'm already extremely happy with how my room sounds and my mixes translate very well. No need to add yet another thing to my busy busy schedule! Unless clients start reporting bleeding ear symptoms I'll leave room measurement alone .

Thanks Rod!

Jordan,

You are most welcome..........

Rod

You can yank one more thing from your schedule if you take James Jamerson's advice and "never change the strings on your bass because that's where the funk lives!"

Great vid.

That's a great quote Kevin! I also just checked out some of your VO work. Impressive!! Thanks for the feedback on the video, I appreciate it.

thats awesome man, i wish i was handy i tried building some but it wasn't pretty.... i should of listened to my wife when she told me "you sure you wanna try this you can't even hang a picture on the wall"

:(

Looks great :thumbup:

I've been pondering on updating the acoustic treatment in my hone studio, definitely want to try the panels out :D

Sent from my SGH-T959

Hey Jordan-
Nice job! How did you arrive at appropriate types of absorbers and importantly, the locations?
Perhaps you cover it in your video, which I haven't viewed yet.
Also, any links to guide me, here or otherwise would be greatly appreciated, as I am just beginning the process in my own room.
Congrats and thanks in advance!
Steve

Hi man.First.nice job.

I want to ask you about the size of the panels.I dodnt fiind any specifications so far.

You know.height x width x depth.
I plan to build some panels like you did.

Thanx.

Congrats for your work Jordan. Looks very good.

I had the same question as Sorrrell, but I would also like to know what was the sound absorption material you used internally? what was the density? Did you alterate the density aiming for different frequency absorption?

Overall great job!
Cheers

looks very nice, congrats!

Hey everyone! I'm sorry for the super late reply. For some reason I don't get email notifications on this specific thread when there are new posts.

Answers to questions below!

Um, dude. See the pair of legs and feet in some of the photos? Yea, those aren't mine. They are my super handy brother in law's. In his garage, with his tools, and his expertise. I was just the monkey who did what he was told during the process. In other words I am NOT handy at all - just find someone who's willing to help you or even pay them! I did, however, design the 3D layouts, measure, and hang everything myself on the walls....the least labor intensive parts .

Steve: This could be a huge answer. But in a nutshell - online resources. Ethan Winer articles, Posts from Glenn at GIK acoustics, Johnlsayers.com acoustic design forums. Just hours and hours and, even more, hours of research allowed me to determine what kinds of materials to use, where to place them, etc. Random resource you could reference: GIK Acoustics first reflection points video: GIK Acoustics: Early / First Reflection Points - YouTube

Good luck man!

Thanks Sorrrell! 90% of my panels are the most common height and width: 48" x 24". This is common because most rigid fiberglass panels are manufactured to this size. Just make a frame the same size and slide it right in. Each panel varies in thickness from 2" to 4." You could easily go 6" for corner straddling bass traps too! We built a few custom sized ones to fit in weird spots in my studio. Good luck!

Thank you Antonios. See the dimensions listed above. The sound absorption material I used is rigid fiberglass: John Mansville 814. However, rumor is that this fiberglass may no longer be available? I haven't verified this yet. But at the time the 814 was damn near identical to the ever popular Owens Corning 703 - but MUCH cheaper. That's why I went with the 814 .

You can find the sound absorption ratings for the 814 on this giant list: http://www.bobgolds.com/AbsorptionCoefficients.htm

I alternated between 2" and 4" thickness on the panels depending on where I was using them. Anything straddling a corner or an area requiring extra absorption - I used 4" panels. Most of the flush wall panels are 2" which work fantastically. .

Hope this helps - thanks guys!