Treat Your Studio to Better Acoustics!

New Media and Podcast Gear is here…

Are you building a studio from the ground up? Have you already built a studio – temporary or permanent?

If so, it is likely that you haven’t put a lot of thought into the acoustical treatment of that space. In the scheme of things, room acoustics simply aren’t glamorous like microphones, mixers and processors. However, if you are serious about your studio, acoustical treatment should be one of the first items on your list.

Acoustical treatment is critical to your sound in many ways. Taming and dampening unwanted reflections, refractions and other undesirable artifacts is the first step to having control of your recordings; whether you are mixing music or voicing a podcast.

Make no mistake, the art of acoustical design and engineering is far beyond this post. When designing the new Studio1A, I was mainly concerned about reflections. The building construction didn’t allow me to acoustically isolate the room into a large isolation booth. In other words, I just wanted a nice cozy and flat sound. If a helicopter landed on the roof while I was recording, you would still hear it loud and clear.

That’s an important point. Audio frequency isolation and dampening are two completely separate animals. Isolation is a much more involved process that completely removes the outside world (at least acoustically) from your environment. Think of isolation as that weird room you go into to have your hearing tested. That is usually an iso-booth and it is very effective at keeping outside sound from penetrating the “box”. Isolation booths are great, but they are extremely expensive and usually offer little comfort, not to mention space.

If you aren’t up to an iso-booth, a more practical solution are acoustical tiles. Tiles offer minimal isolation from outside sources, but are excellent at “flattening” a rooms acoustics. It’s best to stay away from the homemade solutions, such as stapling egg cartons or gluing foam packing material to your walls. Looks are one thing, but fire safety is paramount.

There are a number of manufacturers out there, but I have used Auralex for many years and decided to stick with what works.

A common misconception is that the entire wall surface needs to be covered in treatment. Computer aided design has maximized the effectiveness of the latest tile over the broadest of frequencies, so that even a small percentage of coverage can yield impressive results.

Studio1A is covered in the cleverly designed Auralex AudioTile product. The unique shapes of these tiles allow you to get very creative in your design. Plan ahead, and you will get great results. My tile floor was actually recommended my an Auralex engineer after I was convinced carpet would yield better results.

Check out the full spectrum of sound absorbing products from leading manufacturers. Plan ahead, ask questions and be sure the product works for YOUR space and requirements. Always follow the manufacturers directions for application and be sure you know whether it can be removed without leaving a mark.

AudioTile fit my needs. Talk to an expert to find out what will work for you. You will be amazed at the difference a bit of foam can make!

Drop me a line, any time with comments, thoughts and suggestions:
mark at newmediagear dot com

Best,
MarkJensen