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Advice on acoustically treating the room


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Hi All, 

I'm looking for advice on doing acoustic treatment of the room on the run -- not in permanent installations -- when the "set" you're shooting is somebody's apartment. How to treat real nasty sounding rooms with parallel walls and hard surfaces, etc. I won't prejudice any replies with what I already know. 

If this has been discussed thoroughly in a thread, I'd be grateful to anyone who could point me to that. 


Many thanks. 

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Get some Owens Corning 703 panels, 2" thick if you can, at a building supply. They're lightweight and can be hung with picture hooks, semi rigid so you can lean them against a wall, and can really soak up sound. They're also fiberglass... I haven't had a problem, but if you've got thin skin (or want to protect your actors and PAs) wrap them in a bedsheet or fire-rated cloth, depending on your budget and requirements. 

 

A few of those, with a couple of inches airspace, behind sound blankets hung from C stands, will tame a room.

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6 hours ago, Jay Rose said:

Get some Owens Corning 703 panels, 2" thick if you can, at a building supply. They're lightweight and can be hung with picture hooks, semi rigid so you can lean them against a wall, and can really soak up sound. They're also fiberglass... I haven't had a problem, but if you've got thin skin (or want to protect your actors and PAs) wrap them in a bedsheet or fire-rated cloth, depending on your budget and requirements. 

 

A few of those, with a couple of inches airspace, behind sound blankets hung from C stands, will tame a room.

 

Thanks, Jay. I have been very pleased with Rockwool in the studio, but it's not rigid, so it needs to be in a framed panel. I will see about fiberglass rigid panels. 

I guess the challenge is mostly in the hanging and the placing of them. You want to get one of those guys in each corner, if it's really reflective. 

I think this whole challenge is ripe for some entrepreneur-inventor to take on. 

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I can't speak from experience as I never had the luxury of a project where I would both have opportunity to deploy acoustic materials and also have the money (either from the budget or just sufficiently well paid) to purchase the needed supplies. I got by with creative furniture pad deployment.

 

However, I often thought that a few portable LENRDs could be quickly put into action and moved as necessary.

 

Here is a link to stand-mounted LENRDs from Aurelex Acoustics:

 

https://www.auralex.com/product/stand-mounted-lenrds/

 

Might be worth getting one or two and giving them a trial run.

 

David 

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49 minutes ago, Adam Cotton said:

entrepreneur-inventor to take on.

MSR, Inc.
61 Galli Drive, Suite A
Novato, CA 94949
USA
800 497 2087 Toll Free
415 883 8053 Tel
415 883 8147 Fax
info@msr-inc.com

160125 AFAK Render_350px.png

 

MSR has been doing acoustic room treatments since THX Spec was created with Dolby (1983). They are one of the pioneers.

 

Most cheap knock off acoustic treatments do not have the licensing or decades of IP to back up their claims. 

 

On the flip side, it is very easy for a skilled individual to fabricate a suitable alternative. ( rock wool/ fiberglass board/ moving blanket). 

 

This is how I spent my summers before,

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Let's just say I got really good at folding moving blankets quickly.

 

I suggest a large duffel with all the think blankets and pads you can stuff it with. Also do not forget a bunch of C-47's and large push pins. 

 

$5

ZoomImage.php.jpeg

 

or $150

images.jpeg

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, David Waelder said:

I can't speak from experience as I never had the luxury of a project where I would both have opportunity to deploy acoustic materials and also have the money (either from the budget or just sufficiently well paid) to purchase the needed supplies. I got by with creative furniture pad deployment.

 

However, I often thought that a few portable LENRDs could be quickly put into action and moved as necessary.

 

Here is a link to stand-mounted LENRDs from Aurelex Acoustics:

 

https://www.auralex.com/product/stand-mounted-lenrds/

 

Might be worth getting one or two and giving them a trial run.

 

David 

Thanks David. Yes I agree entirely and I expected to hear that it just isn't done. However my frame of mind is to "treat the disease" rather than try to put lipstick on a pig with microphone technique. It is frustrating to try to work around terrible sounding rooms. 

That LENRD product looks great. I think that's more or less the idea -- a way to get some kind of baffle in there on a stand that is quick, clean, and easy to deploy without cluttering the whole room with c-stands. It would be improved with another smaller triangular baffle on top of it, at a 45 degree angle, and put in a corner. 

 

Alternately, it would be great if there was a way to just slap materials up against walls without damaging the paint or poking hole, but I can't think of a way. Magnets don't stick to drywall. Again, I'm talking about situations where you walk into some house or office. 

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8 hours ago, Matthias Richter said:

 

Brilliant!

I knew somebody must have thought about this before. Thanks for posting that. 

Are those standard tent poles? 

The banner stands linked by another user are also not a bad idea. 

 

I would love to hear a before/after recording of a room with a number of those deployed. I think some people would find religion that way, in terms of room treatment. 

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On 2/16/2019 at 5:24 PM, Adam Cotton said:

Hi All, 

I'm looking for advice on doing acoustic treatment of the room on the run -- not in permanent installations -- when the "set" you're shooting is somebody's apartment. How to treat real nasty sounding rooms with parallel walls and hard surfaces, etc. I won't prejudice any replies with what I already know. 

If this has been discussed thoroughly in a thread, I'd be grateful to anyone who could point me to that. 


Many thanks. 

Always start with the corners, that will alleviate 80% of issues.

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Good answers

 

Two issues are the time to do it and the fact that two camera shooting

may limit the wall space for treatment

 

Years ago I recorded a lot of scenes in and old house with picture rails

om the wall about 6 feet from the floor.

 

I bought furni-pads and had rings attached to an upper edges, then

I bought old style picture hooks that the pads were then attached to

hung from the picture rail

Quick, light and easily moved to the next room location!

 

mike

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13 hours ago, Rafael said:

+1 Jay Rose

completely agree !
there are a lot off possibilities on glass fiber panel

Safe use instructions

 lana-vidrio-eng_0(1).pdf

For sure -- I had great results with framed and covered mineral wool/rockwool, which is easier to deal with and great acoustic properties. Just trying to figure a way to throw them up against walls. 

 

9 hours ago, TVPostSound said:

Always start with the corners, that will alleviate 80% of issues.

Absolutely right. 

 

9 hours ago, Shastapete said:

I still stand by my opinion that you should've patented this idea...

+1 

 

2 hours ago, mikewest said:

Good answers

 

Years ago I recorded a lot of scenes in and old house with picture rails

om the wall about 6 feet from the floor.

 

I bought furni-pads and had rings attached to an upper edges, then

I bought old style picture hooks that the pads were then attached to

hung from the picture rail

Quick, light and easily moved to the next room location!

 

mike

 

Good stuff. 

 

Although all these things are ungainly and some trouble maybe, it seems like a better mindset to "treat the disease, not the symptoms" instead of just trying to solve it with mics. Like TVpostsound says, just covering the corners gets you most of the way home. 

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Sound blankets are great to put anywhere you can. However in my personal experience putting or hanging stuff up is often hard to go through with, as usually lamps or monitors or what have you will come up right where you put your acoustical treatment. Next, even though it only takes care of high frequencies, carpets on the floors are often a possibility. A great wideband absorber is the human body, so have as many people in the room as you can while not upsetting anyone. Also, if you're in a quiet area, open windows, though this is a bit utopian.

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For me using sound blankets that are black on one side and white on the other is the key to getting an effective amount of them in the room.  Being black and white they play well with the lighting department.  Keeps the DP, Grips, and Electrics happy while I get to put as many blankets as I can fit in the room.

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