Acoustic foam is probably the most important aspect of any studio. It can either make or break a professional or project studio. It doesn’t matter how much is spent on recording and monitoring equipment. If the room itself is not treated to its optimum the results will never be as good as they could be. Usually the room in which the customer plans to record or perform in is not specifically built with acoustics in mind. If this is the case then acoustic treatment is all the more important. Rooms have their own sound already within the room. While the sound is travelling around the room it will come into contact with different surfaces and other sound waves moving around the room. This means that the room can suffer from a lot of acoustic problems. These could include reflections, reverberation, slap echo, flutter echo, inadequate frequency response, standing waves and modal problems. While all these frequencies are bouncing around, clashing into each other the sound waves can change. This totally affects the end result for the negative. You will start off with one sound and end up with another in the recordings.
Until recently acoustic foam was not taken seriously. This has resulted in a mind set in believing that acoustic treatment is not necessary and just a waste of time and money. In fact the opposite is the case. Spending your full budget on equipment and none on acoustic treatment will seriously deprive your room of proper acoustics.
If no acoustic treatment is installed in the studio the reverberation can be so long that practice sessions can be a chore and not a pleasure. Recording will be difficult to control and mixing will be difficult to master. When recording or trying to monitor a recording you want to take the room out of the mix, it needs to be controlled. What you really want and need to hear is the source, whether you are recording or monitoring. What you don’t want is the room telling you what to hear and what to record. Imagine the room as a big instrument. If that instrument is not tuned correctly you will only hear an out of tune room. Not a room that works in harmony with the recording or sound.
The room without acoustic treatment will be very reflective. If there are no surfaces in the room where sound waves are absorbed then the results of the recordings will be out of control. By installing acoustic foam the ‘liveliness’ of the room can be brought under control and the response of the room can improved. Use of acoustic treatment is the only way you can tell if what you are recording, editing, mixing or monitoring is accurate. Plus not overly affected by the room you are in. Acoustic Treatment gives you the added ability to record and monitor accurately. Whether you want the room live or dead, acoustic treatment is the only way to tame the beast that is your room and keep it under control.
An added benefit of installing acoustic treatment is that the environment you are working in is much more improved. You will find yourself in a place that is easier to work in and you will find yourself much more comfortable. This in turn will improve your productivity, creativity and you will gain much more enjoyment out of your room.
Acoustic foam is so easy to work with too. It is easy to cut to size and trim. And it can be a very cost effective way of treating your room, especially at Advanced Acoustics. Acoustic foam will reduce the pick-up of loose frequencies when recording making the recording and monitoring process much cleaner and defined. This results in more accurate recordings and allows you to hear exactly what is intended to be recorded without the room having a unfavourable effect of the end result.
By installing bass traps those difficult to treat low frequencies can be absorbed and tightened up. The low–end frequencies are much stronger than mid and high frequencies. This means treating them can be more expensive and take more effort. But the extra work is worth it. In a corner, for example, you will notice a lot of low-end build up. Probably a rise of about 6-10dB which is over double! By installing Bass Traps such as the Quadrant Bass Trap and the Bass Trap PRO this build up can be reduced. This will result in more controlled response of the room and as a result bring you better recordings that don’t sound heavy and muffled.
