acoustic treatment

This video offers a nice before and after comparison of DIY acoustic treatment for your studio.

If you want to read specifics on the Pretension’s DIY acoustic treatment, check out this post at the Pretension Music site. Read more…

At the Winter NAMM Show, Primacoustic announced the Machine Room computer silencer; a $699 fan-cooled enclosure designed to quiet down computers in recording studios, broadcast facilities and post production suites.

The Machine Room features three chambers that work together to handle the task. At the bottom rear, cool air is sucked into the Machine Room through a porous foam air filter, into an air distribution chamber. This dissipates the fresh air to provide an even flow around the computer inside the main chamber.

To reduce self noise, the inner walls around the computer are treated with absorptive open cell acoustic foam. Through natural convection, warm air rises to the top where it is then sucked into the output manifold by an ultra-low noise multi-blade fan. The manifold ducts are also lined with open cell acoustic foam to reduce noise from the computer and air-flow turbulence. Air travels around several corners before exiting. The warm air is then pushed out the rear top side leaving the noise behind.

“The challenge with using computers in the same room that you are recording in is PCB fan noise and hard disc whirr,” says Primacoustic’s Jay Porter. “The Machine Room helps reduce the noise by allowing the user to contain the computer and noise inside the enclosure.”

At $699, this is beyond the range of most, but this could be a problem solver for professional recording setups. Read more…

Winter NAMM Show: Primacoustic announced the FlexiBooth, a  $399 cupboard shaped acoustical device designed to turn any room into a  functional voice-over booth by simply opening the doors.

“With most studio production moving out of large commercial spaces into smaller and more affordable self-contained rooms, incorporating a traditional vocal booth within a room is becoming increasingly difficult to do,” says Primacoustic President Peter Janis.

“Building a ‘room inside a room’ is not only cost prohibitive, but requires significant real-estate that may simply not be available. The FlexiBooth solves the problem by providing the engineer with a wall mounted solution that can spring into action by simply opening up two doors. This means that home based post production facilities and podcasters can now achieve studio quality sound at an affordable price.” Read more…

2009 NAMM Show: At last year’s NAMM show, we were impressed by the technology behind KRK’s ERGO (Enhanced Room Geometry Optimization) room correction system.

It’s a system that automatically measures the acoustics of your listening room and adjust/corrects the output of your monitors to compensate. (See our video demo of the KRK ERGO system).

Just in time for this year’s show, KRK Systems has announced worldwide availability of ERGO. (It was originally expected in April of 2008). The ERGO system retails for $799.

Synergistic Research has introduced a collection of devices, the Acoustic A.R.T. System, that promise to make room acoustic treatement gorgeous.

The A.R.T. system is a small 5 piece room treatment kit consisting of metal spheres, bowls, and wooden block supports, designed to be placed on the rear wall between the speakers and on the side walls.

According to the company, the system is inspired by Tibetan prayer bowls and is based on the principles of Helmholtz resonators. 

The Acoustic A.R.T. System Components

• The main piece of the system is called the Vibratron. The Vibratron is placed on the rear wall just above the tweeters of the speakers, and consists of a two part metal sphere with a metal ring placed between the halves, and a vertical stack of magnets placed above the sphere.
• The next piece is the Bass Station, which is a spiked wood platform supporting a metal bowl, designed to be placed on the floor below the Vibratron.
• Finally, the Magnetron and Gravatron satellite bowls are placed on the first order reflection points on the side walls, and on the wall behind the listening position.

These are completely different than any acoustic treatment system I’ve ever seen, and leave me skeptical. Let me know what you think of them in the comments. 

Read more…