Art/picture to cover OC703 panel

[Sigmadevotee]

My music room is 18’ x 12’ x 8’4”. To keep wife happy I plan on building two side wall panels of 4” OC703 at 4’ x 6’. Plan is to cover these with some sort of art or picture. Desk on front wall is 56” wide by 40” deep with one or two 2’x4” 4” panels behind it. My Back at mixing desk approx 38% into room with 4x6 window at rear about 10’ behind. Two 2x4 4” portables to place in front of rear window. Two corner super chuck bass traps to ceiling at rear corners. Not able to place corner traps in the forward corners or at other wall ceiling junctures. Not able to do ceiling clouds. Vinyl floor - Sheetrock all round. I did not plan on testing with REW and despite Mr. Winer’s “how to” I am not sure how to use it anyway

Questions

1. I know of three companies that do art on grill cloth - but very expensive: Acoustimac , woodshedstageart and bags of love. Do you know of any others?

2. Wife wants 31” dresser on side wall. Speakers will sit on desk on isolation stands at ear height approximately 36”. ??? If I mount the 4x6 panels at 32” from the floor will they be effective for reflection free zone?

3. Can I get away with 4x 6 panels that are only 2” instead of 4” for reflection free zone? I know I will lose some bass trapping but perhaps the two corner super chunks will compensate. They will look more like art that way

[keith.rogers]

No specific pointers, sorry. But...

There are (many) places that just do large scale fabric printing from photos or whatever image you supply. It might be cheaper to get something plain, or even uncovered, and get the fabric printed elsewhere.

I did some looking into this but didn't follow through since my wife just stays out of the room . There is some issue with the type of printing you should prefer so it doesn't make the fabric "un-breathable" after it's done. Can't recall the details, but the prices I found didn't seem ridiculous, though it's been a few years probably since I looked around.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Sigmadevotee

My music room is 18’ x 12’ x 8’4”. To keep wife happy I plan on building two side wall panels of 4” OC703 at 4’ x 6’. Plan is to cover these with some sort of art or picture. Desk on front wall is 56” wide by 40” deep with one or two 2’x4” 4” panels behind it. My Back at mixing desk approx 38% into room with 4x6 window at rear about 10’ behind. Two 2x4 4” portables to place in front of rear window. Two corner super chuck bass traps to ceiling at rear corners. Not able to place corner traps in the forward corners or at other wall ceiling junctures. Not able to do ceiling clouds. Vinyl floor - Sheetrock all round. I did not plan on testing with REW and despite Mr. Winer’s “how to” I am not sure how to use it anyway

Questions

1. I know of three companies that do art on grill cloth - but very expensive: Acoustimac , woodshedstageart and bags of love. Do you know of any others?

2. Wife wants 31” dresser on side wall. Speakers will sit on desk on isolation stands at ear height approximately 36”. ??? If I mount the 4x6 panels at 32” from the floor will they be effective for reflection free zone?

3. Can I get away with 4x 6 panels that are only 2” instead of 4” for reflection free zone? I know I will lose some bass trapping but perhaps the two corner super chunks will compensate. They will look more like art that way

#1. Usually there there are a number of printed fabrics at any typical fabric shop that will work as covering (take the wife to keep the home front happy )

#2 Not sure what the dresser has to with with anything ? You basically (if possible) want the tweeters of the speakers at ear height.


# 3 .... 2" is better than nothing , 4" is better than 2 " plain and simple .
Sans an anechoic chamber there is no such thing as a "reflection free zone" the panels help to mitigate not eliminate unwanted reflection.

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by Sigmadevotee

Questions

1. I know of three companies that do art on grill cloth - but very expensive: Acoustimac , woodshedstageart and bags of love. Do you know of any others?

2. Wife wants 31” dresser on side wall. Speakers will sit on desk on isolation stands at ear height approximately 36”. ??? If I mount the 4x6 panels at 32” from the floor will they be effective for reflection free zone?

3. Can I get away with 4x 6 panels that are only 2” instead of 4” for reflection free zone? I know I will lose some bass trapping but perhaps the two corner super chunks will compensate. They will look more like art that way

1. If you wind up having something printed, make sure the fabric still allows for air to move through it after the printing is applied. If the printing clogs the pores of the fabric, you've killed the effectiveness.

2. The only way you'd know is to do measurements in the room. My best guess would be that you'd get some loss of effectiveness but it would still be a significant improvement over not having treatment at all. It's a home studio and like most home studios, we have to live with the limitations of our space.

3. 2" panels are pretty standard for overhead clouds and reflection points. The 4" panels are usually what we'd put in the corners to control lower frequency build up.

[MikeBmusic]

As Jim says - 2" panels are more typical for ceiling cloud and point-of-first-reflection trapping. Position of these should be based on the 'mirror trick' - sitting at your normal listening position, place a mirror on the side wall and move it until you can see the monitor speaker, that's where your side panels should be. 2'x4' is typical size used for this. Instead of making huge 4' x 6' panels, which are going to be unwieldy, you might consider making 3 2'x4' panels instead.
I think your question about the dresser was about the hard flat surface becoming another reflection point on the side, but the top surface is not going to bounce sound waves directly at you (the dresser's front might, though.)

[Sigmadevotee]

The reason for 4x6 is to make them look like murals to satisfy my spouse. I can fit three 2x4 OC703 panels in there for the completed size. I am communicating with various large scale printers to print either artwork or pictures on them (with the consulting advice of our interior designer). If I can find a dresser 24” tall I can hang the side walls with the resulting murals roughly 26” off the floor up to 74” at the top. I will use the mirror to locate the first reflection point for both the first and second reflection points. Since I am 6’3” tall, my ear canal is 49 1/2” off the floor

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Sigmadevotee

The reason for 4x6 is to make them look like murals to satisfy my spouse. I can fit three 2x4 OC703 panels in there for the completed size. I am communicating with various large scale printers to print either artwork or pictures on them (with the consulting advice of our interior designer). If I can find a dresser 24” tall I can hang the side walls with the resulting murals roughly 26” off the floor up to 74” at the top. I will use the mirror to locate the first reflection point for both the first and second reflection points. Since I am 6’3” tall, my ear canal is 49 1/2” off the floor

Sounds like progress, just wondering are you saying with the dresser at 24" then the height of the panels on both side walls will be at the same height ?

[Sigmadevotee]

Yes the plan is for both side wall 6x4 panels to parallel each other

[Sigmadevotee]

Am I better off with 4” OC703 mounted flush to the wall or 2” OC703 mounted 2” from the wall?

[keith.rogers]

Originally Posted by Sigmadevotee

Am I better off with 4” OC703 mounted flush to the wall or 2” OC703 mounted 2” from the wall?

Anything is more effective off the wall than on, but it's not going to be 2x as effective at the lower frequencies, because mass is what wins there. If you look at specs, you'll see there's not a big difference in absorption probably past 250Hz, certain 500Hz. So mounting off the wall gives you more surface area, which enhances the entire room's ability to absorb reflections. But, if you have low frequency problems, you need thicker & heavier, though mounting on the side walls is not going to do a lot. For early reflection surfaces, I'd put them off the wall, but then, I don't have anything surface mounted.

[Sigmadevotee]

I have those two choices for the side walls
- two inches off the wall or 4 inches on. Which is better?

I will do floor to ceiling corner super chunk bass traps in addition

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by Sigmadevotee

I have those two choices for the side walls
- two inches off the wall or 4 inches on. Which is better?

I will do floor to ceiling corner super chunk bass traps in addition

By "side walls" I'm assuming you mean reflection points and for that you want the two inch material with the air space behind it. The four inch material should be what you use in the corners to control lower frequency build-up.

[Sigmadevotee]

The panels opposite the tracking area are 4”. Does it make sense to stagger these on each wall for maximum coverage or should 4” panels be opposite each other? If opposite how far should or could they be apart? Tracking area is 6’ x 13’

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by Sigmadevotee

The panels opposite the tracking area are 4”. Does it make sense to stagger these on each wall for maximum coverage or should 4” panels be opposite each other? If opposite how far should or could they be apart? Tracking area is 6’ x 13’

"Opposite the tracking area"??? I've no idea what that means.

As previously discussed, bass builds up in the corners. That should be the first thing addressed in any room. In a small room, the more bass traps the better.

Assuming you have a desk and monitors in that room, sitting and facing the desk, you have two first reflection points on your left and two on your right. Those should be the second thing addressed in a room.

For the tracking area, portable panels are probably your best bet.

[rick-slo]

The fabric covering of my panels is about the same color as the bare walls and in that sense does not intrude into the
feel of the room much. I would think that some artwork on them would be worse.