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  • Piano Suite
  • Studio Views
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  • Demo Recordings
    • Classical
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Part III Acoustic Treatment - Building Quadratic Residue Diffusers, Primitive Root Diffusers, and finishing T-fusers

8/8/2014

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SO just to update my ongoing acoustic treatment implementation and development.

Here you will see finally the finished three QRD stack made up of two units purchased from RPG and a custom bottom larger QRD.  It ended up being 9ft and 6 inches tall!!!! Let me say, me and my wife lifted the top two QRD section with the added Period wings and it was about 60+ lbs alone onto the bottom QRD and wedged it between the two stabilization brackets on the sides.  Once we lifted it I really didn't think we were going to be able to do it and I suddenly had immediate visions of a trip to the emergency room as this thing was heavy and if it fell we would be at the hospital for sure.  None the less it is done.  The back section is 6 inch thick Broad band absorption panels.
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OK, so here are the purchased Skyline Primitive Root diffusers purchased from SoundArt.  They were kind of yellowish in the original state.  I began to spray finish these with white primer, must be water based, which I prefer for clean up reasons.  Well, as many have mentioned these type of diffusers just suck up paint and finish.  This after 5-6 coats of sprayed white primer.  I will apply another 5-6 coats looks like, whew.  Even with my new hi volume low pressure spray machine, this takes lots of time and paint!!  Getting close and still debating painting them black or just keeping them white, but they will be mounted into stained wood frames.
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Next are SIX Auralex T-Fusers.  They were WHITE originally and now they are STILL WHITE, but this is an oil based primer, they I sprayed on very light coats.  It looks really nice and flat.  I will paint these flat black next.
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OK, so this is for those who like MDF finishing and pure wood staining.

First is the raw cut sanded MDF boards that will be the 4'x10"x.5" WINGS for the QRD.  You can see them go from light brown to three coats of white primer, with sanding in between.  This was a lot of work, but it is not easy to get MDF nice and smooth on the cut edges.  I used oil based primer, can't be water based.  Then I sprayed a water based Black flat paint, but was learning how to use my new paint machine, so it was thick and had to brush it.   This is just the first coat, but already looks pretty good.  I will apply one more to all sides. 

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Last is the outer frame of the QRDs, which will be stained Spruce.  
You can see the first coat of miniwax golden oak stain.  and the finished second coat.
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Thats all for now, but I promise next time I will have at least one of the FOUR huge 4'x2'x10" black and stained wood QRDs done, finish the Q-fusers, and also be done with the Skyline PRDs.  So there will be more finished products to look at!!!!!  
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Part II MOre Recent Studio Acoustic Development

7/30/2014

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Some more Acoustic Science Development for the studio.  Meaning more acoustic treatment porn!  Raw implementation, unreserved customization, and some down right nasty DYI.

So I will be updating from the last post some progress on those projects, some new projects in development, and some more steamin Hot tool toys!


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Last time I showed this custom brown stained diffuser on the right here. If you look closely, u can see the back is now attached with a 5 inch broadband OC 903 bass trap and the brackets attached that will mount this diffuser stack on the right.
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Just two better pics of the grid style diffusers I sanded stained and lacquered, attached to the ceiling cloud above the drum kit.
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OK so I got a nice deal on 6 2ftx2ft Auralex Q-fusers. They are nicer than I thought, but still the price is ridiculous!! I will be priming, painting, and lacquering for looks but also for adding rigidity to optimize diffusion. Still debating nesting them in arrays in stained wood frames. I probably will. These are nice and light so hanging is not an issue.
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SO this is a customized diffuser stack. It is Two RPG diffusers mounted in a custom frame and on the back will go broadband Roxul traps. The custom frame employs additional periods to the quadratic array. Total this monster will cover the small wall and measures approx. 32 inches wide, 12 inches deep, and 96 inches tall. It has stabilizing legs and additionally will be attached to the wall with aircraft steel line into a heavy duty steel eyelet.
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OK so given the cost of the nice RPG skyline diffusers and the poor quality and workmanship of many other commercially available acoustic treatments, I have been building custom treatments for some time and have been taking steps to add custom acoustic treatments as an public offering.  I would never state that I am an expert in acoustic science, but my science background does provide me with the ability to understand and integrate many of the tried and proven models and designs aimed at providing effective acoustic treatment integration.  I have custom built over 100 broadband bass traps and various panels, diffusers, sound clouds, gobos, etc....All either comparable or exceeding the quality of what is commercially available.  So, I will be showing a lot of new in house DYI custom built projects along the way!
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This was the beginnings of building four 18x18 skyline diffusers. These are some of the raw 2x2 boards that were cut down from 8 ft. I think I used 26 of them.
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This is less than half of the cut pieces for the skylines. I think this is 280+ cuts. I will be leveling and sanding each and debating doing a little primer and paint on the tips or leave it raw but sanded well or paint the whole unit. We will see!
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So these pics are the wood to become 4 monster 4ftx2ft by 10 inches deep!! Excited for these. This is 15 1/2inchx8ftx10 inches MDF Will be cut, sanded, primed, sanded, drywall compound on the edges, sanded again, painted, and maybe lacquered. These will be the fins
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Bigger than they look 10x1x10 ft. Select Pine/Spruce. Will be the outer frame, sanded, stained and poly.
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smaller cut pine
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This is the foundation for 5ftx2ft rolling GOBO. Keep an eye out for updates. It will get filled out quick!!!!
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Hi Velocity Power Drill. Will be used for 1/2 inch drill holes for some upcoming HARDCORE "BAD" binary diffusion panels. Check back as these are wayyy cool!
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Backside of a 7 ft long 1.5 ft wide 8 inch thick broadband trap for above the piano!!! Aircraft steel wire being attached. Built by Acousitech in NH but I customized it further.
OK so next are some pics of some new tool toys!!!!
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Ahhhh Virgin Dual disc/band sander!!!
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Heavy duty reciprocating saw.
CHECK BACK FOR MORE UPDATES, COMPLETED PROJECTS, and Steamy Acoustic pics!!!
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Recent studio acoustic development

7/23/2014

1 Comment

 
OK, 
If you are an Acoustics Geek please read on, as this post relates to our most recent acoustic treatment implementation.  While even some very large established commercial studios have put developing equipment ahead of acoustics, we know that a $40,000 mic is not going to overcome even a great instrument played in a poor sounding room.  It will always be better to track with an average microphone in a great room, then a studio filled with premium equipment with poor acoustics.  We never put the acquisition of components ahead of room acoustics, as the interaction of instrument and the environment is the most critical.  In turn we have invested thousands of $ into acoustics.  We began for example with installing over 40 acoustic broadband absorption panels.  We have been furthermore acquiring and implementing the optimal balance of acoustic QRD, Fractal, and Binary acoustic diffusion.  These approaches yield a room that sounds lively, larger than its dimensions (without echo), and a relatively flat response across the sound frequency spectrum.

So, these last few weeks, I have been working on several projects.

1) I bought 2 large approx 9'x6' and 2 smaller 6'x4' ceiling clouds that were custom built by Acoustech in NH.  Despite buying them, they still need to be mounted and I can't leave well enough alone, so I had to add about 3-6 inches of Roxul broadband absorption to them.  Sounds good but required adding additional support as now they weigh about 30-40lbs each.  I will be hanging them over the drum kit and in the center of the tracking room with diffusion across the front.  Pics below will show the final product goal.
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These are the two large ones. You can see the thick absorption I added to the back.
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These are Grid Array Sound Diffusers or Wavelens. Auralex sells these for $400 for a pair! It is nuts how much sound treatment costs!!! I bought about 20 units of these type of diffusers and buying more.
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You can see these stained ones, ready for adding a hard coat of polyurethane.
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I bought 4 of these Acousitech BEASTS!! Large Diffusers mounted in Absorption Cabinets!! They will be mounted with aircraft steel wire to the rear wall ceiling in the MIXING ROOM. I will be requiring a pro to help with that of course as these weigh about 50 lbs each!
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This is a dual diffusion absorption Primacoustics Flexifuser. Despite being $400 it came with dents and I had to reinforce it and add a new bottom plate. I have a matching one to implement and they will flank the center channel monitor in the MIXING ROOM.
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This is a larger grid diffuser waiting to get mounted above the piano.
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Started by adding these simple supports, but it was not enough. I ended up adding about 10 supports to make sure it was going to hold up with the additional absorption layers. Mixture of Owen Corning 705, Roxul Safe N Sound, and foiled backed polystyrene.
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Here you can see a couple I got from a smaller company and they still need to be sanded, stained, and finished. It is a tedious undertaking.
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This is a smaller example of a finished Ceiling Cloud absorption panel with front grid diffuser. this one is behind the drum kit.
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Here I am prepping some of the SoundArt skyline diffusers to be finished first with a water based white and then with red acrylic. A final layer of lacquer will give it the extra hardness for optimal diffusion. I will be mounting 8 of these units in a vertical array mounted to a custom frame for the Mixing Room.
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This is a new set, consisting of a large QRD diffuser in front of a broadband bass trap. I mounted them together and I will be adding two QRD diffusers with absorption back panels to the top to go all the way to the ceiling.
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Last but not least a pic of my new sexy 12 inch sliding Double bevel Miter Saw!!!
Check Back Again, as these projects are set to be complete in 1-2 weeks max.  Next will be more large scale CUSTOM Skyline diffusers and some Unique Binary Sequence Diffusers!!!  I will be drilling about 6000 1/2 inch holes, but don't worry I bought a heavy duty hi velocity power drill!!  Also more QRD diffusers and next big project will include HUGE soffit Monitor/subwoofer mounts!!!!
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