This is pretty good advice - A normal bed room has quite a few hard surfaces (walls, desk, dresser, nightstand) - all of these reflect sound. In a small environment such as a bedroom, this can give you the false impression that you're playing out, when you're really just barely putting out sound. However, making the room too dead (using nothing but absorption) can make you work WAY too hard and make it so you're always playing loud and tiring out quickly.
A good mixture of diffuse and absorbed sound is the way to go for smaller rooms. For super small rooms (say 10x12 feet or 3x4 meters) more absorption than diffusion or reflection is good - but avoid total absorption. A great tool that won't cost much at all is a few large book shelves filled with books. Pick up the book shelves at a yard sale and then go to your local library or used book store. Either of these places will get rid of handfuls of "unwanteds" for very little money. The books themselves will do a very good job at deflecting high frequencies back into the room at random patterns (due to the differently-sized books) and absorbing the absolute lowest frequencies (which you're not likely to produce with the horn.) If you're willing to spend a little more money, there are great products which will do absorption for you from companies such as: Auralex GIK Acoustics (great prices) Ready Acoustics (also great prices) RPG Acoustics Real Traps Here's a few words of caution - 1 - do not use egg-cartons. They won't work. They don't work. 2 - don't just buy any old sound foam. Not all sound foams are made equally. If you think it's dramatically cheaper than any of the brands I listed above, be suspect. 3 - NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER use egg-crate, bedding, or sofa foam. All of these foams are actually quite flammable (some worse than others) and they don't do a great job anyway at acoustical treatment. One errant spark though, and your whole house will go up in smoke. I have several treated rooms ranging in treatment amount, quality and purpose. My most basic, but probably deadest room is also my cheapest outfitted room. It probably set me back about $200. I used Auralex tiles (1'x1') glued to acoustic ceiling tiles which I had attached to the wall using dry wall screws. This makes it very easy to remove the product if I move without leaving a gluey mess all over the walls. Also, with the stiff backer board, I was able to mount some 1"x2" strips and some 2"x2" strips on the backs of them so that some of the pieces were staggered off the wall a bit (increasing their effectiveness). This is a very dead room and works well for its relatively small size. My biggest, most expensive room was built for sound with floating walls, specialized insulation and has a generous mix of diffusion and absorption. The room sounds fantastic but cost me a little over $13,000 to design, build and treat. Either of these rooms though, work quite well for practicing. There are quite a few resources available to you on the Internet as well. Auralex offers a free service where you send them a diagram of your room, your needs and your budget and they'll design a treatment package for you. Additionally, one of the recording Internet BBS services where I'm a moderator offers a room for Acoustics specifically and it's moderated by a world-renowned and published acoustics expert. That site can be found at www.recording.org. Cheers! Jeremy Cucco -----Original Message----- From: Steve Freides [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, June 22, 2008 11:42 PM To: 'The Horn List' Subject: RE: [Hornlist] Accoustics > Hello. I am a student player and I have a problem. > I usually practice in my room, which is not too big, but not > too small. I outgrew it 5 years ago. But the response on > the horn is good and I am trying not to overblow. > But when I go back up to the band hall, the response sucks > because of the huge room. How do I make it better for > practicing in my room? Google phrases like "sound deadening materials" and put up some in your room. Generally speaking, soft surfaces will tend to soak up the sound. If you want to make it like a concert hall, put the deadening materials towards one side, and you play from the other side. -S- _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/jeremy%40sublymerecords.c om No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 270.4.1/1511 - Release Date: 6/20/2008 11:52 AM No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 270.4.1/1511 - Release Date: 6/20/2008 11:52 AM _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
