Let’s talk bass traps and bass trapping in a home studio.

In particular for treating a recording room, to record drums for example.

Are they useful here as well?

Is there any difference in how you use them compared to a mixing room?

The short answer is: no.

Physics stays physics. So if you...

Have you ever thought about what a studio made from straw bales would sound like?

Like literally just walls made from straw. Maybe not even a roof on top.

At first glance, it sounds like an intriguing idea right?

My first intuition is that it would feel very controlled and warm somehow.

The...

Does your room have an angled wall or sloped ceiling?

Have you ever wondered if that could actually HELP with standing waves, maybe by reducing the chance of them happening in the first place?

After all, standing waves form between parallel surfaces. So breaking that geometry should have some...

Cheap bass control.

Is is possible?

For us home studio folks, money is always tight.

But we NEED to be able to work with low end properly. We need some way to get that sh*t under control.

We just can’t keep chasing our low end tails endlessly (literally!) on every mix, when we’ve got...

When you go shopping for insulation material for your bass traps, it usually comes in these big rolls or packs, sealed in plastic.

It’s a pretty convenient package!

Why not just leave them as they are and stack them up in the corners?

That will also keep any fibers from flying around and...

I’m sure you’ve wondered this at some point or other:

Is it really OK for your health to have all that mineral or glass wool around you in your studio?

Surely that stuff can’t be good for you, right?

I mean, those tiny little fibers must go everywhere.

What actually happens in...

Are you dealing with heaaavyyyyy bass build up in a corner or some part of your room?

So when you play some music all hell breaks loose?

And now you're wondering how to best tackle the problem?

Surely that can't be good...

Does this mean your room is particularly bad?

Can you even get...

This week let’s talk bass trapping again. 

Placing bass traps in particular.

Because when you’re trying to tackle that endlessly confusing topic of low end control in your home studio, it can be so easy to get caught up in rabbit holes that have you questioning your sanity...

After my last video, I got the following question:

“I have problems with some peaks in the bass and to me it looks like if I put in broadband absorbers it will absorb more in the frequencies that I don't have problems with. Won't that give more/other problems?"

That's a valid...

What do you think of when you hear the word "bass trap"?

A triangular foam wedge? A square box wrapped in fabric? A tube trap?

Bass traps come in so many different sizes, shapes, thicknesses and densities. It can be super confusing!

But what actually is a "bass trap" when it comes down...

If you have this problem you'll know exactly what I’m talking about:

You sit down to work on a mix, you press play, and for a few seconds everything seems fine. 

But then the bass kicks in and just as it hits that one note, all hell breaks loose.

This super loud, super annoying...

Have you tested your room’s low end, or visited another studio, and while walking around you thought:

"Damn, this room has some serious low end issues!“

The bass is all over the place. Total suck out over here, massive resonance over there.

"We need some PROPER bass absorption...