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I'm thinking of setting up a guitar practice room in my basement. I'm wondering if the sound is going to be horrible due to all the concrete? Does anyone have any tips for setting up a music room in a basement?
Yes, the hard surfaces will cause problems - Room modes will be very strong. So at any position in the room, certain bass notes will be very strong and others will be very weak. The tonal balance will change in different places in the room - What's weak in one place will be strong in another and vice versa. Fixing that requires large panel dampers and or bass traps. And the hard flat surfaces may also make the treble sound shrill. That's much easier to solve, because any sound absorbent material can fix high-frequency reflection problems. Acoustic wedges, thick furniture and carpets can all be used to damp medium and high frequencies. So install lots of damping. And sit very close to your speaker.
Hi Wayne, thank you for your helpful suggestions. I'll take a look around at dampers. Would they need to be in the entire room or just the section that I plan on sitting in? I do have thick furniture in the basement, but no carpets.
Wayne Parham wrote on Thu, 20 December 2018 09:36 Yes, the hard surfaces will cause problems - Room modes will be very strong. So at any position in the room, certain bass notes will be very strong and others will be very weak. The tonal balance will change in different places in the room - What's weak in one place will be strong in another and vice versa. Fixing that requires large panel dampers and or bass traps. And the hard flat surfaces may also make the treble sound shrill. That's much easier to solve, because any sound absorbent material can fix high-frequency reflection problems. Acoustic wedges, thick furniture and carpets can all be used to damp medium and high frequencies. So install lots of damping. And sit very close to your speaker. This is such a good point because I have also been thinking of setting up a similar room in the basement, but not necessarily for practice. Hopefully setting it up correctly isn't going to be too costly because I only intend to use a little space.
If all a person is going to do is practice in a basement, I would just go ahead and experiment. You're not only practicing songs at that point, but you're also practicing how to get the best sound in different acoustic environments.
I would start with dampers on the walls and then work my way in. I'm thinking on a budget here with a little bit at a time.
This is very interesting and very helpful. We are going to set up a movie viewing room in our basement. I want it to sound amazing and I would think we would have the same problems (even if it just the TV, instead of instruments). I am going to have to look into dampers. I know nothing about these.
The issue with concrete basements is that it makes songs sound harsh and kinda boomy as a result of the hard walls and floors. There are a couple of tips that I think you can use towards improving it, such as putting heavy blankets on the walls. I used acoustic foams on mine, and it does the job well. Also, having soft furniture and bookshelves filled with books also assist in absorbing the sound. I would ask that you start small, play your guitar, and observe the changes until it feels right.