Cover the walls with carpet?

[WoodmanZ]

Hey everyone, I'm pretty new here, and to recording as well. I'm working on a couple songs to post up in the "bash" forum. Would covering the walls in the room with some of that thin commercial carpet be beneficial or detrimental? Thanks for the help guys.

[garageband]

This is a bad idea. I have actually been in a "studio" with ceiling to ceiling carpet. It was awful. It sucks some freqs, and bounces other inordinately. You'll need a combination of diffusion and wide spectrum absorption to tame your space. Have a look at Mix magazine to see how big-time studios deal with these issues. Probably to only real use I ever found for that mag. Also, try to de-parallel the walls any way you can.

[sparqee]

Depends on what you're recording. Carpet can help dampen the high frequencies some but it's not going to do squat for low mids and lows. If you're dealing with a "zingy" sounding smallish bedroom and you're recording vocals with a condenser mic then it might improve your sound. If you're close mic'ing instruments with dynamic mics then carpet probably won't have much of an impact on your recording at all.

[Vulconizer]

I'm gonna cover the walls of my bedroom with floor to ceiling purple shag carpet stolen from 1973. My purpose is more for rolling like the true space-pimp that I am instead of acoustic concerns. I also plan on some super sweet, orange, fuzzy dingle-balls to hang around the edges of the mirror on the ceiling over my deluxe waterbed.

In the studio, I'd think about using something other than carpet to tame any problem sounds I might have. I tend to agree with the prior advice given in the above posts. But, if I HAD to use carpet, I'd start by hanging it out in front of the wall by a couple of inches to get the best of whatever small absorptive properties it may give. Purple shag might just make it look a little bit "pimpish"...

[hugo_zair]

Yes.. there is more to sound treatment than just covering the walls with carpet. A lot depends on where you are starting from. But there is one thing that's worth remembering and that's that if carpet is applied direct to the wall it won't have as much effect as it will do if it's spaced a few inches away.

Relections are what you are trying to reduce and the the air particle movement at the point of reflection (the wall surface) is at it's minimum there, so the carpet doesn't do much except at very high frequencies. Space it away and the sound waves have to pass through it twice, attenuating it on each pass over a wider bandwidth.

Those treatment boxes kinda work that way and the may have additional filling to further increase the attenuation.

So carpet may be usefull, but each room will need it's own treatment, depending on it's dimensions and existing surfaces..

[sparqee]

Yo V. Remind me to never bring my Roomba over to your place. It would be choking on orange and purple fuzz in minutes. :P

[TonyB]

Originally Posted by Vulconizer

I'm gonna cover the walls of my bedroom with floor to ceiling purple shag carpet stolen from 1973. My purpose is more for rolling like the true space-pimp that I am instead of acoustic concerns. I also plan on some super sweet, orange, fuzzy dingle-balls to hang around the edges of the mirror on the ceiling over my deluxe waterbed.

In the studio, I'd think about using something other than carpet to tame any problem sounds I might have. I tend to agree with the prior advice given in the above posts. But, if I HAD to use carpet, I'd start by hanging it out in front of the wall by a couple of inches to get the best of whatever small absorptive properties it may give. Purple shag might just make it look a little bit "pimpish"...

If you have any of that ceiling purple shag carpet stolen from 1973 left over can I buy some from you?

What they said above! I agree. If you're paying for all that carpet, buy half and use the other half of the money to build an inexpensive Helmholz resonator (Google it). I built one for around$100 ('8 long by 5' tall) using OC-3, left over cotten table cloth material, and various 1 x 2's, 1 x 4's, and 1 x 6's to tame the lo - to mid-freq range (i.e., 150 - 280). There a Helmholz calculator in a spreadsheet that helps you design it for your space. I think I found it online.

That's one option for the lo - to - mid-freq range. The carpet will kill the higher end freqs.

But we haven't talk low end absorption ala Bass Traps (<120hz or so) yet.....

[csiscs]

[QUOTE=Vulconizer;96051]I'm gonna cover the walls of my bedroom with floor to ceiling purple shag carpet stolen from 1973. My purpose is more for rolling like the true space-pimp that I am instead of acoustic concerns. I also plan on some super sweet, orange, fuzzy dingle-balls to hang around the edges of the mirror on the ceiling over my deluxe waterbed.



Thats not funny I still have nightmares about what my mother did to the house with half dozen tins of purple paint some lace and couple of spliffs in 75,

Her cutting in was fukin terrible.

[garageband]

Now that's funny.

[TonyB]

[QUOTE=csiscs;96076]

Originally Posted by Vulconizer

I'm gonna cover the walls of my bedroom with floor to ceiling purple shag carpet stolen from 1973. My purpose is more for rolling like the true space-pimp that I am instead of acoustic concerns. I also plan on some super sweet, orange, fuzzy dingle-balls to hang around the edges of the mirror on the ceiling over my deluxe waterbed.



Thats not funny I still have nightmares about what my mother did to the house with half dozen tins of purple paint some lace and couple of spliffs in 75,

Her cutting in was fukin terrible.

In my parents' living room and dining in 1975? Flourescent green....not just flourescent green... but long shag! Oh, I miss the 70's and the Gong Show (no wonder Chuck Barris always looked like he was wired).