The Chetboard

Can someone tell me what kind of floor Chet had in his home recording studio - carpeting,...hardwood,...tile,...linoleum?

I'd like to replace the crummy short-shag carpeting in my music room, but I'm not sure what to replace it with. This carpeting is too thick and sucks up the sound, but a hardwood might reverberate too much. I'm thinking perhaps a smoother, thinner, indoor-outdoor type of hard carpeting.

What do you guys have in your rooms?

Thanks in advance,
Bill

You gotta keep in mind that there alotta variables such as room size, wall & ceiling composition, gear placement and MOST IMPORTANTLY the sub-floor composition -what's UNDER the carpeting you now have.

Is the room up or downstairs also plays into the equation, as you don't want plaster fallin' from the dining room ceiling when your bass player cranks up his Marshall Power Stack ! ! !

Also, what's the room sound like NOW ? ? ? Do you get a standing wave running through the room when you crank up your amp or hit low notes on a piano ? ? ?

I have a book very similar to this one. When I get around to that stage of my life - where I need to consider room acoustics etc. This kind of book will come in VERY handy. I have paged through mine and it talks about, in depth, what your asking. Book is only 12 dollars! Could be useful to you.
http://www.amazon.com/Acoustic-Design-S ... pd_sim_b_2

alexjones wrote:I have a book very similar to this one. When I get around to that stage of my life - where I need to consider room acoustics etc. This kind of book will come in VERY handy. I have paged through mine and it talks about, in depth, what your asking. Book is only 12 dollars! Could be useful to you.
http://www.amazon.com/Acoustic-Design-S ... pd_sim_b_2

That's alotta information for 12 bucks . . .

I have architectural drafting software that has acoustic modeling plug-ins available.

For shitz 'n giggles, I just ordered the plug-in's trial version to see what it's all about . . .

I have that same book, and it is very informative as far as setting up a home recording studio. So far, all I've been able to afford is the book, but it certainly has me thinking ahead to how I will approach it. And I will be getting the book back out again when I'm in a position to do more with my music room.

Bill B.

About 40 years ago a friend wanted to sound-proof a practice room/studio with a near ZERO budget.

He'd previously tried 1" foam on the walls & ceiling that literally sucked sound from outtada room, and it kept tearing and falling down.

One day, I was at a garage sale with my mother picking up something that she'd bought. There was one of those pre-fab sheds off to the side of the driveway that the door was open. While my mother was finishing her business with the lady I'd happened by the shed; looking in I saw stacks of cardboard egg cartons, not the 1-dozen but the square 3-dozen cartons.

A man, whom I'd assumed to be her husband walked up behind me. I was ready to get the classic: "There's nothing to see in there; instead, he'd said: "Ya know anybody who could use some egg cartons? Just take 'em!!!"

I'd told him that if I could use his phone, they'd be gone in a half hour.

They were 'the ticket' as they were ONE = FREE and TWO were just the right amount of acoustic isolation & dampening ! ! !

bill park wrote:Can someone tell me what kind of floor Chet had in his home recording studio - carpeting,...hardwood,...tile,...linoleum?

I'd like to replace the crummy short-shag carpeting in my music room, but I'm not sure what to replace it with. This carpeting is too thick and sucks up the sound, but a hardwood might reverberate too much. I'm thinking perhaps a smoother, thinner, indoor-outdoor type of hard carpeting.

What do you guys have in your rooms?

Thanks in advance,
Bill

I got to thinkin' . . . If you already have a hardwood sub-floor under your existing carpet, which is very common in the NE part of the country, you might consider re-finishing the floor and use throw-rugs as needed to custom tailor your room acoustics along with acoustic wall treatments such as Sonex . . .

http://www.sonexacoustics.com

The room is in my basement, so the floor underneath is concrete. I'm not looking to create a first-class recording studio, just wondering whether to put in a hard floor like laminate or vinyl tile or a smoother, harder carpet. We just moved in here a few months ago, and I'm looking to change the flooring. Might not make much of a difference for my use, but anything would be better than this shag! Thanks, Bill

If ya wanna do it CHEAP, just get some epoxy concrete paint to seal it from moisture permeation, or if ya wanna step up somewhat, get some of that inexpensive hardwood veneer peal 'n stick flooring from Costco or Sam's Club, then use cheap throw-rugs as needed to deaden any live spots . . .

BTW . . . You DON'T need to COMPLETELY cover walls or ceilings with Sonex like illustrated on their website. First I use double-sided tape to trial 'n error where it's needed . . .

Bill,
Back in the late 80's Robert Henry and I visited Chet's workshop for a very short time. I did not have acoustics in mind then, I was just happy to be there. But I took some pictures,or maybe Robert did, and they show the floor and walls. I don't remember the flooring specifically but the pics show a dark material, thus a covered floor, that could be indoor/outdoor carpeting over concrete.

Where you can see the walls that have alternating reddish and white colors I remember the fabric to be burlap in texture. No telling what was underneath between the studs but it could just as well have been fiberglass. There are drapes hanging across one wall. If anyone would know his acoustic setup it would be John Knowles.

The place was in somewhat disaray and Chet mentioned he had not used the workshop for sometime.

In one pic Chet is showing me a vinyl with a clock movement he installed. I remember reading somewhere recently that he loved to give them as gifts.

David