Mike's Music Library

This week I finished constructing and hanging six broadband acoustic absorption panels in the studio.  The purpose of these panels is to improve the overall quality of sound in the studio by dampening problematic frequencies (frequencies that the room naturally amplifies).  I have a small studio with parallel walls - which in the acoustic engineer's world is a recipe for disaster!  You can buy professional products to address these problems, or you can build your own if you're slightly handy.  In the brief research I did, you can buy a panel similar to the ones I made for about $250.  My entire project (six panels) was less than $200. 

For the panel design, I basically followed a design I found on johnlsayers.com: http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=10297&highlight=bass+trap.  It's a very simple design:

1. Lightweight 1x3 frame
2. 2' x 4' Owens Corning 703 fiberglass insulation panel
3. Cover with fabric
4. Picture frame hooks

The Owens Corning 700-series insulation is actually in the form of a rigid panel.  You can read up on it here: http://owenscorning.com/comminsul/products.asp?product=1&system=80.  I couldn't find a local dealer in the Twin Cities area so I bought it online from ATS Acoustics: http://www.atsacoustics.com/item--Owens-Corning-703-Case-of-6--1004.html.  It's pretty neat stuff and really is what makes these panels so easy to make on your own.

For the frame, it was just a matter of measuring, cutting, gluing, and stapling.  I chose to glue the joints because the boards were thin (only 1x3's) and there wasn't a lot of surface area for screws.  The glued joints are reinforced with staples:

After gluing and stapling the frames, I needed to attach the insulation to them.  I simply did this with some 3M 45 General Purpose Spray Adhesive.  I sprayed both the frame and the insulation and the bond was a lot stronger than I anticipated.  There's no way you could detach the insulation from the frame without ripping the insulation.  After spraying and attaching all of the frames to the insulation, I just stacked them so that they could dry with a little bit of pressure:

Next, Nikki helped me cover the panels with fabric.  The typical fabric you see with these homemade panels is burlap, but Nikki convinced me to find something a little less rugged.  The fabric stores we went to were all a bit expensive.  We ended up finding about 33 yards of a really nice looking fabric at Wal Mart for $1/yard. 

Nikki helped me measure and attach the fabric to the panels.  This step was actually a lot more time consuming than I expected as folding the corners so that they look neat took some care.  I used staples to attach the fabric to the back of the wood frame:

Next, I added some hardware to each panel so that I could mount them on the studio walls.  I decided to use standard D Ring picture hooks and just screwed them onto the backs of the panels.  The D Rings are strong enough to hold large pictures or paintings. 

I ruled out using picture wire because I felt that it would be too difficult to place each panel at the same height on the walls.  Each panel would have to have an equal amount of wire, and that seemed like an impossible task.  Instead I just used a level and hung each D Ring on a screw in the wall.  I used drywall anchors for support in the walls:

Now I have six acoustic panels in the studio:

So what does the room sound like now?  It's better, but not perfect.  There is still some room reverberation but it is significantly better than it used to be.  I think I may build some more panels in the future, or potentially some larger "wedge" bass traps in the corners.  However, I'm at the point right now where I want to use my studio and stop working on it.  I think I'll try out the room first and then revisit any acoustic improvements later.

I've posted three new tunes for your scrutiny, enjoyment, annoyance, rapture, etc:

Ely [5 MB - 5:28]
Pure sliced-beat joy on a backdrop of some soft textures.

Raising the Roof of the Lab [3.52 MB - 3:50]
The scientist lives [link]. Honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about this tune, but I decided to post it as a set up to the remix...

Raising the Roof of the Lab - Chemist Mix [3.71 MB - 4:03]
The scientist dances.

Songza is a music search engine.  Stream the results through your browser.  Send songs to Twitter, email them to a friend, or embed results on your web site.  The range of what Songza finds is just average - not a lot of rare stuff, but I love being able to click around and find other tunes/artists by accident while searching for something else.  Who knew there was a 50 Cent vs. Helmet track?  I didn't.

Sound illegal?  You can't download the songs, and Songza pays ASCAP for the rights to stream the music. It's completely legit and free for you and me. 

Here are some nice finds:

Have fun.

Look and listen to Scientific Method.

If this tune doesn't give you a headache, then you a) aren't listening closely enough, or b) aren't listening to it loud enough. It's a beast. Drums and more drums. And then more drums.

In case you want to dig a little deeper and hear some extra stuff, here are the drum breaks used in the tune, including slowed-down versions of a couple of them for your dissecting pleasure:

• Ripper Break #1
• Ripper Break #1 - slow version
• Ripper Break #2
• Ripper Break #2 - slow version
• Amen Break
• Amen - slow version
• Ripper Break - Ending
• Amen Break - Ending

Enjoy.

My music library (www.kindohm.com/musiclibrary) is back online after a multi-week period of downtime.  The downtime was caused by my last Subtext upgrade and I just chose to ignore the problem until today.

That being said, there are a few nuggets of musical goodness I stumbled across recently on my old music computer.  I hope to upload them soon.

Installment I of the Sidetracked Project is complete.  This is the result of a two-year effort by me and Jason.  Available for download are all of the mp3s, a liner notes PDF, and m3u playlists for both my and Jason's preferred listening order. 

Our music leans toward the heavier end of the musical spectrum, in case you don't know what to expect.  My favorite three tunes we worked on are Revenge of the Pinatas, The Missionary Song, and Empyrion.  However there is plenty of other great music, including some very, very serious (</sarcasm>) stuff. 

Technorati Tags: music sidetracked project mp3 rock

That's right.  I finally found one of these:

I've been looking for one of these for a long, long time. Zildjian doesn't make them any more, and they've been hard to come by on eBay. I ended up winning one in an eBay auction yesterday. It's used and according to the picture it looks like it was taped up at one time, but it was also half the price of a new one. I just hope it sounds close to my old/current/cracked one.

Technorati Tags: cymbal swish zildjian crack ebay auction

If you downloaded Threat Precedence earlier this week, please download it again :) I discovered some very bad problems with the mix yesterday and just finished correcting them. If you have an old copy, I encourage you to compare the old with the new and let me know what you think. Specifically, the snare in the main break in the beginning of the tune had a lot of low-end attack, and under compression it made a very annoying low-end pop on its attack. It bugged the hell out of me. I also tweaked a few other issues to help make the arrangement a little less spazzy - without taking away from the overall aggressive tone, of course :)

tags: music electronica audio

I've whipped out yet another new tune. I was thinking of how to describe this one, and all I could think of was this: imagine graphing a quadratic function on a TI-95 calculator, throwing the calculator into a garbage disposal and obliterating it while fending off someone attacking you with a knife.

Or something.

Threat Precedence 5:37 5.14 MB [direct download]

tags: music electronica audio flstudio aggression

Neil and I took a brief diversion after lunch and went over to Groth Music today. Groth is a great because they carry a lot of other stuff than just mainstream gear (ala Guitar Center). Anyway, I picked up a couple of egg shakers, and also one of these:

Spring Drum

It's a "spring drum", a.k.a "thunder drum". I'd never seen these before. The funny part was that I tried to flex my musicologist musicles and tried to convince Neil that it was a "cuica". The next thing I knew, Neil figured out what it really was and started making some cool sounds with it. Next time someone asks me about drum lessons, I'm sending them to Neil

To play it, you just hold the drum (which could also just be called a tube) so that the spring hangs down, and quickly shake the drum. It sounds like friggin thunder, or a gong roll, or something. You can also move your hand over the top to vary the sound.

Very cool stuff. The spring drum is exactly the bizarre type of thing I was looking for. Thanks for driving, Neil!

A "cuica". Not to be confused with a "spring drum".

tags: music drum weird spring