Anyone experienced in homemade acoustical treatments?

Pine Apple Slim

Armchair Expert
Before I go out and spend several hundred $s on OC703 or Roxul, fabric, and wood for frames there's one thing I already have I plan to try for basically free.
I have approx 20 handmade quilts made by my grandmother and my mom. Since they are family heirlooms I dont want to sell them but they also are a huge storage problem. Right now I have 4-5 big plastic tubs in the garage stuffed with them, plus at least that many more at my deceased parents home. The homeplace is under contract so pretty soon I'll need to get those as well.
I see that high density cotton is gaining popularity in acoustical bass traps and panels with performance equaling fiberglass boards or rock wool. Not that I expect to gain equal performance with my quilt stash, but I figure there must be a way to utilize them as acoustic treatment without damaging them and simultaneously solving the storage issue. I mean some other more creative and useful way than just hanging them all over the walls.

I have a few of ideas to try
1. Fold them up triangularly and stack them in the corners for makeshift "superchunks".
2. Room them into cylinders and stack in corners.
3. Hang them across rods spanning the corners of the room, making a curtain 2-3 quilts thick, and store the remains ones behind the curtain.

Of course if they don't work, I guess they can go back in the garage and I can build some real panels.
I'm not really looking for a studio quality dead room. Just a bit of damping to take out some ring and standing waves in order to have a more pleasant jam space.

The room will be 24x18' approx, 8' walls with a 10' vault to the ceiling.

Anybody have a better idea on how to experiment and utilize my granny's quilt surplus?
 
I've built a few studios and played in more than a few. I like your ideas. I've always treated the hard corners as well. My wife makes quilts so I feel like I'm walking on sacred ground, but here we go. I know this is a month and a half later. I like a lively room, but too many reflections can make it muddy. If you put 1" x 4" horizontally on 2" x 4" brackets down walls,( brackets every 4 feet, 1" x 4" with 4" spaces in between), you could hang the quilts from the 1" 4" 's and adjust the room sound by creating a pattern of open and closed spaces. I have also built movable baffles for isolation if amps etc. 4' x 4 ' with with feet to be able to stand alone.I treated them by wrapping them in carpeting, quilts would work too. I love the ceilings,if you have any carpeting on the floor, leave them be.If not, install 2 faux beams at 8' high and foot 8 and 16 of your 24' walls and hand some quilts from them. These treatments will also prevent standing waves.Oops. the 1" x 4" would be in the middle of the wall. Good luck, I love this stuff!
 
I'm interested in this topic, but my interest is less in how to optimize the sonic qualities of my space and more how to isolate it from the rest of the house. I can't really play with any volume at all without it being intolerably loud to my wife in the living room!
 
Bsman,
What you need is soundproofing, which is a different, very expensive, and much more difficult thing to accomplish than acoustical treatment (which is just to make the room sound better not to keep sound in or out).

The number one rule in soundproofing is mass. More mass stops more sound.
The secondary rule is plugging all gaps that sound can travel to get around the mass barrier.

Your most economical bet would be to add another layer of sheet rock to the walls and ceiling of your room. Still expensive but cheaper than building a room within a room, or ideally a room inside a concrete room.
If you can blow insulation in between the interior walls do it. Otherwise you'd have to tear out a wall to add insulation.
Between the 2 layers of Sheetrock apply a sound dampening product called Green Glue. Stagger the seams of the two layers. Green Glue and 2 layers of Sheetrock has been proven to equal 4 layers of Sheetrock.
There is also a product called a limp mass barrier. Basically a really heavy and limp sheet of vinyl that can be sandwiched between or hung behind Sheetrock. It is very effective but also much more expensive than green glue.
At all the corners, electrical boxes, baseboards, ductwork, where sound can get around the Sheetrock&Green Glue sandwich, apply acoustical caulk. Also they make a fire barrier putty type product to go around the back and sides of elec outlets and switches that will also help stop sound from getting thru. Also plug around any holes cut for plumbing with acoustical caulk or if nothing else expanding spray foam in the can. Insulate yor ductwork if possible.
Also you can replace the interior door with a solid weatherstripped exterior door, and a floor sweep to stop the gap under the door.

Since my room is in a separate building a good ways away from the house or neighbors I'm just using standard construction techniques. Brick veneer, 2 very small insulated windows, plywood, insulation, 2x4 studs, one layer of Sheetrock, and so forth. I am using some soundproofing techniques where I can afford it. I'm using wet blown cellulose in the walls which fills all the gaps really well. I'll most likely spring for some acoustical caulk and some of that putty stuff to go around the electrical boxes. I'm using solid exterior doors for all doors and
I'm insulating the interior wall as well.
 
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