Cellar Home Cinema - acoustics advice please

[howardmg]

I'm wondering whether anyone here can offer any advice on sound acoustic improvements for a cellar.

The cellar measures 4.8m x 3.9m and is 1.8m high. The walls are brick, the floor cement with a lino layer, and the ceiling plasterboard with floorboards above. Not surprising there is a fair amount of echo in the room.

I attach some photos (excuse the temporary set-up). Due to finances my budget is fairly limited (as evident from the photos!) but any help would be much appreciated. I guess due to the poor head height I can't do too much with the ceiling but hopefully can with the walls,

Thanks very much

Mark

 

[mattym]

if your on a budget, the build your own panels, you can get very attractive ready made covers so even DIY panels can look outstanding, you want some nice rockwool, the dense stuff, to make a good trap, 50mm minimum for the sides, 100mm thick for the corners, approx 1200x600mm, make 3 for left wall and 3 for right, 1 to go over the front left and 1 for front right corner, and a couple for the rear wall, that will give you a good start off, hang/fix to the wall and see how that sounds. Add or remove as required, and if you need more bass treatment then move them away from the wall with mounting frames

 

[howardmg]

Thanks very much.

Any recommendations where I would get the rockwool and the covers?

And would the traps in the corners be also 1200 x 600, and do they need to be positioned at an angle in the corner?

Thanks again

Mark

 

[spooney]

My basement was 100% concrete from floor to wall and ceiling.
I built in panels to the ceiling, OSB boards for the wall and a carpet onto the floor.
Considering your relatively small room height you may think about sound dampening foam boards and glue them directly onto the ceiling. These foam boards are used in sound studios and weren't this expensive, if I recall correctly. Unluckily I can't remember the supplier, except they sold it off factory as packages with board and glue. My room is 8x4 m and I remember the ceiling would have been well below 1000 Euro.

 

[mattym]

with rugs on the floor and a few panels on the wall, the ceiling might not need treating, generally i will only treat a ceiling if there is a clear reflection from it

for DIY trap coverings i would recommend www.readytraps.com, Joel is an ace guy and his bags are outstanding.