Hello everyone,

I live in an apartment complex and I have a small home studio. I have some
usual low frequency room modes at 40/80 Hz, and their energy builds up like
hell when I move away from my standard monitoring position.

When standing in a corner, where I'm close to the floor and two side wall
surfaces, the 40 Hz wave is almost unbearably loud. It almost feels like
there's a real drummer hitting the drumset's kick drum in my room!

So, my question is: do my neighbours hear the 40 Hz tone as loud as I hear
it when I'm standing in a corner, or is the "modally excited" version of the
frequency limited only to my own apartments dimensions?

I mean, even if the wall between me and my neighbour would be as thick as 10
feet, I fear it isn't enough for attenuating the mode...Or is the boosted
frequency just bouncing between my own walls, so I don't have to worry that
much about the leaking sound?

Thank you so much for the help.

Jep,

When standing in a corner, where I'm close to the floor and two side wall
surfaces, the 40 Hz wave is almost unbearably loud.

Bass traps will help that, but they need to be pretty substantial traps to
target 40 Hz. But are you sure it's 40 Hz and not 80 Hz?

do my neighbours hear the 40 Hz tone as loud as I hear it when I'm
standing in a corner, or is the "modally excited" version of the frequency
limited only to my own apartments dimensions?

There are two different resonances at play here. One is based on the room
dimensions, and that affects what you hear inside the room. The other is the
natural resonant frequency of the wall itself, and that affects what travels
through to your neighbors. At the wall's resonant frequency transmission
through the wall is greatest.

I suspect some of the modal build-up inside the room does make it to the
other side too, if only because it's so much louder inside the room.

--Ethan

"Ethan Winer" ethanw at ethanwiner dot com wrote in message
...
When standing in a corner, where I'm close to the floor and two side wall
surfaces, the 40 Hz wave is almost unbearably loud.

Bass traps will help that, but they need to be pretty substantial traps to
target 40 Hz. But are you sure it's 40 Hz and not 80 Hz?

Hi Ethan,

I checked the resonance and you're correct, it is in fact 80 Hz, not 40.

do my neighbours hear the 40 Hz tone as loud as I hear it when I'm
standing in a corner, or is the "modally excited" version of the frequency
limited only to my own apartments dimensions?

There are two different resonances at play here. One is based on the room
dimensions, and that affects what you hear inside the room. The other is
the
natural resonant frequency of the wall itself, and that affects what
travels
through to your neighbors. At the wall's resonant frequency transmission
through the wall is greatest.

I suspect some of the modal build-up inside the room does make it to the
other side too, if only because it's so much louder inside the room.

Yes, that's what I had in mind. 80 Hz wave is approximately 8 dB's louder in
the corner than it is in the mixing position. I guess there isn't much I can
do about it, except build/buy some kind of a resonator. I just wished that
somehow the 80 Hz mode wouldn't be too loud a problem for my neighbours...

Jep,

I guess there isn't much I can do about it, except build/buy some kind of
a resonator.

A good bass trap will help a lot at 80 Hz. Even 40 Hz is not too low for a
good trap to handle.

--Ethan