Out of pure curiousity, I hung heavy beach towels in my bedroom and to my
surprise everything sounded better. no reverb. I was wondering about the
'acoustic blanket' type material that you can hang on your walls. For a home
recordist, they seem like a good deal. $150 for 8 sheets of 6'x4' or
something similar

Dave

Dave,

I hung heavy beach towels in my bedroom and to my surprise everything
sounded better.

The improvement is superficial. Yeah, sure, talking and hand claps will
sound clearer in the room, but thin materials like foam and blankets do
nothing for the low mids and bass range. And the range from 500 Hz and lower
is even more important to control.

For the complete story, have a look at the Acoustics FAQ, second in the list
on my Articles page:

www.ethanwiner.com/articles.html

--Ethan

wrote:
See my post just now in this ng moving blankets. They have a nice
thick quality compared to a beach blankie.

Yes, 500 hz and lower - very important. Gaak, just listen to the mush
on NPR (Public Radio FM- USA)- boomy excess that simple bass control
can't even begin to control. What are these people thinking???? Dinky
females, even, who end up blowing the doors off Walter Cronkheit....

That's not necessarily NPR, but your local station. I live between two
cities that both have NPR affiliates, and the bottom end on each sounds
totally different.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

just listen to the mush
on NPR (Public Radio FM- USA)- boomy excess that simple bass control
can't even begin to control. What are these people thinking???? Dinky
females, even, who end up blowing the doors off Walter Cronkheit....

But that's mic technique where everything is HUGELY in the proximity zone, not
acoustics of the studios.


Scott Fraser