Some years ago I built a set of four sound treatment panels, all like the one pictured above. They were up in the walls of my music/drum studio, when we lived in Cambourne. We’ve been in our home in March three years now. And I’m finally getting around to feeling I must have a working studio space again.
The small box room, which is a library-cum-office at present, and now has my Mapex kit set up in it, is going to be the only place I can realistically have a studio immediately. I could use our guest room, perhaps? But we want to be free to let that out if need be. And I don’t want all my music gear in a room that’s got virtual strangers passing through.
The box room is tiny, and full of bookshelves and books. Indeed, it was full of sundry other stuff as well, until very recently. I had a clear out, and these treatment panels were in there. Rather than try and find somewhere else to store them, I thought why not cover them in a nicer looking material, and use them in the box room?
Amazon wound up being the cheapest place I could source the hessian sacking type material I’ve opted to use. The coarse weave allows sound through, but breaks it up. Plus it looks quite nice! And I love the colour. There’s no wall space empty, so they’ll be going up on the hideously textured artex ceiling. Yay! The less of that visible the better.
Two panels are done so far. The first came out very nicely. I’m using a staple gun to fasten the hessian. The second, whilst an improvement in some ways, has creases still visible in the cloth on the front. Which is annoying. How many of the four I’ll be able to get on the ceiling, I don’t know. And whether there’s room to suspend any of them, as is often advised with such sound treatment panels, I very much doubt.
But as ever, making stuff oneself is fun and satisfying.