John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum

My first treatment design/build.

Looks great MMS!

I'll link it in the "DIY panels" sticky

Cool idea incorporating the lights into it. What did you use to suspend it?

Great design concept. To hang it in the middle of a room with an existing light one could remove the light and mount it to the ceiling electrical box provided its a box meant for something like ceiling fan installation.

The cloud is not intended for a center room position. It is to control reflections overhead from entering microphones, like in drum booths, or sound reflecting into the human ear, like in a control room.

The lighting is also on the cloud for a reason. So you do not have to have holes cut into your mass!

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Brien Holcombe
Sound: You can't stop it, you can only try to contain it.

The concept of combining lights with your cloud is very reasonable. It is indeed useful and aesthetically good in sight. I am just concerned about placing it overhead, I am not sure if it will affect the sound waves that much neither if it is safe to put it above the entire set.

[SPAM SIGNATURE DELETED]

Sounds like a lead-in to spam for ceiling fans, to me... I'm just waiting for the punch line!

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EDITED TO ADD: Yup! spot on! Two weeks later "she" edited the post to add a spam signature. And thought we would never notice! What a doofus!

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I want this studio to amaze people. "That'll do" doesn't amaze people.

I might have to "borrow" the light in the middle idea! I might even be inclined to use some small gooseneck type LED's to also light the bottom (visible) side of the cloud for some smooth indirect lighting

How did you decide if you were going to use soft-top clouds or hard-top clouds? I'm currently using soft-topped clouds, but I believe hard topped coulds might help break up the ceiling height modes more effectively as long as they are angled to kill the flutter. Thanks for any info there...

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I'm just one man!

Randy V.
Audio-Dude/Musician/Crazy Guy

Randy- You make it sound like his the 1st "guy" to build a cloud with lights.
Do some reading.......

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inkspotproductions
www.bantamstudio.info

I know - even the clouds we have at work have lights - but they are so big I sometimes forget they are clouds This is a nice and easy retro-fit to my existing clouds, and found it to be a nice clean design idea w/o cutting into the panels themselves for some recessed cans or whatever. Luke 78 and slowjay seemed to like this design as well


Are you referring to the hard top cloud question I had? I've been reading all I can, and I'm taking away that hard top clouds help break up the ceiling modes beyond the simple absorption capabilities of the panel - but the panel needs to be somewhat close to the ceiling and angled to kill flutter. Is that correct? I have another thread going, and I wasn't getting a common consensus on hard vs soft top clouds when it comes to controlling nasty ceiling modes.

Thanks for any enlightenment there!

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I'm just one man!

Randy V.
Audio-Dude/Musician/Crazy Guy

Randy - the hard top cloud is for breaking up flutter between floor and ceiling - the open top cloud is for suspending insulation off an already angled ceiling so the insulation works on lower frequencies than if just placed directly on the ceiling.

So the hard top will end up negating some of the low frequency damping of an open top cloud spaced off the ceiling, but be better in dealing with mid-to-high frequency flutter? With my current open top 4" thick clouds - I'm satisfied with the flutter control in the mids/highs, but the 50Hz mode is still poking out big time.

My room has a large ~49-50Hz ceiling mode and the ceiling is reflective concrete - so I have major modes AND a parallel floor/celing to consider. Would you lean towards hard topped or open in my case with what little info you have? I'm planning on doubling them to 8" thick to reach a bit lower frequencies if that has any effect on your thoughts...

Thanks!!!

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I'm just one man!

Randy V.
Audio-Dude/Musician/Crazy Guy

well - if you'd read what I posted you would realise that the hard top version is best for stopping floor to ceiling flutter when you have a flat ceiling.

Thanks for that clarification. What effect would a hard top have on the low frequency damping of the floor-to-ceiling mode I seem to be having the most issues with? It would seem that spacing an open-top cloud off the ceiling to make it more effective at lower frequencies would not be the same if the cloud has a hard top - correct? I'm assuming the hard topped cloud's low frequency performance would then take on a similar response to having the cloud flush against the ceiling (w/o any spacing)? I'm sure there are tons of other variables at play here, too...

I'm actually satisfied with the mid/high frequency performance of my current clouds (with regard to audible mid/high flutter below the cloud) - so my primary concern is the 50Hz mode at this point.

Or are you getting at the point that my 50Hz mode IS a form of low-frequency flutter (in the form of a room mode)? I get lost on where "flutter" ends and parallel wall/floor room modes begin. I thought they were separate - but I can see how they might actually be one in the same at longer wavelengths...

Thanks so much for your time and wealth of knowledge!

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I'm just one man!

Randy V.
Audio-Dude/Musician/Crazy Guy

Randy - insulation in your clouds will not affect 50hz - an angled hard top cloud will.