Idea on homemade bass traps

I built mine using drywall corner bead.... just cut it and bend it at the corners to make two L shaped halves and then rivet them together to make the front frame. Place your rigid fiberglass inside the frame face down on top of a piece of fabric. Then wrap the fabric around and staple to a backing frame made from 1x2s. I copied this design from a popular brand of acoustic treatment.... Very inexpensive and effective way to do it. Let me know if you want more info. I can take pics...

mdmitch2...pictures would be great if you dont mind!

Thanks
Mac

I can't find the pics from when I built them, but I took some new pics that should help explain....

This is the finished product using 2" 703, but 4" can be done the same way:



In this close up, you can see through the muslin fabric a little bit.... notice the drywall corner bead frame:



This is the stuff I bought to make the front frame:

www.homedepot.com/p/1-1-4-in-x-8-ft-Metal-Corner-Bead-741339/203171469


All you do is get some tin snips and a rivet gun, and cut a notch out of the corner bead so that you can fold it into an L shape. Make two of these which, when put together,  match the dimensions of your 703, and leave enough extra so that the two L's overlap a little bit. That way you can drill a small hole where they overlap and attach them together with the rivet gun.  

www.homedepot.com/p/Stanley-10-in-Medium-Duty-Riveter-MR33C/203771504

Now you have a nice, light weight, metal frame to create the square look on the outside of the panel. From there, you can pretty much follow the guide below to build the rest of the panel. Note, this design has a built in air gap behind the panel, which will give you better performance than a lot of DIY designs that have no gap between the 703 and the wall.

madamebutterface.com/assets/documents/DIY%20Bass%20Traps%20Made%20Easy.pdf

The only modification to the guide above is that you lay your metal frame on top of the fabric, face down, and lay your insulation into the frame before wrapping and stapling the fabric. In the link above, he's managed to make it look pretty decent without the metal frame, but I found it very difficult to make nice looking panels without it.... the 703 is quite soft on the corners, and when you wrap it tightly (as you must), you end up with rounded, inconsistent edges that don't look professional.

By the way, if you decide to use muslin, you'll need at least 2 layers or else it's too transparent. A better, slightly more expensive option is use a darker and slightly stretchy fabric.... the stretchiness makes it a little easier to attach without wrinkles. Or go all out and get the fire retardant guilford of maine $$$$

Hope this helps...

I used this construction model in building my DIY Bass traps: DIY-BASS-TRAPS-MADE-EASY

I never constructed anything in my life before doing this, but I found this design and implementation very easy to do.

Custom built corner absorbers for the studio:

I also did a trap DIY:



realgearonline.com/thread/5220/diy-wooden-framed-broadband-absorbers

Finally got my bass traps done!

3 panels, 8" (20cm) deep, 24" (60cm) width, 55" (140cm) height. Covered with fabric.

I placed them on front wall (left and air gap between panel and wall) and corners and I'm impressed with improvement: bass is tight and more defined (I couldn't hear any bass before, just kick sub), low mids are not blurry and mids are more articulated. Stereo image is wider and more detailed. Can hear panning easily.

I was thinking about selling my monitors before I started this project and I'm thankful I didn't.

I'll move things around, do some critical listening and place foam panels for first reflection spots on this weekend

May be I need a little more bass traps? Hahaha

You could screen print or heat press on cotton fabric, which should be easier to work with and more breathable than canvas.

I've used this company for custom fabric printing:

www.spoonflower.com/

I always use better grade burlap for most of my sound panels. Cheaper than other cloths, but still audio transparent and easy to dye or print on. it also doesn't stretch much, so you can get it nice and tight without the grain showing the stretching effects too much.