Get an idea of what it will cost to acoustically treat your room as we break down the kind of treatment you can expect at different budget levels.
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"One question we hear a lot is: “How much will it cost to acoustically treat my room”. It’s a straightforward enough question but the answer is going to depend on a few variables. It’s often said that you should divide your funds equally between electronic equipment and acoustic treatment. Spending thousands of dollars on a sound system isn’t going to pay off if your room is altering the sound from that system.
Your treatment strategy is going to be determined by the size and shape of your room, as well as how you plan to use the room. Coverage area is the biggest factor for the effectiveness of your treatment, so the larger your room the more panels you’ll need to fully control the sound.
The desired application for the room will also dictate your treatment. A live recording room and a home theater will have different needs and even the methods we use to treat live recording rooms will change depending on the type and number of instruments. Your own personal preferences will also influence what kind of treatment you end up with.
If you’re treating a office, school or congregation where the main goal is to reducing the echo from human speech then,
The GIK website has a handy acoustic Panels Calculator that will give you a rough estimate on how many Panels you’d need to effectively reduce echo based on your room's dimensions. The Panel Calculator is based on our 2” spot panel, and while the spot panel performs very well for general applications, the low frequencies in music and movies will require a thicker panel to effectively treat.
If you’re trying to maximize your budget for music production or playback then there’s a few things you can do to get the most out of your treatment. Make sure you select a good listening position and speaker placement and focus treatment on the first reflections between them.
Calculating your room modes and testing for problem areas can help you determine where in the room peaks and nulls are causing issues and where you might want to concentrate your treatment.
Truth is, if the right balance of products are used, then the more panels you can afford and fit in a space, the better that space will sound, The thicker the panels, the better the bass response, and on higher-budget rooms we will want the best balance between bass trapping, absorption, and various types of diffusion. So when budgeting for your room first figure out how much you have available that you’re willing to spend and then determine what the most optimal treatment is based on your budget.
Let's take a typical small sized studio and see what kind of treatment we end up with at different budgets.
At around $600 you could treat your first reflections with 242s and corners with 244s. With this treatment you’ll have noticeable improvements in your room with a cleaner stereo image. You can actually bundle and save on treatment at this level by starting off with one of GIK's Room kits. These are a great way to kick start your treatment, and we can always add more to get better performance out of your room.
With a budget of $1000, you could use a dozen 244’s, which arguably gives the most cost-effective improvement of any GIK product within this budget. 244s are versatile enough that they can be used in any role -- corner bass trap, reflection points on the side walls and ceiling, and others.
At around $2-3k we can start to approach a more comprehensive strategy where we have more coverage area, with thicker bass traps for better performance under 100Hz and diffusion to balance` out the room. We also have a bit left over for fabric upgrades and alternative plate deigns and finishes.
At $4000 We can use even thicker panels for the corners with range limiters for even better performance under 100Hz, as well as a more comprehensive diffusion strategy.
These are just some examples of a typical room on a standard budget. More panels could be added to the vertical corners for better bass response, or we could swap out for thicker panels on the first reflections for better performance. It’s not uncommon to have entire walls covered in treatment for a professional studio, so if there’s room for more treatment then there’s probably room for the sound to improve as well.
If you have any more questions about room acoustics, you can always fill out our free acoustic advice form and one of our room designers will work with you to find the most cost effective option for your space."