Hit 500 sq ft of shed space and my bass traps stopped working

I built out a 12x14 studio in my backyard last spring, (added 100 sq ft with a lean-to annex thing) and suddenly my corner bass traps felt useless. The room got this weird honky midrange that wasn't there before, even after I moved my monitors around. Anyone else run into room modes changing after adding square footage, or did I just place my absorption panels wrong?

2 comments

2 Comments

pipergonzalez2d ago

...my buddy Dave had basically the exact same thing happen last year. He was pumped about his 10x12 shed studio, had it sounding tight with some DIY traps in the corners. Then he tacked on a little 6x8 annex for a vocal booth and suddenly his whole low end got all boomy and weird, like a bad phone call. He spent a weekend moving panels around and nothing fixed it. Turns out that extra space just changed where the bad frequencies were hiding, he ended up having to build two more traps for the new corners the annex created. Took him a month to get it back to where it was.

patricia_wright1d ago

Oh man, your story is spot on... I did the same thing with my 11x13 room. Added a tiny 5x7 storage nook and suddenly my corner traps were useless. The low mids went all tubby and my kick drum sounded like it was coming from a different building. Had to order two more bass traps just for the weird corner the annex created, and I still feel like I lost something in the overall balance. It's crazy how adding a small chunk of space can mess everything up that bad.