Helix Recording Studios - Bass Trap Prototype Pictures

Here is a series of photos of some bass traps that I made for my live room. I initially made the 2 traps
shown in these pictures so I could get a feel for the design, and make the needed changes for the next
set of 6 traps that I will be building to complete the collection.

Scroll down to see the entire series.

Cheap and easy frames. Pine moulding, 45 degree corners with metal "L" brackets in the corners.

Small wood braces on the back add suppport and will help to hold the insulation in place.

Here are the frames that will hold the fabric covering... ready for painting. Cheap pine, "L" brackets, etc.

Here are the fabric frames painted black.

I also painted the very top inside edge of the main frames black just in case...

Here is 4 inches of Owens Corning 703 rigid fiberglass insulation laying on standard garden weed control fabric.

The fiberglass is going to be wrapped in this material to help keep the fiberglass particles under control,

and also helps to keep the fiberglass together as a unit and helps add some rigidity to the stack.

(Between each layer of insualtion is a layer of foil (FRK) that I removed before wrapping)

Here is the OC703 wrapped up in the weed control fabric. As you can see, I am a professional photographer as well!!!

Next, I wrapped my painted fabric frames with Ponte cloth, which is a stretchable, breathable fabric.

I glued and stapled the fabric to the back of the fabric frame, making sure to keep the fabric tight on the front side.

Finally, I trimmed the excess fabric with fine precision cutting!!! ;)

Here is a picture of that same fabric frame from the front side. Looks a bit like a large speaker grill.

Next, I stuffed the frames with the wrapped OC703, and added small painted wooden battens around the edges

that are placed exactly (!) 3/4" from the top edge of the frames. These battens serve a dual-purpose:

1) They help hold the fiberglass in place, and 2) they will provide support and alignment for the fabric covers.

Next up, I stained the pine frames with a nice wood stain, and covered them with 2 coats of polyurathane.

This picture is after the stain but *before* the polyurathane.

Here is the finished product!

Here is another shot...

And another...

One more...

I learned a lot from doing these prototypes, and will defintely make some changes for the final models.

One of the biggest changes I will make is to use a hardwood rather than the soft pine for the frames.

The pine dents and scratches easily, and I hate to sand!