Originally Posted By: bostonx
I like Mat's idea of the horse blanket and some area rugs on the floor I personally think that there are many expensive ways to do treatments but in most cases if you can save a ton of cash doing it on the cheap and get almost identical results and if it doesn't work then just returning a rug to walmart is a lot easier than trying to return accoustic treatment panels......


There are inexpensive ways to do this. But there are also usually frequency limitations as to what home-brew methods will render. Rugs, in general, offer more absorption than nothing. However, much of absorption deals with the depth of the absorption. Deeper pile, will help to eat longer wavelengths (lower frequencies) than shorter pile. Whether or not there is a non-absorptive backing also matters. Pile material matters, etc. If you mount a rug on a frame and hang it out away from a wall by a few inches, it can have more absorption effect than laying it on the floor.

Don't forget that a clothes closet in the room is a very absorptive environment. Open the door to the closet, get the clothing arranged so that it's sort of 'loose' but you can't see the back wall of the closet, and point the back of the mic at the clothes. This will work as well or better than the Reflexion filters and other 'portable vocal booth' devices on the market.