43 replies to this topic

[Jester_Fu]

Egg cartons are a myth. You're better off throwing your own crap at the wall and coating it in hair spray. The density of the cardboard is so low it neither absorbs nor creates reflections. There's such minimal damping effect that it's not even aesthetic. You're better off shifting furniture and getting some rugs as either floor covering or wall hangings. The egg carton shapped foam i think is worse than hairspray coated shit as you actually have to pay money for it.

[AdrianS]

A heavy curtain over the door will help greatly.

[TonyG]

Jester_Fu, on 06 August 2011 - 12:44 AM, said:

Egg cartons are a myth. You're better off throwing your own crap at the wall and coating it in hair spray. The density of the cardboard is so low it neither absorbs nor creates reflections. There's such minimal damping effect that it's not even aesthetic. You're better off shifting furniture and getting some rugs as either floor covering or wall hangings. The egg carton shapped foam i think is worse than hairspray coated shit as you actually have to pay money for it.

I had heard bad things about all those expensive foams. What about heavy rubber matting, does that work at all?

[Jester_Fu]

Rubber - depends what you're trying to achieve. The higher density will mean low absorption and probably a 'medium' level reflection. Rubber is ideal for vibration isolation. The whole acoustic treatment thing is based around the problems you're trying to fix - so there's no hard and fast answer... well, except that egg cartons are useless unless you're planning to keep chickens in the studio.

I'm not sure what the issue people claim is with 'expensive foam'. Yeah, there's some claims that are snake oil, but that's the case across audio. It's how you apply what you have. The foam products out there provide decent attenuation of mid range and higher frequencies. Bass traps are always subjective and highly dependent on the mode issues in a room - it's about placing the right thing in the right spot. So, foam is effective for reducing mid/high frequency modes/reflections in a room. Hence why if you use too much the room sounds dead - no echo. It might be a boomy bass hole, but it'll have little echo if over done. Leaves you with an un-natural and tiring sounding room where you have a tendency to add massive amounts of reverb into a mix to get some more natural sound out.

That's not to say you need to buy brand name foam, either. Providing you get a decent density and thickness, you should be able to achieve the same thing with any brand of foam you choose, even if it's not cut with fancy patterns.

I personally put some fancy foam in the studio - it looks nice over just using any foam off the shelf more than anything. In a home studio with a wifey, that counts. I had a crack at making my own diffusion panels... and they worked nicely but we had heaps of trouble getting them to stay together because of the shape. It's not easy building a wooden pyramid with flat ply sheets. In the end, the foam was an easier option and i found a type that allowed some perspex to be inserted into the foam. The idea being that the panels are a mix of absorption and reflection... like the ones i made. They're quite effective and the room sounds significantly better than it did before without going extreme. When we have guests stay in the room, amongst the studio gear, most comment that it looks like some sort of art work... because they're ignorant. I get to laugh at them - foam is worth every cent

[TonyG]

Thanks for that Jester. One Question tho. Does the foam have to be exposed or can it be placed between a wall and a plasterboard wall?

[ryanedward85]

Jester_Fu, on 06 August 2011 - 12:44 AM, said:

Egg cartons are a myth. You're better off throwing your own crap at the wall and coating it in hair spray. The density of the cardboard is so low it neither absorbs nor creates reflections. There's such minimal damping effect that it's not even aesthetic. You're better off shifting furniture and getting some rugs as either floor covering or wall hangings. The egg carton shapped foam i think is worse than hairspray coated shit as you actually have to pay money for it.

Thanks for the heads up about the egg cartons. My girlfriend was just about to get hold of a lot to put in our living room. Think we'll go with foam instead.

[Jester_Fu]

TonyG, on 25 August 2011 - 12:11 AM, said:

Thanks for that Jester. One Question tho. Does the foam have to be exposed or can it be placed between a wall and a plasterboard wall?

You're better off with Rockwool (or similar) for between walls. It creates some absorption but mainly it's good for isolation - keeping noise in/out of the room. Plasterboard still reflects. If you want to stop reflections or control room modes, you need to address room shape. That can be done by damping certain modes with foam or by changing wall angles with diffusion panels. Rockwool in the walls can help with low frequency issues as well. Definitely worthwhile doing if you're building a new room, IMO.

[TonyG]

Thanks Jester, looks like rock wool it is then. Besides the price isn't to bad for it anyway.

[M.jerrick]

Whilst out with the GF I spotted some real heavy curtains is a bedding store in town. These things looked like they could stop bullets. They weren't cheap, but they look high quality. I think they would be ideal covering a door as well as windows. They looked quite nice too, though home furnishings is not my forte.

[ryanedward85]

We move into a new house at the weekend and I preparation I purchased some heavy black foam to put behind my speakers. I hope it works.

[ryanedward85]

Well, I put all this black foam on the walls where my speakers are so as not to disturb my neighbors. Only to have the neighbors watching Nickelodeon at full blast from morning till night with the fucking windows and doors open. Well 2 can play that game. At least my surround sound system plays at 9.1 and at very high volumes. So much for wanting to be considerate.

[Mark Shaw]

A friend decided to sound treat his home theater, and to be honest it sounded better before. it sounds like an echo chamber now with sound bouncing around the room. The channels are all screwed up now. A real mess.

[Spectrum]

^^^ What sort of treatment? The common error is typically just acoustic tiles to tame the high end, but leaving the remaining muddy bass modes to dominate. But an echo chamber it is not. Did they just put up hard wooden panels or something?

[Mark Shaw]

That's exactly what it was, acoustic wall panels. It sounded like a boom box. There was no sense of directionality in the sound tracks at all.

[Mark Shaw]

He's decided to take it all down and let an expert do it properly. Honestly, movies sounded awful, a muddy mess.

[ryanedward85]

I wish I understood a bit more about acoustics and exactly how they work. I could then make a real go of my HT.

[B Dortch]

So, did the original poster get the curtains that he needed? My clients are often fine with fake "soundproof curtains" which reduce the noise by say about 40%, but they never really "soundproof". They can be found everywhere, for example, Amazon, http://soundproofcur...m_curtains.html The trick with these curtains is that they actually look good, they also help block the heat transfer, and the light. Plus they let the fresh air in.

HTH, Barbara

[Vagrant Producer]

For sound treatment in my new room - I whacked a few rolls of unused carpet in a corner and placed a couple of canvas' in front of them (more for aesthetics). My wife also had 6 square canvas which she had very neatly covered with old band t-shirts - I filled the inside of them with carpet underlay - I then hung them in two rows about head height when sitting; opposite my monitors.

Didn't think it would work (i don't really know much about accoustics) but it seemed to create a sweet spot exactly where I sit and removed a fair bit of the reverb- the rest of the room is a bit bassy in certain spots but not too bad considering how it was when I started.

[ryanedward85]

In my HT i put up some very heavy black curtains on the windows and also the door. It worked really wellat killing alot of the neighborhood noises. Was thinking of getting some panels to place in the corners. However now that I am moving to Canada I'm not sure it would be worth it.

[Mark Shaw]

The problem with acoustic wall coverings is that many of them look so damned fugly.