Blankets for sound dampening/baffling

J

Johnny Don't!

New member
Hey kids. I'm back again wif another random question 'cuz you guys always give great answers. And make me laugh too.

I've been looking for some of those heavy-duty blankets (the ones you typically see movers using) for various uses in both my home studio and my commercial studio. I found these, and they seemed like a pretty good deal, especially if I buy them in the 6-pack, as I'll save $80 that way.

But I've also been planning a move, and while looking for some packing materials online, I found these.

Now, the first page I linked claims the "Producer's Choice Blanket" has a special stitch pattern and is stuffed with a sound-absorbing cotton material. The only two pieces of information on the second page I can use to compare the two blankets is the weight & size: the Producer's Blanket weighs 11 lbs and the basic moving blanket weighs about 7.5 lbs. The sizes are different as well: the Producer's Blanket is 96"x80" whereas the moving blanket is 72"x80", so the latter is about two feet smaller.

Considering the difference in size, I would imagine the two blankets would weigh about the same if the sizes were the same. My question is, does anyone think the Producer's Blanket is worth the extra money? Will it *really* make that much of a difference compared to the basic moving blanket?

Thanks in advance!
 
Before someone jumps on the "Oh, gawd, not another blanket post" bandwagon, I'd like to just say that acoustic treatment normally comes from density and thickness. The denser material will stop more sound. The thicker, the lower the tone. Having said that...If you're fighting a specific high frequency that these might help decrease; if you're fighting flutter echo and need something for temporary hang in the middle of the room; if your using them to make smaller spaces, you might have a use for them.
But for $40 a pop, you could build gobos with 4" 703 or 705 or Roxul. Just as a quick look, you can get a 6 pack of 2" x2x4 703 for $70 (which would make 4" units about $23 a piece plus some lumber and $1 material from Wal-Mart or some craft place). Making them into gobos is as easy as adding feet to the bottom of the rack so they don't fall over.
 
"Oh, gawd, not another blanket post"!!! :spank:

Johnny - those 'producer blankets' have been discussed here - someone "not associated" with the place linked them somewhere or other.
They are WAY overpriced. Do you have Harbor Freight anywhere near you? They carry the standard moving blankets for about $5 each.
If your room is otherwise untreated and you have a flutter echo problem, then some blankets may help a little. I bought one and experiemented with it behind me (blocking reverberation from sheetrock wall) and could hear no difference at all in my recordings. If my computer ever gets noisy, now I've got something I can throw over it while I record. Or if I ever need to move a fridge. :facepalm:
 
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Yup, Habor Freight is a better value, I got mine for $7 each.
Better to get more of the HF blankets them and double up with an air gap.
 
Just so everyone is on the same page here I picked up some of these blankets and the will work like you guys stated in a quick pinch but these are not nearly as dense as moving blankets used by movers. Density being a big deal here, I'd actually spend some money on some good thick blankets for that odd emergency situation, which is almost every situation for me.
 
Thanks much, gents; it's just as I expected: the Producer's Blankets are a ripoff. Good to know!

I already have quite a bit of treatment in my little home studio; I was looking into the blankets as a way of muffling noise from windows in my place such that I could hang them when tracking and remove them when I need natural light to remind me to stop working and eat or sleep, etc. Haha.

I'm a BIG FAN of the Roxul Safe N' Sound as well as the Roxul Rockboard 60, which is a GREAT substitute for OC 701 (which I believe is no longer manufactured; if it is, I've had one hell of a time sourcing it) as it's much cheaper; a tiny bit sturdier; and has better absorption co-efficients than OC 701. But that's been fairly hard to source as well; the only place I can find it is from a company called ATS Acoustics. They sell it online for about $40/6-pack, but the shipping costs SUCK. Fortunately, ATS is housed in a small town only about 90 minutes from where I live in Chicago, so I can just go pick it up and avoid the ridiculous shipping costs.

Thanks again guys, and I'm sorry I re-posted an evidently beaten-to-death topic; didn't realize there were other threads about the blankets. But I really appreciate the responses.
 
Thanks for the info here! My instinct was that I should start with a couple of cheap blankets and double them up.

Just another newbie question: what's a Gobo? My understanding was that using products like roxul really requires you to use it wall construction and not just as a treatment.

Camille
 
A gobo is a portable acoustic treatment (as applied here). You build roxul or OC 703/705 treatment and add feet/elevation so they can be placed in the room where needed, when needed. Makes them portable and store-able. The normal for acoustic treatment in existing spaces is to put it ON the walls and not IN the walls. Accomplish either of these by building wood frames to the desired dimension (say 2'x2'x4") then put the appropriate sized piece of insulation in the frame, cover it with audio-transparent cloth (burlap will work) and hang it in an appropriate place (first reflections are always a good start). Reduces the amount of echo and flutter in the room. If you go far enough, you get a completely acoustically dead environment in which to record. Thereby enabling you to use whatever reverb/echo/whatever that you'd like. Also tames the frequencies in the room, so you get an accurate listen.
AFA blankets go, the order of preference, usually on this site, is top-insulation, distant second-acoustic foam, last-anything else, including blankets. Just not much value to them other than cost.
 
Thanks!

So Roxul is not like "sound board" sound proofing -- where it has to cover room completely and have no leaks. It's used like acoustic foam - to dampen reflections?

Camille
 
daringnovelist said:
Thanks!

So Roxul is not like "sound board" sound proofing -- where it has to cover room completely and have no leaks. It's used like acoustic foam - to dampen reflections?

Camille
Click to expand...

Roxul makes both the "sound board" insulation as well as the fluffier, softer insulation typically used inside walls. The former is called Roxul Rockboard 60 or 80 (both have very similar NRC values - Noise Reduction Coefficient; in fact, their overall NRC is exactly the same, .80, but they have slightly different NRCs at different frequencies) and the latter is called Roxul Safe n' Sound.

You'd most likely use the Rockboard to make on-wall baffles; for example, I just covered nearly the entire surface of the control room in the studio I recently entered a partnership with in Rockboard 60 wrapped in a light burlap fabric. You *could* use the Safe n' Sound for the same purpose, but it would be overkill: the Rockboard is only 1" deep whereas the Safe n' Sound's minimum thickness is 3", so you'd be losing some space in the room with essentially ZERO acoustic improvement (over the Rockboard). Also, the Safe n' Sound will NOT maintain its shape on its own like the stiff Rockboard will, so you'd have to build frames in which to encase the Safe n' Sound. Many pro studios still build frames for the Rockboard baffles as it tends to look a bit more professional/high/howeveryouwannasayit.

Safe n' Sound is better suited for use in Gobos or bass traps or for in-wall treatment while building out a studio. Also, I'd avoid using the term "soundproof" or "soundproofing," as very few products will achieve 100% soundproofing. And soundproofing really isn't the goal; the goal is sound improvement, which is attained by using baffles, bass traps, clouds, & diffusors to eliminate flutter echoes, standing/canceling waves at given frequencies, and also just to "deaden" a room a little bit.

Hope that helps.
 
PS - I am in NO WAY an acoustic engineer or a specialist; I guarantee you there are a few guys on here who know WAY MORE about this than I do, so hopefully they will chime in to correct/improve upon what I posted above.
 
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