Do I have the right acoustic panels?

Robbb

New member
I bought some acoustic foam from guitar center. It came with 12 standard foam panels and 12 bevel foam panels. The guy at guitar center told me that the bevel foam would act as a bass trap. I am starting to question whether that was true. Do both of these acoustic foam shapes do the same thing? Or do the bevel panels actually work as a bass trap?
 
'Acoustic' foam can tame some slapback echo sounds, but does nothing for the mud and bass soundwaves, which are usually 1 of the main problems with treating home recordist's rooms.
Not sure what these 'bevel' panels are - are they big corner pieces?
Best thing - take them back to GC and get a refund. Then do some research, ask some questions here - post a floor plan of your room, give us a couple of pictures, if there are tricky parts.
Foam needs to be at least 12" thick to absorb much low end. If you are even moderately handy, you can make your own bass traps using OC703 or 705 or Roxul (compressed fiberglass or rockwool) - there are plenty of youtubes on how to do it. Adding some 4" thick x2' x 4" panels to your corners and points of first reflection will do much more than any foam can.
 
Unfortunately I'm new to this forum, so I'm not allowed to post photos or links yet. But the bevel foam panels are the same size as the standard foam panels, just a different shape. If you Google bevel acoustic foam, you should be able to find it. I will post some pictures of the room I'm trying to treat when I'm allowed to post pictures. Thanks for the advice
 
Unfortunately I'm new to this forum, so I'm not allowed to post photos or links yet. But the bevel foam panels are the same size as the standard foam panels, just a different shape. If you Google bevel acoustic foam, you should be able to find it. I will post some pictures of the room I'm trying to treat when I'm allowed to post pictures. Thanks for the advice

If you mean something like these: Amazon.com: Mybecca 12 Pack Bevel Square Acoustic Foam Panel Bevel Tiles Soundproofing Wall 12 x 12 x 1 inch, Made in the USA - Color: Charcoal: Musical Instruments Totally Useless. Take the whole package back to GC.
Never ever rely on GC clerks for information without verifying it elsewhere. EVER!
 
Ya those are the ones. Ok noted. I wont take the gc clerks word for it next time. Are they worse than the standard acoustic foam, or are both pretty much useless? Thanks for the advice
 
1) What are you recording?
2) Are you mixing (with speakers) in the same room?
3) How large is the room?

Again, foam doesn't do anything for the low-mids or low frequencies, so foam treatment can leave tracks and mixes very muddy.
 
1. Im recording vocals and acoustic guitar. I also use the acoustic guitar in hip hop beats.
2. Yes I'm mixing with speakers in the same room.
3. The room is pretty small. Ceilings only about 6.5 or 7 ft tall.
 
You have to get away fom any notion that stock purchases work in every circumstance - they're tools to solve problems, but until you diagnose the problem, you can't fix it. The wrong product can make it worse.
 
1. Im recording vocals and acoustic guitar. I also use the acoustic guitar in hip hop beats.
2. Yes I'm mixing with speakers in the same room.
3. The room is pretty small. Ceilings only about 6.5 or 7 ft tall.

The smaller the room, the more TRUE acoustic trapping you need.
 
I randomly brought some Rockwool RW3 100mm Thick slabs today, planning on creating the RFZ, can't wait.

I am unsure of the bass traps though, I was thinking double up so that would be 200mm of Rockwool, and about 100mm airgap behind in the corner? Any Good? Or would I be better off cutting right into the corner? ie:(no air gap)

Ever heard of Plantex? there is some going spare, it's a black fabric but it's used for under turf in gardens, I think it will look nice, and I can blow through it absolutely fine, would you see any potential problems using this? The proper acoustic fabric is extremely pricey from what I saw on amazon today.

I'm sorry to hijack the thread a bit....

Edit: does the RFZ even make a difference in general? Is this going to be a lot of work for little gain?
Edit2: Is there a recommended air gap to leave behind the panels? 100mm slab, and 25mm airgap behind sufficient? I did not want the panels to jut out a ridiculous amount but will if I have to.
 
I randomly brought some Rockwool RW3 100mm Thick slabs today, planning on creating the RFZ, can't wait.

I am unsure of the bass traps though, I was thinking double up so that would be 200mm of Rockwool, and about 100mm airgap behind in the corner? Any Good? Or would I be better off cutting right into the corner? ie:(no air gap)

Ever heard of Plantex? there is some going spare, it's a black fabric but it's used for under turf in gardens, I think it will look nice, and I can blow through it absolutely fine, would you see any potential problems using this? The proper acoustic fabric is extremely pricey from what I saw on amazon today.

I'm sorry to hijack the thread a bit....

Edit: does the RFZ even make a difference in general? Is this going to be a lot of work for little gain?
Edit2: Is there a recommended air gap to leave behind the panels? 100mm slab, and 25mm airgap behind sufficient? I did not want the panels to jut out a ridiculous amount but will if I have to.
You can really go nuts doing this stuff.

Like you I went online to find info. One video a man said that a bass trap would need to be 6ft thick out of fiberglass to stop all low sounds. Another one showed how hard it it is to stop deep sounds which penetrate almost everything.

I looked at lots of acoustic treatment companies at what they did. Some used lots of diffusion treatments which could have been plywood with lots of holes on top of the fiberglass

In the end I just made timber frames the size of the RW3 and covered them with a hideously patterned tightly woven cotton fabric. Then covered them again with a tightly woven blue/black denim fabric.

Bass wasn't really my main problem so mine were only 100mm thick. But making yours 200mm thick is going to take up an awful lot of room in your corners so be prepared for this big chunky thing jutting out.

Making them triangular so they fit directly into a room corner is nuts and masses of horrible dusty work where the only depth is directly in the center of your panel. The rest of your panel is at lesser depths of thickness so not doing the same job. You will waste lots of expensive RW3 as well. Just make rectangular panels.
 
I have been driving myself nuts reading up on everything. I have had people say they spent thousands on room treatment and were very dissapointed. Fortunately the bass does not seem to be a major issue in my room although small. 3.3m x 3.5m roughly. I can sine sweep up from the lowest frequencies up to 300 with no dips or rises which is surprising. I just made sure to carefully measure my monitors out and keep them 500mm away from any boundary. Also I use Sonarworks to help flatten the listening position a little bit.

I am with you on the bass traps, those triangular bass traps that would sit into the room corner are going to be a pain in the ass to build and I am wandering if it will even be worth it! As I don't have much of a problem with bass I'm wandering if even to bother with it at all. I was going for the RFZ as a priority. I am hoping to start building them on saturday and hopefully by Sunday midday I should have them all in place and re-calibrate my speakers. Very curious how much difference it can make.

I may build a few extra panels and see if I can live with them in the corners, it's unlikely though. I hate clutter, anything that will not look right. The looks is just as important as it's job imo.

Cheers for comment I will take that all on board!
 
You can cut those rockwool panels into triangles, stack them in the corner for a 'superchunk', assuming you have the room. If you have the room leave a 1" gap between them and the wall, straddle a corner, if you use them that way.
Not to contradict JamEZ too much, but he probably DOES have a bass issue in that small room - the only way to measure or hear it is to move around the room (or move the measuring mic) to different spots with different frequencies playing.
 
You could cut the Rockwool into sections using poultry or fabric shears (cuts easily) and layer them into a corner of a cardboard box (removing excess box sections), then set in corner. Repeat and stack to ceiling. Wrap in acceptable fabric to make pretty.

Here's just one example of how to :

rock.jpg
 
The RW3 is pretty cheap so I don't mind using whatever is needed. But if I'm going to lose all my corners which means I have to re-plan my studio and move everything across to suit it, also I could probably do with a new desk.

I was also not sure if I am going to commit to that room or use my current bedroom and switch everything over, I was stood in the bedroom for a good half an hour last night trying to plan everything out in my head, I came to the conclusion... I do not have any idea what I am going to do

I am sure I have a lot of bass issues in that room, but it's just from my listening position I seem to be able to hear everything clearly while going up through the lower frequencies. My speakers output a crappy bass (M-Audio BX5's) so my sonarworks actually boosts the entire low end somewhat which is how I can accurately place my kicks/bass, I struggle a fair bit without sonarworks. I am in need of some decent studio monitors next. But I am just happy my speakers/room lack bass (from listening position) and is not over abundant with it.
 
Nice one Spantini!

I saw a video on cutting the insulation into huge triangle pieces and stacking up into a corner. I am thinking of building a frame even still so I can move them into another room if I later on change my mind, plus I will really be able to pull that fabric over it nicely with no creases.

Cheers for this discussion, i didn't realise this part of Home recording was this active.

I just re-read, I think using the cardboard boxes is a neat little idea, giving me lots to think about. Nice one!

Also, I have a bunch of those 1ftx1ft, 50mm thick tiles knocking around after I made these bigger broadband panels. Is there any use for the tiles whatsoever? Judging by what others said above, they were probably only good for shaving off some of the top end, and really not worthwhile putting up in the first place :-/
 
James, here's how I cut my 2' x 4' x 4" (~1.2m x ~0.6m x 10.16cm) rockwool panels and turned them into bass traps: I ordered two packs of three panels each, cut each panel with a bread knife. Used 3M 70 (the 90 in the green can works too but the 70 in the red can is strong enough) spray glue to glue the equal triangle-cut panel pieces. I got one 4-stack cake slice triangle out of each panel. I went to a fabric store and found cheap black fabric that was breathable, and glued that to each triangle, then just stacked three in one corner and three in another corner, both on top of a dresser or table.

There's a big difference! You need mass to absorb. Leave a couple inches/a few centimeters space to let air and sound around the back of them. My drums are a lot punchier and the things I record in the room sound more like just the instrument instead of the instrument and a smeary room. The biggest sort-of-unnecessary expense was shipping costs, if I can find a place that I can just pick up more panels from I will do that. I'd like to build 3-6 more triangles to have more in that room but also the little closet I record amps in that is off that room

Hope you are doing well! Cheers from across the pond
 

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