Acoustic foam adhesive?

M

metalmando

New member
Hey folks....Is there a low cost alternative to the expensive Ultimate Acoustics brand of foam adhesive? Might seem like a silly question, but there it is. Thanks.
 
Acoustic foam is not the best choice for sound absorption, but can take a little of the 'slapback echo' out of a bad room. It does nothing for the low end (where the 'mud' is).
Unless you have concrete walls, use the 'spike method' - hammer 2" finish nails into the wall, then just impale the foam squares on them.
 
As Mike says, acoustic 'Pyramid' foam is of little use for major sound correction but has its place at the "mirror points" where it can greatly improve a poor stereo image.

Google "Studio SOS" and read the back articles.

Dave.
 
Instead of using the adhesive, use a staple gun. It's also a good idea to mount the foam on something else and hang that on the wall.

Gluing them directly to the wall will ruin the wall, if you ever need to take them down, it's a big mess to try to turn it back into a good looking wall.
 
Farview said:
Instead of using the adhesive, use a staple gun. It's also a good idea to mount the foam on something else and hang that on the wall.

Gluing them directly to the wall will ruin the wall, if you ever need to take them down, it's a big mess to try to turn it back into a good looking wall.
Click to expand...
COZ! If it's not your wall.....!

Dave.
 
Im with Farview....
glue or staple the foam to cardboard piece or something..be creative, then thumb tacks or nail the piece to the drywall.... direct glue to drywall or cement blocks could be a messy teardown later.

Ive setup several "studios" in this home as it gets moved around.... my last time I just bought some long ball pins <$5 100qty...I forget which gauge, it worked fine with drywall. Just stuck the ball-pins through the foam into the drywall. I wanted easy removal and sure enough they all came down and moved to another room.

things change.... or you want to take it with you, move it...if its not your home especially...renting etc..

is there need to glue it? Brick basement wall? Prison Cell? Outdoor metal wall? ....if its drywall....try the pins it worked pretty good.
 
As an alternative to staples and glue (especially for thicker stuff) - "T" pins. I'm not sure how they're marketed, but they're pins (probably 1.5" or so) shaped like a "T" that you can press in (to drywall), will hold, won't "squish" the foam and are easily removable.

That said -- For the vast majority of foam installations I've seen, foam was the wrong product. As mentioned - 90% of the problematic energy you want to absorb is in the low end. Foam takes care of about 0% of that (even most of the foam marketed as "bass traps" should be arrested for lying about their identify).

THAT said -- If you install a bunch of foam with these "T" pins, when you find out they don't really do anything except make *100%* of your problem the bottom end, they're easily removed so you can install proper broadband trapping.
 
I just got back to checking all this. Thanks, everyone for chiming in. I almost bought a cache of leftover foam product from a guy and changed my mind. I record primarily acoustic, never anything super loud. My studio is in a finished shed adjacent to the house. I have some work to do to get it right, but the fact that I only record acoustically and mix at low volume should buy me some time.
 
metalmando said:
I just got back to checking all this. Thanks, everyone for chiming in. I almost bought a cache of leftover foam product from a guy and changed my mind. I record primarily acoustic, never anything super loud. My studio is in a finished shed adjacent to the house. I have some work to do to get it right, but the fact that I only record acoustically and mix at low volume should buy me some time.
Click to expand...
Any room will benefit from proper acoustic treatment, no matter what you are play/recording/mixing.
 
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