Auralex Products

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scuppari

New member
Just a had a free consultation done on my studio... will cost over $2000 for foam and bass traps.

Are they the only manufactures of studio foam? Are there any other US based companies to compare prices too?

Don't have the room to accomodiate built-in traps or diffusors. Suggestions?
 
Try here too:

http://www.homestudiofoam.com

Cheaper than Auralex.

The price of foam has always astounded me. Seems like all the foam in world can't be worth more than about $3.00. Then when I see products like Auralex's new "speaker isolation" foam that is designed to keep your monitors from resonating through your mixing desk, I have to wonder how necessary some of this stuff really is. There are a lot of great records that have been mixed with monitors touching the desk. Oh well, I'm ranting.....

Aaron
http://www.voodoovibe.com
 
aaron, if you look closely at what they are selling, you will find it is not much cheaper at all than auralex. you get (in 2" studio foam wedges), 44 1 ft by 1 ft panels for what, $75? that is 44 square ft. if you buy a box of auralex, this includes 96 square ft in 4' by 2' panels for $179. you do the math! 44 x 2 = 88 sq ft for $150


auralex per square ft = $1.86
homestudiofoam = $1.70


plus i recomend you read their installation tips page.

"WARNING: Keep away from flame sources, polyurethane foam can burn. It is impossible for us to keep up with all local building and fire codes. Please check locally about such codes before installation, especially for public buildings such as hospitals. HomeStudioFoam is not "flame-retardant".

Cigarette smoke, sunlight, fluorescent lighting, and heat may cause discoloration or fading of foam (all brands of foam).

Mount the foam away from direct sunlight, the sunlight will fade the color over time.

Do not open near computers or other sensitive electronic equipment. Potential static electricity build-up during packaging and shipment may cause harm."


although it is impossible to make a totally fire retardant foam product, auralex is probably the safest, as they try to keep up with fire codes. auralex does not fade, crumble, or rip easily. also, it does not create static electricity. hhhhmm! i think i will stick with auralex! you get what you pay for!
 
does homestudiofoam have there NRC values posted online? all i could find were mp3s to "hear" the difference. i hope i didnt come across sounding too harsh. i really am a nice guy! :)
 
Guys, thanks for the feedback... After reading the web-sites and your comments, I've decided to stick w/ Auralex products. However, the estimate the free-consultation service came out to be nearly $2000 (treating nearly every square inch of wall). Is that overkill?

Are there problem areas of a studio that usually require treatment?
 
what kind of room is it? a vocal boothe? drum room? what are the dimensions? i would guess that you would be able to get away with far less than what auralex quoted you. i would not recomend making your room totally dead, especially if you are going to be recording drums in it. if you have one room that you are going to be using multipurpose for things such as tracking vocals, drums, guitar, and everything else under the sun. i would make one end more dead than the other. for example, i have one room for tracking and one for a control room. when i record vocals, i put the singer with their back in a corner and the mic facing that same corner. the corner is treated a bit more heavily. that helps cut out the sound of a big room. i have a live room that is 35ft by 29 ft and 10 ft 4 in ceilings. this room has about 40-50 % coverage and is really dead. my control room is 22 ft by 16ft with 10 ft 4 in ceiling and is about 60% covered. this room is very dead as well. i did this all for under $2000 with auralex stuff. actually it was more like $1500. i have a good home made bass trap if you are interest.
 
although it is impossible to make a totally fire retardant foam product, auralex is probably the safest, as they try to keep up with fire codes. auralex does not fade, crumble, or rip easily. also, it does not create static electricity. hhhhmm! i think i will stick with auralex! you get what you pay for! [/B]
Click to expand...

Their lighter colors fade like everything else, but their medium to darker colors are just fine, I'd agree.

To me, the fire resistance is VERY important, and I would agree its an excellent choice. $2000 is a lot of money to spend, and to save $50 just to have some careless smoker set your studio on fire abruptly is not worth the savings.

And to those who will argue that there should be no smoking in a studio (and I agree with you) picture something in your rack, near the foam, suddenly shorting out and flames hitting the foam :(
 
I've looked at Auralex at the store, and my studio is covered with the stuff from Home Studio Foam. As far as the material goes, I really don't think there's a whole lot of difference. I've never compared them right next to each other, but I wouldn't be a bit surprised to find they both buy their raw foam from the same supplier, or whatever.
I honestly don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised to find that one isn't any more fire retardant than the other either. I think I'll send off an eamil to HSF and see what they have to say about it.

Aaron
http://www.voodoovibe.com
 
As part of the post-manufacturing process, they spray/saturate their foam with a flame retardant substance that bonds into the foam.


Aaron Cheney said:
I've looked at Auralex at the store, and my studio is covered with the stuff from Home Studio Foam. As far as the material goes, I really don't think there's a whole lot of difference. I've never compared them right next to each other, but I wouldn't be a bit surprised to find they both buy their raw foam from the same supplier, or whatever.
I honestly don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised to find that one isn't any more fire retardant than the other either. I think I'll send off an eamil to HSF and see what they have to say about it.

Aaron
http://www.voodoovibe.com
Click to expand...
 
actually, auralex manufacturs their own foam. i know this as a result of research i did when i was purchasing foam for my studio a couple weeks ago. that is what makes auralex different than other companies. they design and manufacture foam specifically with audio in mind. there manufacturing facility is only about 1 1/2 hrs south of me in indianapolis, indiana.
 
I've got two rooms each about 11 by 14 feet. Both rooms have trey ceilings with a height of 8'10" on center and 7'8" around the perimeter. Total sq ft is 350

I've seen specs for several diffusors and bass traps on john sayer's site, but i don't want to lose add'l wall space or have to re-construct the walls.
 
Howdy,

Remember - unless your room is extraordinarily sad, you don't need to saturate the entire 350 sq feet with foam. Usually there are bass traps in the corners (1' sq) so that saves some wall mounted foam, and typically spacing 1'x1' tiles about 6" apart still cuts things down enough to be more than happy. Of course this depends on your room and its construction. My particular room was very sad when I moved here, but thats only because its a 61 y/o garage loft that someone decided to put tongue & groove cedar panels on the walls and ceilings, with no insulation AT ALL behind it.

Took a lot of fixing, and I got to keep the cedar.

scuppari said:
I've got two rooms each about 11 by 14 feet. Both rooms have trey ceilings with a height of 8'10" on center and 7'8" around the perimeter. Total sq ft is 350

I've seen specs for several diffusors and bass traps on john sayer's site, but i don't want to lose add'l wall space or have to re-construct the walls.
Click to expand...
 
80.00 for 112 sq ft = about 70 cents a square foot and its flame retardent, makes AMFoams deal the champ. dont buy the auralux glue, its only the same stuff 3M sells for 5 bucks at home depot.
 
Question 1: what about this stuff..http://www.foambymail.com/VolaraSP.html
i've had a few ppl tell me to get some thin mat that was around 250 pounds...and lay it down before the foam...do i need it for my vocal booth... i'm trying to have it as sound proofed as i can get it...

Question 2: floating floor... i've heard the term many times... but what is it really.. getting some 2x4's mounted and building a wood floor???

Question 3: my parter told me to put a wood wall behind the mic...this is how he has his booth.. the mic is in the middle of the room and the back wall is wood... should i build a wood wall or a floating floor or both???
 
Microcosm Treatment - NO GLUE!

I looked around at a lot of acoustic treatments (Auralex, Primacoustic, foambymail, sonomatt, etc.), but Microcosm had the best product for home studios. (It's a no brainer because it's also the most affordable!) You can check it out at www.microcosmmedia.com
 
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