Just Ordered Some Acoustic Panels

[bitflipper]

To glue to my garage door. It's a little cramped when the band's rehearsing in here, so the guitarist and bassist both have to stand close to the rollup garage door. I believe that's contributing to mic feedback, so I've decided to put up some 12x12x2" panels on the door.

Wish me luck - the door is made of segmented painted wood panels, so I might have to get some "permanent" industrial adhesive so they don't fall off when the door is retracted.

I've been meaning to do this for awhile, but sheesh, the Auralex stuff would be kinda pricey for what's basically an experiment. But I wanted to pass along a resource I discovered, a foam factory out of Michigan that sells direct - unimaginatively called  Foam Factory. Based on published testing, their stuff seems to be comparable to Auralex but considerably cheaper. A pack of 24 from Sweetwater was $119. A pack of 48 from Foam Factory is $45. Shipping was $13, so even with Sweetwater's free shipping that's still a much lower price.

Yes, you can find similar-looking products on Amazon for like twenty bucks. Read all the 1-star reviews before wasting your money on that crap.

I will report back to let you know how these worked out.

 

[hockeyjx]

Something I did that worked for me: I glued the foam panels to posterboard and with felt pads on the back. I used T pins to put them in drywall(where a dollop of paint would cover the wholes), and hung a few at varying heights from the ceiling.

You could do something like that for your garage door that would make it easy to remove. Or even use velcro with adhesive to put on the posterboard and the garage door.

Curious of the quality of what you have bought!

Edited September 10 by hockeyjx

[bitflipper]

All the rest of my treatments in this room are rigid fiberglass in wood frames. Framing allows use as both free-standing gobos or hung on walls with spacers behind. I also have a ceiling cloud hanging from chains a foot below the ceiling (which is actually a false ceiling made of pegboard, allowing the attic space to serve as a bass trap). All in all, the room already sounds pretty good for mixing, recording and rehearsing.

The garage door is the only surface with no treatment. My mix position is about 12 feet away and otherwise surrounded by absorption, so the door isn't normally a problem. But then I don't normally place microphones in front of it.

Here's the frequency response for these 2" panels, which are pretty much what I would expect and actually a little better than the Auralex equivalents below 800Hz.

These come in 3" and 4" thicknesses as well, but as my goal is preventing mic feedback around 4-8KHz, the 2" thickness will do just fine.

While I wait for delivery, I'll give some thought to the posterboard method. The company actually suggests that technique if you think you might ever have to remove the panels, because the really good glue that builders use rips the foam.

I'd also like to figure out a way to put a small air gap behind them, which lowers the lowest frequency at which they're effective. I will experiment, given that I'll have a pack of 48 and need only 30 to do the garage door. Hmm, I wonder if I'd sleep better if my bedroom was acoustically treated...

[Grem]

Thanks for info bit. Let us know how it works out. 

Gorilla Glue makes a real good double-sided tape. JAPSA

[Grem]

Great prices! Real good find bit. Real good!

12"x12"x4" 12pk= $20

That's the wedge shape.  

[Wookiee]

6 hours ago, Grem said:

That's the wedge shape.  

I do believe that is a corner bass trap, they do stop corner swirling.

[Rain]

12 hours ago, bitflipper said:

To glue to my garage door. It's a little cramped when the band's rehearsing in here, so the guitarist and bassist both have to stand close to the rollup garage door. I believe that's contributing to mic feedback, so I've decided to put up some 12x12x2" panels on the door.

Wish me luck - the door is made of segmented painted wood panels, so I might have to get some "permanent" industrial adhesive so they don't fall off when the door is retracted.

I've been meaning to do this for awhile, but sheesh, the Auralex stuff would be kinda pricey for what's basically an experiment. But I wanted to pass along a resource I discovered, a foam factory out of Michigan that sells direct - unimaginatively called  Foam Factory. Based on published testing, their stuff seems to be comparable to Auralex but considerably cheaper. A pack of 24 from Sweetwater was $119. A pack of 48 from Foam Factory is $45. Shipping was $13, so even with Sweetwater's free shipping that's still a much lower price.

Yes, you can find similar-looking products on Amazon for like twenty bucks. Read all the 1-star reviews before wasting your money on that crap.

I will report back to let you know how these worked out.

 

I believe that's where I got mine from! I don't have the receipt but according to the Fedex info, they were shipped from Macomb, MI. Not that I would normally remember but I ordered them exactly 10 years ago after I repainted the room and that popped up in my Facebook memories. 

I got a bunch of those square ones that I placed on the side walls, a few of their bass/broadband absorbers, and a large piece (6 x 4 ish) that I placed behind the desk. I had thick black curtains hanging on the front and back walls and every few feet on the side walls, and the floor was carpeted, so the room was not that bright to begin with.  Anyway, I was happy with the result, but I'm no Ethan Winer.

In 2021 a few months before moving out, my ex brought this huge panel that she'd inherited from a customer. She left it behind because she had no room for it in her new home, so I agreed to keep it for her with some of her stuff in the garage. But every time I went downstairs and saw it it felt like such a waste. Seeing that it's unlikely that she'll have room for it any time soon, we agreed that I could use it for as long as I need it, although it technically remains hers. 

It weights a ton and it was a pain to carry this thing through tiny corridors and upstairs all by myself and then to install it, in the July heat, but after a couple of hours and a few splinters in my fingers, it was finally in its rightful place, replacing the large bit of acoustic foam. And it does a good job of absorbing frequencies. (You can see a few of those broadband absorbers above it. I couldn't fit them in the corners anymore so I decided to put them wherever - there is no actual reasoning behind their placement).

 

 

 

 

[craigb]

Here comes the Rain again! 😁

[bitflipper]

I, too, am no Ethan Winer. But I've read everything he's ever written on the subject and I've seen photos of his home studio as well as his living room / listening room. I'm sure he would agree with me that yours is easily the most beautiful acoustic treatment I've ever seen in a home studio!

[T Boog]

Man, it sounds like all u guys do some neat, clean work. My studio looks like it came out of the movie Hustle & Flow. I got random squares of sloppy cut carpet stapled to the walls with blankets hanging between mic stands for a vocal booth 😄. What can say?...  It's hard out here fo a *****!

[bitflipper]

On 9/11/2024 at 8:51 AM, T Boog said:

My studio looks like it came out of the movie Hustle & Flow.

That pretty much describes my setup, too. Except that I long ago gave up on packing blankets in favor of OC703. But tbh not a lot of science went into my configuration, mostly trial and error followed by measurements to tell me if what I did actually worked.

The important thing is that any treatment is better than none. I can't think of any acoustical mistake that would actually make things worse.

(OK, lining the walls with mirrors would make things worse.)

[mettelus]

2 hours ago, bitflipper said:

(OK, lining the walls with mirrors would make things worse.)

Well crap... ceilings too??

[T Boog]

4 hours ago, bitflipper said:

any treatment is better than none.

Yeah, thats kinda my theory. And I feel what's most important is the song & performances anyway. I'd rather hear a mediocre mix of a great song than a great mix of a mediocre song.

[T Boog]

2 hours ago, mettelus said:

Well crap... ceilings too??

As long as u chug some pink champagne on ice and it should sound fine 👍

[bitflipper]

3 hours ago, mettelus said:

Well crap... ceilings too??

Not practical. You'd need a matching mirror on the floor to maximize the amplitude of standing waves.

[craigb]

So, we're all prisoners of our own devices then?

[Max Arwood]

Rain that is super Koooool looking.  I'll bet it works great too!

[bitflipper]

On 9/10/2024 at 5:48 PM, Grem said:

Gorilla Glue makes a real good double-sided tape. JAPSA

I've used Gorilla Glue in the past (for hanging paneling) and it's well-named. So in your experience, just how good is the double-sided tape? Would you use it on a ceiling? These will need to stay in place even when the door is in its horizontal position.

7 hours ago, craigb said:

So, we're all prisoners of our own devices then?

You might say we spend our lives in chains, and we never even know we have the key.

[Grem]

1 hour ago, bitflipper said:

So in your experience, just how good is the double-sided tape? Would you use it on a ceiling?

I have used the double sided tape to put sandpaper on wooden blocks to use for sanding. My thought was to just remove the sandpaper when I needed to change grit. In reality, that did not work out as easily as I thought it would. When that stuff sticks, it's really sticks and is hard to pull off. How will it handle with daytime heat, is unknown. 

I have a garage door that I want to insulate to help keep the heat down during the afternoon when the sun is shinning on the garage door. So I am going to stick a piece on it today with something stuck to it that has a little weight to see what happens.

 

[edit] Yes I would use it on a ceiling to hang the foam. Get a roll and you will see, that's some sticky stuff!! Again, I just don't know how it will handle daytime heat.

One thing to consider, I can see this stuff ripping the paper off sheetrock, so be careful.

Edited September 13 by Grem

[PhonoBrainer]

Velcro strips, baby! Bit o' gorilla glue.