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  • Acoustic Panels

    Posted by Stan on May 20, 2021 at 11:39 am

    I made acoustic panels and now they are up on the wall.

    Frames 1X4 pine, Rockwool Safe & Sound, then covered with landscaping fabric then fabric from Guilford of Maine. It was a fun project.

    Stan replied 3 years, 8 months ago 6 Members · 20 Replies
  • 20 Replies
  • Loraine

    Member
    May 21, 2021 at 4:06 am

    Stan, the panels look fabulous. Great win!

  • Kevin H

    Member
    May 21, 2021 at 7:27 am

    Nice Setup! Can you tell a difference in sound quality in the room and recorded? Curious as I would like to try some panels as well.

    • Stan

      Member
      May 21, 2021 at 9:28 am

      Yes, what a difference. I put panels on all four walls and four were put on the ceiling. I had some people over when only the ceiling and three walls were were treated. Everyone noticed a difference. The last wall to be treated was around the computer screen and now I can even feel the difference in the room. And to my surprise another person was checking out the room and they said the same thing, “you can feel the difference.

      I have not recorded anything after the acoustic treatment, I’m still setting up an audio interface.

      I made a few small panels that are placed around the PC, to keep the noise of the computer fans down. I’m pleased with how that is working.

      I have made two panels to be free standing and I have not made the stands to hold them. So a little more work to do.

      It was a fun project.

  • Kevin H

    Member
    May 21, 2021 at 11:35 am

    They look really nice, I am glad to hear that they work as intended. My room looks similar to yours with a large window and I was concerned panels may not help with a window in the room. Looks like I have a new project!

    • Moonhare

      Member
      May 22, 2021 at 12:12 am

      Hi there. I think we all have that issue with windows but what I did was get some drop down heavy fabric blinds for the window then if I need to record acoustic I just drop that down and the combination of the blind and the panels either side completely cuts all the reflections. (see pic)

      • This reply was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by  Moonhare. Reason: add photos
  • Loraine

    Member
    May 21, 2021 at 10:47 pm

    Question: How did you determine how many panels you needed and where to put them?

    • Moonhare

      Member
      May 22, 2021 at 12:23 am

      Really all you are doing is trying to break up reflections so it depends on your room. Hanging some heavy drapes will do the job and anything like sofas, bookcases etc can help to break up a blank, hard surface wall that creates a lot of echo. Cheap trick – clap your hands and see if you get an echo. If you do that will definitely come out on recordings and muddy them up so anything you can put on the walls to absorb the sound will help.

      If you have a studio set up like I do I also look at the direction my monitor speakers are pointing and put panels to catch the first reflections that bounce off the side walls and I also have panels on the back walls. But this gets a bit more technical than you’d need for just stopping a room being too ‘lively’ for recording.

      • Loraine

        Member
        May 22, 2021 at 6:50 am

        Thank you for the info. I’m turning a room (larger) into a music/art studio, and the walls are pretty bare right now, so I’ll definitely have to hang some things. What about flooring. My entire house is wood floors (older home), and there is a definite echo/cavernous sound in the rooms. Do you put a carpet/rug down on the floor to absorb some of the noise? Sorry for all the questions — I a technically disinclined person.

      • Moonhare

        Member
        May 22, 2021 at 3:24 pm

        Floors can be reflective too so some rugs might help in the area you want to record in. My studio is the only room downstairs that is carpetted. All the rest are hard wood.

  • Moonhare

    Member
    May 22, 2021 at 12:10 am

    That’s a great job and yes this sort of treatment makes a huge difference to the reflections in a room with blank walls. I bought a cheap pack of acoustic panels (from that ubiquitous online trading company) as I was already building my studio desk from scrap wood and just wanted to get them up. They do the job but one day I may make my own.

    • Stan

      Member
      May 24, 2021 at 10:46 am

      That is a nice small win, making your own desk.

  • branman

    Member
    May 22, 2021 at 9:55 am

    Nice work! I still need to my bass traps – and a few Gobos – for recording

    • Loraine

      Member
      May 22, 2021 at 10:31 am

      @branman I like the ascetic look of your panels. Is it too forward of me to ask what all the panels cost? That must have been a pretty pennies worth. Where did you purchase them?

      • branman

        Member
        May 22, 2021 at 10:42 am

        @Loraine they are a little spendy new ($250.00 x 2) for what I got, I bought mine used, these are Two (2) Primacoustic London 8 Acoustic Room Kits

        https://www.sweetwater.com/store/search.php?s=primacoustic+london+8

        I still need a few items as my room is a giant box.

        • This reply was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by  branman.
      • branman

        Member
        May 22, 2021 at 10:45 am

        BTW mine are all hung with Command no drill picture hangers

      • Loraine

        Member
        May 22, 2021 at 11:27 am

        Thanks for the info @branman and great idea to use the Command instead.

    • Stan

      Member
      May 23, 2021 at 12:15 pm

      Looks nice.

  • Stan

    Member
    May 23, 2021 at 12:21 pm

    I should add that I was doing my research on acoustic panels and @David_M_Dm posted photos of this nice homemade acoustic panels. David posted his sizes for the panels, that was a big help to me.

  • David_M_Dm

    Member
    May 28, 2021 at 8:12 pm

    I thought I would repost my info from the old forum. This includes sound clips to help show just how effective the sound treatment is — hint — it is NOT subtle.

    I can get a little obsessive about my guitars and all that goes with it. Anyone here identify with this? For me right now it is sound quality of my music room. I realized I can’t get a good recording without making some improvements. In case anyone else is contemplating such an endeavor, I wanted to provide my results and say to you that it is WORTH IT !!!!

    My music room is a small room, 10 foot ceilings and hardwood floors. Echo was a major problem, so much so that I think it was even changing pitch of the guitar when I recorded. That is the microphone was picking up the guitar and altered tones off the walls. Panels are expensive and honestly kind of ugly, so I decided to follow some online YouTube videos and made my own panels. I did not “strategically” place them in the room but because one purchase of the insulation makes so many panels, I had enough to just over-fill the room. Plus there were only so many places that had wall space.

    This wall has 3 large panels and 2 small panels. The 3 large panels are covered in a rope weave room décor that I already owned.

    This wall has 10 smaller panels added. We found small fabric pieces on sale at the fabric store.

    I also added a floor rug and a upholstered chair into the room.

    This is an audio clip of the untreated room and treated room.

    • Stan

      Member
      May 29, 2021 at 3:49 pm

      👍

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