Foam!!

At work there were plenty of thick large blocks of foam laying around that were going to be thrown out. I took all of it back home. What are your general thoughts on using this to help out the acoustics of an untreated room? I have so far placed a lot in the corners behind the monitors and it seems to be improving things....

-j

I guess It's way better than a ruff corner but still 2 work at best should b a tuned foam 2 the problem freq.s...

but like u said should b better than nothing!!


Z

use a mirror and a friend. sit in your mix position and get the friend to move the mirror around, anywhere you can see your speakers stick a shit load of foam. These locations will be on the ceiling one on the left wall, one on the right wall, behind the speakers in the middle and behind your head in the middle.

You may find you get better results by having a bookcase or a diffusor directly behind you as that will scatter the sound rather than absorb it potentially resulting in a more natural sound. At least that's how most of the studios i've seen are configured.

I've not done much a/b testing to confirm all this for myself but that's what I'm led to believe is the best minimal solution.

As Z says ... bear in mind that generic foam may have a weird frequency response so you may not be getting the same quality solution you'd get with something like acoustic foam from studiospares or auralex.

But auralex form is about 50 quid a panel so you'll be quids in anyway :)

If the foam is very very thick indeed then sticking it in the corners might affect the bass response of the room nicely ...

yeah ive just treated my room and its dampened the top end flutter down a lot.. now i can listen to my mix for longer before my ears tire out and im not getting a false impression of the top end (which tended to make my mixes sound a tad muddy).. i did use proper scoustic tiles though - but its well worth it :)
as baz said a foot or two of dense foam in the corners could well tighten up the bass response of the room.

Thanks for your help all you guys... ;)

I've just aquired another carload of this stuff! And its even thicker and denser.

So I will try out what Basil said. :cool:

-j

hey I think u could easy start a business with all that free stuff ;) lol

Z

a good way to use the foam is to cut it into smaller squares, then cut these squares along the thickness of it diagonally. So say if th foam is 100mm thick cut it diagonally from 20mm at one end to 80mm on the other.

Then place these squares where you need the aqoustic treatment randomly.

i agree with the above..
have them set at different heights with spaces between them..
you want to catch the sound in the spaces and have them stay there and disolve basicly - if its a straight flat surface theres more of a chance the sounds will still bounce back some..
this may help make up for some of the factor that it isent audio sponge or foam..