Makeshift Acoustic Material

Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 5:41 pm

Alright...Ive got a little makeshift mbox studio hear in my dorm (very amateur, yno?). Recently I have come across 2 pieces of egg carton like shipping material from a repair form apple. each piece is about a foot and 3/4 by a fott and 3/4s (total estimate)

inrecording ive noticed that sort of "hey im in a small cement walled room" sound and ive wondered if i ould use this amterial in anyway to reduce that sound or in general enhance my recreational music listening experience if nothing else.

I know very little about recording and know close to nothing about acoustic material. I am not looking to reduce the sound or spend money, merely interested in the best way to utilize these materials, because they seem handy. I have provided pictures of the space to give you an idea of dimension and also a picture of the eggcarton rectangles (i have two of them)

thanks in advance!

edit: im working on the picture thing...i need to find a place to post them.

Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 6:43 pm

Tke a little piece and set it on fire - if it burns when you take the match away - throw it all away -

it was exactly that - shipping foam - that was no the walls in the RI club fire that killed 100 people - it is a danger and you would be amazed how fast it burns and the amount of smoke it give off.

Sincerely,

Rod

Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 8:59 pm

well ... A: there is nothing that is ever hot/burning in my room.
B: I'll take my chances.
C: This is a dorm room that is very small, already has papers on the wall, i just plain don't care about the hazard.

that being said...how would i go about this?

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 5:58 am

Try some thick curtains behind the performer and your audio monitos.

"i just plain don't care about the hazard"
Consider applying some fire retardant to any flamable materials.

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 6:24 am

products7074740 wrote:

B: I'll take my chances.

And the chances of every kid living in the dorm with a callous, murderous, piece of excrement. You don't deserve an answer from anyone posting to this board. You don't deserve to be living in close proximity to other human beings.

(Pardon, my excessive language, but I'm in the process of looking for a college for my daughter, and the thought that she would be under the same roof as someone like this is making me ill.)

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 6:45 am

Allow me some retribution. You must understand. It is not that I dont care if a fire burns my dorm down. Understand, With the posters on my walls, my bedsheets and my all wooden furniture, two small squares of easily ignitable material would be no more of a risk than how my room already is. I am not allowed to have candles, incense, smoke, or even lights that get too hot. There is nothing, short of a freak accident that would cause a fire. Meanwhile the countless people who cover up their fire alarms to smoke weed and cigarettes in their rooms are the ones who are causing the risk.

When I said "I'll take my chances" I meant it in a more sarcastic tone. As in, the chances are very slim, so i'll take them.

I mean no disrespect to you, or to the community as I am coming to you for help, I simply am saying that I am not really a heavy hazard. I'm also not a "dumbass", who would be so careless as to let my room go up in flames. People keep liqour in their freezers. Have you ever seen how quickly THAT burns up? I suppose thats a pretty big fire hazard then right? But no one seems to care too much about that.

Now if you have any valuable advice i would much appreciate it, but if all you are going to do is guilt me over something so nonsensical and out of proportion, then why don't you find a different forum?

Im just trying to make some music.

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 7:30 am

products7074740 wrote:

...There is nothing, short of a freak accident that would cause a fire. Meanwhile the countless people who cover up their fire alarms to smoke weed and cigarettes in their rooms are the ones who are causing the risk.

I guess my daughter is safe. Anyone who would put these two sentences next to each other could not be in college.

Just to put is in words you have a chance of understanding - The morons smoking in their room will start the fire. You will be the moron who supplied the material that created the toxic smoke that killed the people in the floors above you.

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 7:45 am

A: it would take a pretty heavy fire to get through my cement block walls and metal door. A fire that hot would surely burn the floors above if it was hot enough to get to my room.

B: Yno....we do have fire alarm

C: Do you really think that when a building is burning two people will die from the smoke coming from two small pieces of foam which leak up through the ceiling?

D: It's two piece of foam. Get over it! Everything goes on fire, and many things burn thick dirty smoke. You're right. I guess i should take down my flammable posters. Wat about my powerstrip, electrical fires are awful. My speakers should go in the garbage too, that speaker cone material burns mightyfast. My mbox...have you ever burnt plastic? Ive got some photos, those are highly toxic when burn...The dust on my bedsheets would make it an inferno in minutes. My desk, my closet and drawers full of clothes, and my school books. My laptop also becomes very hot so i suppose i should get rid of that too. And guess what, I have an egg crate matress pad that is made out of very similar material. and guess what?! Almost every other student i know does too! It looks like were all out to kill your daughter right? You are getting this hung up on two pieces of foam, and small fire hazards, do you know anything about risks of colleges otherwise? How about the realistic hazards of alcoholism, drug-use, or rape? But at least she won't catch fire right?

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:21 am

I'm not worried about the foam. I'm worried about you. When you are told by an expert that the foam could be a fire hazard, you don't say, "Didn't think about that. Thanks for the warning." You say, "i [sic] just plain don't care about the hazard." Please quit school. Join the Army. They will give you lots of risks you can take. and will kick your ass when you put your fellow soldiers at risk. It is possible that you will grow up to be worthy of human society some day, but that day is not here.

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:41 am

you must understand that taken out of context, me saying " don't care about the hazard" may sound reckless but you must understand, I have assessed this hazard. If i was told that the material is known to blow-up if music is played to loud, well that would be a different story. But considering the situation of my room and of most peoples rooms in the school, and the potentiality for fire, the addition of this material would pose very little increased fire risk. I do not think I am the one being a bit ridiculuos here. You seem to show no response for my points in section D. Perhaps if you re-read that you will reconsider your obtuse opinion.

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 9:04 am

OK - let's make this easy - you don't care abopt the hazzard - then you won't care about the fact that it's a totally different material than acoustic foam.......... so it won't matter to you that itdoesn't really work - after all - you got it for free (not really - packagiong costs are a part of the total costr - but hidden so it seems as if we got them for free)

So just stick it up on your wall and don't worry about it..............

Add some egg crates while you're at it - you get about the same acoustic value out of them.......... and they're actually safer than the foam............. (although still not "safe".)

I'm done with this one............

Sincerely,

Rod

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 9:18 am

anything in a room willhave some effect. I just was interested in hearing from the community (rather than just mods and worried parents) about the acoustic effects of packing crate foam material and how t may have a positive (even f slight) effect on my acoustic environment. Perhaps it wil only worsen my echoes and deaden my sound...if so ...tell me.

I am only asking a question of the community. I am not endangering anyone, i am not "excrement", i am a student. Don't send your kids to Purchase College if you feel the crazy foam burning bandit will burn them to hell.

Now, 'll ask again, how can this material benefit my acoustic environment in even the slightest way? Without rude retorts, or insulting me.

I have made it clear that I am not concerned with the hazard. I am responsible enough to handle a slight hazard. I don't need everything fireproofed and bubble wrapped for me in order to be safe (as some people seem to think their kids should live).

If you can help me out, i would apreciate it greatly.

If not, please hold your commentary on my character.

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 10:56 am

I'm going to risk my life here .....

And that just for 2 pieces of packing foam.

ProductsGuy,

I indeed believe that in every household there is a lot of stuff that burns.
I believe that most or lots of fabric which is sold and used for whatever can burn, even for curtains which have easy access to oxygen.

I also often don't understand the difference between regulations in private places and public places.
My sister rents rooms for students in her house, which must answer much more strict rules than when rented as appartment.

Hence I can a bit understand your ideas but not the way you replied.
You wrongly thought your original related answer sounded cool, while it was disrespectful in function of people trying to help you.
Hence you provoked them. They did not feel your reply as cool but disrespect.
This whole thing is now focused around that.

That foam: That's most likely low density polyether foam which has relative poor absorption values and mainly better towards the highs.

A question what does such panels for my sound can't be answered.
Room acoustics is a complete thing where the whole treatment defines the effect. That has nothing to do with special properties of specific boards.

In fact within the time of this discussion I think you could have tempory hanged those 2 pieces of foam on a lot of spots already and listen to the effect.

Nobody can give sensible answers on what 2 pieces of foam, with on top unknown but likely relative poor properties does to the acoustics of a room.

Best regards
Eric

Twisted Evil

And don't kill me.

PS: And productGuy, What sounds cool to your friends doesn't necessarily sounds cool to elder engineers making it their life business to help people preventing mistakes.

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 11:06 am

So let me get this straight. You are under the impression that there are people in the "community" who have done careful tests on the acoustic properties of flammable materials that have famously caused the deaths of 100s of people in the RI nightclub fire. You think someone in the community will tell you where to put it and how much more you need.

God, this is depressing. I just walked back from teaching my advanced calc class. Looked up at the dorms and thought, "How many of them up there are like that. When an expert contractor says, 'you would be amazed how fast it burns and the amount of smoke it give off' how many just choose to ignore the risk. How many think that the concrete will prevent a fire from spreading from room to room. How many trust their smoke detector to bail them out of their bad decisions. How of them think they know it all when every other sentence demonstrates their ignorance of fire hazard and inability to access risk."

Kid. I promise you. If you live long enough, you will be absolutely ashamed of this thread some day.

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 11:14 am

Eric-
I appreciate your comment. You answered my original question and have presented your opinions in a respectful manner, which is respectful in itself. You must realize something about my first post though. I wasn't trying to be "cool" i was telling the truth.

Quote:

A: there is nothing that is ever hot/burning in my room.
B: I'll take my chances.
C: This is a dorm room that is very small, already has papers on the wall, i just plain don't care about the hazard.

A: Due to regulations of the school, there is never anything burning or even very hot in my room.

B: I'll take my chances. Meaning I have assessed this risk, as one must assess any risk, and realizing that the potential for benefits (though as you have answered benefits may not exist) surpasses, in my mind, the potential for hazard (which I have assessed as very low considering the conditions), I decided to "take my chances"

C: Further stating that the hazard is lessened by the already "hazardous" flammable materials in my room. This, in my mind, would make the addition of this foam, much as an extra match to a bonfire, a very slight, almost irrelevant increase to the hazard. In my mind, it doesnt pose more of a hazard to my room, my life, and the lives of others, then is already the state of my room. Therefor I do not care about the added hazard of this material, because i beleive it is irrelevant considering.

I appreciate your advice and your mutually respectful tone but I must disagree with you that I did not initially speak respectfully. I am frank, honest, and for the most part i feel quite respectful. It is a shame I have had to become so long winded in order to explain myself. If you think that my initial comments were meant to sound as though i was some nonchalant "badass", well...you were wrong (with all due respect)

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