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Tungstengruvsten 7 November 2002

Hey All-
I'm in a rental 2nd floor apt(in a house) but i've got a decent room to commit to my little post-production/ composition suite-the most i'll have to do live is voice-overs so no worries there, i'm really after a decent mix environment. I've doubled up the walls with drywall and floated the floor with 5 layers of material(it was hardwood before) as well as beefed up the doors-there's a convenient little closet for my 'puters and a non-parallel ceiling in an otherwise symmetrical room.

Anyways, I've ordered some corner basstraps and i'm soon going to order the wedge tiles and begin installation to round out the room- a local friend has a studio and understands the pink noise/SPL/RTA/LEDE/other stuff, my real question is in mounting the foam to surfaces-

Does the foams performance increase if it is glued to the two surfaces? I mean decrease resonance or whatever-or are the corner bass traps reacting mainly to the signal in the air? Could I build little triangular tables to place them on? Could I glue panelling to the backsides and then use drywall anchors to mount the whole assembly?
Same for the wedges, could I use a piece of panelling(eg 4x6) and glue the foam to that then use drywall anchors on the wall? Will this affect the absorption of the foam at all?

I'm trying to avoid the adhesive on the wall thing-not sure how long I'm going to be here and I don't want to leave anything but holes in the wall-all my gear is modular or on wheels at least...

I'd appreciate any suggestions or maybe someone has pics of how they did it?

Cheers,
ERic

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KurtFoster Thu, 11/07/2002 - 08:43

Eric,
The answer to all your question is yes!. You can use the foam free standing if you wish. The efficiency of the foam is not affected by any coupling. I would however be cautious regarding buzzes and rattles with the paneling. What I would use is soundboard. This is a 1/4' pressed fiber material used primarily for roof insulation. It is quite affordable, under 10 or 15 bucks a sheet. (smells like sawdust, let it stand and air out a few days before mounting) You can mount it with sheetrock screws....good luck...Fats

Tungstengruvsten Thu, 11/07/2002 - 09:43

Awesome, thanx Flats-

I only thought of panelling as it's lightweight-to keep these lighter do you think I could use plexiglass or plywood? I know what soundboard is, it just seems a bit heavy-

I figure i'd use the foam spray adhesive to mount the foam to the plexi/soundboard/whatever, on the two back edges and the bottom-maybe the bottom out of soundboard so I can put screws in it for some sort of base. Maybe I can find some old Atlas style mic stands i can butcher or tripods or something...any ideas/suggestions?

Thanks,
ERic

k.w.blackwell Thu, 11/07/2002 - 10:25

I collected a considerable amount of "to be recycled" foam packing products over a period of years (from work). These were mostly relatively dense foam blocks with one side cut into sinusoidal "fingers" about 2.25 inches deep, with another 2.25" or so of solid foam behind those fingers. The side dimensions varied from, oh, say 10" to 20".

I wanted to be able to easily put these up on the walls as needed, and to remove them as needed. So I happened upon some velcro strips at the store and decided to use them. I share this as a lesson learned. The velcro pieces I used were probably around .5" by 1", and they were simply too small. The glue backing was not strong enough to hold them. And if superglued, then whatever they were glued to (paint on the wall or the edge of the back side of the foam block) could easily rip off just from the weight of the foam blocks. Most of them are still where I put them, but many others have fallen. So, don't try that. :)

I also tried sticking to the wall some small frames made from 1"x2"'s to hold thin hardboard in polycylindrical diffusor mode. I used super-strong double-sided foam tape. That doesn't work either, in case you might ever wonder.

But lots of other things I've tried worked really well, like tying string between suspended-ceiling rails to form these slightly-drooping mic cable holders. And now that I've completely changed the topic in order to end on something positive, I'll stop here.

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