Let’s assume you already have some acoustic foam on hand. Much thicker material is needed to efficiently absorb lower frequencies. As a rule of thumb, thin pieces of acoustic treatment target higher frequencies. This leads us to our one simple trick to improve your acoustic treatment without spending more money. The result is an unnatural sounding room that is no longer musical. Therefore, using only thin acoustic foam will disproportionately absorb high frequencies without providing benefit in lower frequency regions. It is important to consider whether your treatment is acoustic foam or just foam.Īnother key factor with absorption is the thickness of each panel.
#Sound studio foam professional#
Further, many professional companies will only use materials that stand the test of time and hold-up to building fire codes. This means that there is a difference between the membrane cell structure of mattress foam and that used for acoustic treatment. Professional acoustics companies, such as Auralex and GIK Acoustics, use specific materials for their absorptive properties. So to finally answer the question, yes acoustic foam does work.
This means that blankets, couches, pillows, window curtains, laundry, and the clothes you are wearing right now function as sound absorbers. With this understanding of acoustic foam, it should be clear that any porous or cloth-like material absorbs sound. Viola… sound energy is dissipated as heat. The result of these vibrations is friction and heat. As those vibrations pass through foam, the material membranes vibrate as well. Recall that sound is micro-vibrations within air. The sound energy does not disappear, rather, it is converted into other forms of energy. This is great news!Īcoustic foam works by reducing the amount of sound energy within a room. absorption, is a very popular method of acoustic treatment because it is both readily available and relatively inexpensive. Here are some examples of acoustic treatments and methods of effecting a rooms’ sound.Īcoustic foam, i.e. Acoustic treatment, such as foam, is a great way to fight undesirable room colorations and restore accuracy to our listening space. So, what can we do about bad room colorations? Cue acoustic treatment. Digital signal processing within a digital audio workstation.Instrument choice, tuning, and preparation.Therefore, less than stellar room colorations will likely negatively affect the following: In the case of home studios, a single bedroom often functions as both a mixing and a recording environment. It is important to understand that these room colorations can be beneficial or very detrimental to our work as audio engineers. These reflections and resonances create the sound of your room.Īs an example, consider how your voice sounds in a washroom versus your bedroom. There are also strong resonances that form in all rooms based on their length, width, and height. Sound becomes very complex in rooms because it bounces and reflects off walls, floors, ceilings, and any other surface (including you). We are graced with the sound of music when those back-and-forth ripples reach our ears. When a guitarist plucks a string, the back-and-forth movement of the string creates micro-vibrations in air that spread out just like ripples in a pond. Sound is simply our perception of vibrations in the air. In order to properly answer this question, we must first understand the physical properties of sound. This begs the question− does acoustic foam actually work? Treating a room in this way is fortunately unnecessary and can result in worse sound quality. Unfortunately, treatment is commonly misunderstood and therefore, misused due to its complexity and a lack of clear guidelines.įor example, I have seen plenty of beginner audio engineers cover every wall of their creative space with foam mattress toppers to emulate what is seen in professional recording spaces. Home theaters, recording studios, music rooms, and even general living spaces can benefit from acoustic treatment albeit to different extents. Proper acoustic treatment is essential for any environment where critical listening is desired.
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