D.I.Y. sound panels and studio hacks

Inexpensive D.I.Y. sound panels for home studios

Looking for acoustic ideas for your home studio? YouTube has plenty of D.I.Y. videos for controlling sound and adding absorption.

If you're running a business (especially a restaurant), you need to buy professional, fire-rated sound control panels that conform to local codes. You might also need to speak with an acoustics expert. But for home projects, you might need only a quick hack for a small room.

These four videos show a range of materials. Notice that I didn't include any that use fiberglass batts because you don't want those tiny glass fibers coming through the fabric.

This video from DIY Perks shows how you can repurpose some old towels into a sound-absorbing panel.:

And this guy from JT Guitar leaves no stone unturned as he details everything you need to build sturdy wood-framed panels with insulation in them, including the shopping trip, the tools you need, the measurements (special bonus: metric), exactly where to put the screws in the wood frame, and how to hang your finished masterpieces.

If you're into woodworking or you have nice shop tools like Wood U Make It, you could follow these guidelines to make your wood-framed panels. He used rock wool insulation for sound absorption.

And finally, the crew from Cinecom (who make video tutorials on how to make great videos) used rock wool, which they adhered to a thin, hard backing, then covered with fabric. They attach the panels to the walls with velcro and then do sound tests before and after with different types of microphones so you can hear the difference.

Again, if you need panels for commercial purposes, I recommend buying professional fire-rated panels like those from Audimute. But for people making music, podcasts, or videos from a spare room on a budget, some of these ideas might work for you.

Comments

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Frequency matters When you're dealing with a noise issue, the frequency of that noise is just as important as the decibel level. A decibel is the loudness of the sound, and measuring decibels can alert you when a sound is more than just a nuisance, but dangerous to your health. However, decibel levels on their own don't tell the whole story. The frequency of the sound is also very important. The frequency is a measure of how many sound waves per second are produced by a sound, and determines its pitch. A low-frequency sound might be really annoying, but it might not be that loud. The lower frequencies are typically below 150 Hz, and often sound like a deep bass sound that's not necessarily loud, but the vibrations from that sound can travel through the entire frame of a building and disrupt sleep or cause stress. Knowing both the decibel level and the frequency of an unwanted sound can help you determine the right soundproofing solution. For example, a low-frequency nois

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