cheap alternative to acoustic foam?

wert90

wert90

Member
ok, it may not be an amazing idea and certainly wont give the best results ever. but...


i have no money.

i have a small practice room (facing drums into the corner is my best option space wise)

i have some protection racket soft cases (nice big and soft)



would putting these bags infront of the bass drum not help sound? like those corner bass trap things..... im going to go give it a go.... im thinking out loud. making the most out of what you got ey
 
wert90 said:
ok, it may not be an amazing idea and certainly wont give the best results ever. but...


i have no money.

i have a small practice room (facing drums into the corner is my best option space wise)

i have some protection racket soft cases (nice big and soft)



would putting these bags infront of the bass drum not help sound? like those corner bass trap things..... im going to go give it a go.... im thinking out loud. making the most out of what you got ey
Click to expand...

Are you looking to try and stop sound from getting out or just control the amount of sound that bounces around inside your room?
 
If you have a car or truck, try going down to the carpet store and ask the manager if you can have any scraps that they would throw away. I've done this a couple times and gotten some decent sized pieces. My band mates even went dumpster diving before to retrieve used carpet that was still useable.
 
diosdude said:
If you have a car or truck, try going down to the carpet store and ask the manager if you can have any scraps that they would throw away. I've done this a couple times and gotten some decent sized pieces. My band mates even went dumpster diving before to retrieve used carpet that was still useable.
Click to expand...

Putting carpet on the walls can be tricky, depending on the size of the pieces. It could come out looking really awful if you Frankensteined a bunch of pieces, or it could look cool if you took some time to do it right.

You would also insulate the space better from temperature swings, an added benefit.
 
I bought some large, cheap egg-crate mattress covers at Wal-Mart for $14/ea. If you can spring for the dough for two of these (one in front and one behind you), you'd be in pretty good shape.

Another approach is to just buy one of these and cut it into 1'x1' squares. Place some of them (with spaces between them) on all sides of you and even above you on the ceiling, if you have any left. It'll break up the sound and help reduce echo in the room.
 
zambizzi said:
I bought some large, cheap egg-crate mattress covers at Wal-Mart for $14/ea. If you can spring for the dough for two of these (one in front and one behind you), you'd be in pretty good shape.

Another approach is to just buy one of these and cut it into 1'x1' squares. Place some of them (with spaces between them) on all sides of you and even above you on the ceiling, if you have any left. It'll break up the sound and help reduce echo in the room.
Click to expand...

You should bump your thread showing your practice room and what a great job you did on that so these guys can see the possibilities.
 
You need to decide what you want to accomplish before moving ahead.

Do you want to sound proof or treat the acoustics in the room?

You can reduce the sound leak in or out from an average size room for less then 10 or 12 grand.
To learn more start reading here… http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=2

I can answer “some” questions but it’s a huge topic and I’m not sure that’s what you looking for.


You can shape the sound in a room almost for free. Carpet, big fluffy furniture, ets will all help control echo. But determining the frequencies you want to control will change the approach.
Some cheep DIY panels that I made are here…
http://www.angelfire.com/sports/RCcars/acoustic_panels.htm

Great reading here.
http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=3
 
Egg Cartons on the walls has NEVER sounded good to me. Also presents a fire hazard. I'd advise everyone to avoid that option.

I've used carpets on the ceilings and what really helps is if the pieces are not flat. We used a staple gun to secure some 2 x 2 ft carpet remnants to the ceiling and let the carpet pieces sag a bit in the center so they are curved. That seemed to give us the best results.

As noted, if you can fill the room with dense objects like couches, futons etc, that will help. We've also used heavy blankets on the walls bust as I said in my original post, MOVING BLANKETS are cheap and work well.

The biggest problem with foam in general is that it just sucks the life out of the room without taking care of the real problem frequencies, which are mostly bass related. That's why compressed insulation type "bass traps" are so highly recommended.

Pay particular attention to corners, because that is what usually gives you the most trouble with flutter echos and bass build up.

There is a ton of info at http://www.realtraps.com and the owner is insanely helpful.
 
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