Auralex made into clouds...??

How to use REW, What is a Bass Trap, a diffuser, the speed of sound, etc.

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motown59
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Auralex made into clouds...??

Post by motown59 »

I was planning on using ethan's traps in the corners and making some diffusors for my studio walls(see my first post in the design forum) I was wondering if all the 3" auralex could be put to use.
What if I mounted some back to back to a piece of 2'x2' plywood and suspended them from the ceiling? would that work for a cloud? If I angled them would I get some non-parallel surfaces happening? Ideas about possible uses for the left-over Auralex??
thanks!
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Ethan Winer
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Re: Auralex made into clouds...??

Post by Ethan Winer »

Mo,

> What if I mounted some back to back to a piece of 2'x2' plywood and suspended them <

Acoustic foam three inches thick is fine for mid/high frequency absorption. In your case you can use it for the first reflection points on the side walls and ceiling. However, mounting foam or rigid fiberglass to plywood is not a great idea because that negates the benefit from spacing it below the ceiling (or off the wall). So for your ceiling I suggest you hang it with thin wires or some other method that doesn't put anything rigid or massive (the wood) between the foam and ceiling.

--Ethan
motown59
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Post by motown59 »

Thanks Ethan,
I found 4 of your minitraps for sale from a guy here in Fontana Ca. I need some more soon. Great stuff.
I was thinking of mounting the Auralex on both sides of a 1/2" piece of plywood or similar, then suspending. I was thinking this might give me a bit more low end absortion??
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John Sayers
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Post by John Sayers »

I missed your first post so I've replied to you there.

cheers
john
motown59
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Post by motown59 »

I took the wall units from my last studio, which had Auralex inside, covered with cloth, and suspended them from the ceiling with picture wire. we'll see how they work out. Cost to me about $15. Right now I only have temp sound treatment untill some of the construction soundproofing issues are complete
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dymaxian
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Post by dymaxian »

If you need to mount foam or fiberglass ins to plywood just to hang it the way you want, you could probably drill holes in it or something to let the low freq's pass. That's about all it takes.

They'd have to be pretty big holes, tho. Get a hole-saw attachment for your drill.

Ethan, would doing this cut down low freq absorption a lot? (as opposed to just the insulation hanging in space) I'm sure the plywood on the back would reflect some lows coming from the wall side as they made their return journey to the room, but if the holes are large/numerous enough I'd think enough of the sound would be able to pass back thru.

Just thinking out loud.
Kase
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"to hell with the CD sales! Download the MP3s and come to the shows!"
lowdbrent
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Post by lowdbrent »

Like Ethan said, the wood negates the purpose. The concept is to have an air cavity equal to the thickness of the absorption material. Placing the foam on wood is like mounting it directly to the wall.

No, holes would not help or hurt bass waves. Bass moves through surfaces like that, and is not effected by a single layer of supended plywood. Bass waves are not like light rays.

For future reference, I has seen Auralex mounted to that thin white plastic ladice stuff and that is what is suspended, available at your local home improvement center. The cool thing about that is that it is plyable, so it may be made to make concave/convex shapes, etc.
motown59
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Post by motown59 »

Nice tip on the plastic lattice. I've seen that stuff. I suppose you should bend the lattice first then apply the foam, maybe mounting the lattice to a wood curved edge or wiring it with picture wire.
Something else I've seen at Home Depot and Lowes are the window shutters usually mounted to the outside wall alongside the windows for a colonial look. The ones I saw looked like they might make a cool diffuser if you mounted maybe 3 in a sawtooth fashion, and stuffed the back with insulation. The slats were about 2" wide with about a 1/4" gap inbetween. ??
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motown59
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Post by motown59 »

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heartsoffire
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Post by heartsoffire »

I have used the lattice with 2" Studiofoam wedges. I took 2x2 wood strips and screwed them around the outside of the lattice and then glued the Studiofoam to the lattice. I then used eye hooks to mount them to the wall. In one case, I mounted the lattice and wood to the wall with screws and then glued the Studiofoam to the lattice.

This gave me a 2" air gap from the wall. Seemed to work very well.

Either way works fine. The eye hooks provide some convenience if you want to change the tone of the room for some reason (tracking drums as opposed to tracking acoustical guitars).
Mark Staples
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Jon Best
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Post by Jon Best »

I got some space behind my 4" Auralex wedge in my old live room by hanging it with wire- dropped one wire widthwise in one of the cracks of the pattern, and wrapped it around two nails, one on each side of the foam, so there was a taut wire piece holding the top edge of the auralex. Then I did the same thing on the bottom edge, but pushed it up so the auralex was bowed off the wall about 6" in the center. Looked kind of cool, and seemed to work pretty well.
Jon Best
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