Where can I buy cheap acoustic panels/foam/sponges?

NorioDS

Anyone know where I can buy acoustic panels/foam/sponges for cheap?

I'm testing out an idea for recording my voice in a shelf of one of our cupboards.

Thanks!

V8

Stoopid idea, but how about using heavy fabrics as a test? Towels/old curtains etc... will deaden the space, particularly if you stuff it into corners?

NorioDS

V8 not stupid at all, that’s the first thing I tried 😄

I'm struggling to hold the blankets/pillows in place with the little PVA pipes I cut.

So now I’m wondering if buying acoustic sponges will just be quicker and easier. But I’m not keen on buying the R700 ones from takealot 🤣

V8

NorioDS not stupid at all, that’s the first thing I tried

I R not say you was 😂. Just sometimes the obvious need to be asked.

There's often 2nd hand acoustic foam for sale on the Facebook groups, even try (the dreaded) market place - worth a search.

I saw builders had something and there's always the mattress foam places (I know 2 in cpt)

NorioDS

V8 I R not say you was 😂. Just sometimes the obvious need to be asked.

I know, I know 😃

V8 There's often 2nd hand acoustic foam for sale on the Facebook groups, even try (the dreaded) market place - worth a search.

I found these:

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/640138559857894/

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/3220693477947268/

Not sure if they'd be any good.

One thing I know for sure, after this morning's experimentation, is that hanging a blanket over yourself while talking into a cupboard full of pillows... is DAMN hot and just not an option for anything longer than a minute.

It's raining outside and I was still overheating within seconds.

So I'm hoping acoustic panels will help me treat a bigger area and have to squeeze into an oven of zero reverb 🤣

V8

NorioDS Like the look of that second link to the acoustic foam!

Duuuude, I've not really paid any attention to acoustic treatments (aside from learning about the volume knob and that it doesn't need to go to 11 at all times.) So I know close to nothing...

Egg cartons - my first option when we was jamming the band back in the day. Don't think they helped a lot, we still had the cops around after that. They weren't in the mood to be joining the jam though 😁 Worth a try!

Sure you've done some googling on DIY solutions? I thought a reflexion filter was all one needed, I'm wrong (of course).

Blog entry to the above https://www.musicianonamission.com/diy-vocal-booth/ - bonus points because you're using PVC pipe already...

NorioDS

How well do egg crates work? Like literal egg crates like this:

They look ugly af. but if they work well enough, maybe I can rope in the missus to paint 'em all purdy-like?

NorioDS

V8 nice video! And that looks easy enough to build. Thanks 😁

I've been doing a bunch of research on this but all from a voice acting point of perspective.

There's an awesome channel on YouTube called Booth Junkie that is basically all about vocal booths and not much else:

I'm thinking of making panels like the ones in the above video and sticking them in a closet I have.

That should work and be pretty cheap. Also easy to put up and take down.

But that closet is going to get hot! So that blanket booth might be the better way to go.

When I'm all grown and rich, I wanna get a Whisperroom. But yeah I'll first need the riches 😂

NorioDS

V8 Check out what the price is if you don't DIY a blanket booth:

https://www.vocalboothtogo.com/product-category/mobile-recording-booths/

R15k for one you can just stand in. I nearly choked. Might be a market in SA? 😆 PVC + blankets, sell it for R5k and you have a business! 😆

V8

NorioDS But that closet is going to get hot! So that blanket booth might be the better way to go.

Never underestimate the power of a electric fan...(not necessarily your wife 😆 ) - just a simple thing to move air helps enormously! Might introduce a bit of noise, but you can find a super quiet one I reckon.

Would be fun to build a little booth out of pvc pipes, not tricky at all - I'd get the lengths precut to my measurements and then it's a meccano set!

NorioDS

For a bit more context, he later uses those DIY panels to turn a shower (of all places) into a respectable vocal booth:

NorioDS

V8 Never underestimate the power of a electric fan...(not necessarily your wife 😆 ) - just a simple thing to move air helps enormously! Might introduce a bit of noise, but you can find a super quiet one I reckon.

Most good mics (and even my crappy mic) will pick up even a quiet fan. So while it will be good in-between takes, I'll have to keep it off during recording ☹️

I have a powerful floor fan in my office that I can direct at me during breaks. So that's something but I'll still be crazy hot while recording.

Part of the problem is that acoustic insulation turns sound energy into heat energy. Foam, blankets, etc. They all do that.

I reckon a good (but expensive) solution is a good aircon that I'd run in-between takes. Get the room nice and chilled and then record for a while (with the aircon off). But it's not my house and I'm not keen on adding an aircon to someone else's house. So maybe one of them portable things?

It seems the GMC branded ones are good. Reliable and not too noisy. (The noise issue being more for my comfort than recording. There's no way you could record (paid) vocals with an aircon on, unless it's just for a YouTube video or something not so important.)

V8 Would be fun to build a little booth out of pvc pipes, not tricky at all - I'd get the lengths precut to my measurements and then it's a meccano set!

Yeah I'm liking this option more and more. It's between the acoustic insulation sponges and this.

I'm considering making some panels just for my office in any case. So that if I do videos, they should sound a lot better. (The reverb in here is nuts! Not something I ever noticed before but live-monitoring a sensitive mic will highlight a LOT of stuff you don't normally notice.)

Here in SA, the fibreglass acoustic insulation seems hard to find but there's always IsoTherm:
https://www.builders.co.za/Building-Materials/Roofing/Plastic-Sheeting-%26-Insulation/Isotherm-135mm-Thermal-Insulation---Green-%281-2-x-5m%29/p/000000000000549641

I don't think it'll be as rigid as the fibreglass stuff but I might as well pop into a Builders and take a look at the stuff.

I'll (hopefully remember to) keep you posted 😃

V8

NorioDS Most good mics (and even my crappy mic) will pick up even a quiet fan

Such is the world of condenser mics - though I was thinking some of those ultra silent computer fan's for simple extraction, though they are also probably a bit noisy.

I'm not a Aircon fan (heh), - it'll need to be 38C+ before I would tap out and want it. Makes my throat itchy and I get a bit of post nasal from the change in temp indoors/outdoors. Not that it isn't necessary - in the full on summer heat of Paarl (42C+) I do appreciate the chill of a 28C aircon (yes, I said chill). The std 23C is way too cold for me - I need a jersey - true story! 😆

NorioDS Yeah I'm liking this option more and more. It's between the acoustic insulation sponges and this.

I guess it depends on how invested you get in it - a isolation room would be a longer term thing?

NorioDS r. (The reverb in here is nuts! Not something I ever noticed before but live-monitoring a sensitive mic will highlight a LOT of stuff you don't normally notice.)

Maybe just treat the corners - though I think that's for booming bass response? Draping curtains/fabrics around the walls (and esp glass) will help. There's a deep dark hole of acoustics go delve into for sound treatments - here YT will be useful. Sure there's a bunch of guys who have done simple YT/Voice setups?

No idea on the isotherm stuff - if it's same stuff stuff as what Eskom wrapped the geysers in (I think it is), it's like a blanket - doesn't hold a shape at all.

NorioDS

V8 The std 23C is way too cold for me - I need a jersey - true story! 😆

O.o

V8 Maybe just treat the corners - though I think that's for booming bass response?

Yep, corners are mostly for bass and luckily I don't really need to worry about that.

V8 Draping curtains/fabrics around the walls (and esp glass) will help.

Yeah I seriously need to put curtains back up. I like just having blinds but it's not going to help my cause when I want to record videos. The tricky bit is: if I put up curtains, I need lights. If I don't put up curtains, I'll have awful reverb 🤦🏻‍♂️

V8 YT will be useful

Yep that's where I'm spending a lot of my time right now. That and newsletters from voice actors.

NorioDS

I seem to have found the SA equivalent of the fibreglass acoustic panels that Mike Delgaudio talks about in his video:

https://spkonline.ubssa.co.za/cavity-batt-102mm-1200x600-679633.html

Apparently it's also called "glasswool" 😆

That link is for the 10cm thick version, which I think is what Mike recommends. (4inch) And each panel is like R70. Cheap as chips.

The benefit of making your own panels is that 10cm thick panels are going to absorb a TON more than some of these el cheapo acoustic sponges that are less than a few centimetres at their thinnest points. Good for high frequencies and not much else.

So guitarists and bassists will do well to try this out. (And drummers!)

@Yeti this could also be an option for a garage. Won't be cheaper than egg boxes but a handful of well-placed panels could work? (We talked a while back about maybe doing our own garage.)

I still have no idea how I'll go forward. But nice to know where to get some of this stuff locally.

Maybe I'll do this for my office:

Heavy curtains in front of my window.
A "glasswool" panel on each of the 4 walls around me.

That should be good enough for respectable videos.

And then this for my closet / vocal booth:

1 "glasswool" panel for each of the walls.
A panel for above my head.
A carpet / rug for under me.
A small stool to sit comfortably 😛 And probably some lighting.

Option 3:

All the stuff I said I'd do for the office plus:
Clear my desk, chuck a blanket on it and...
Build a mini PVC pipes booth with a hood to go over my head.

All of the options seem pretty cheap. I'll write back here if I come up with more ideas.

JohanP

Try Sondor.

Years ago I built some hi-fi speakers and they were very helpful, if you can find the right person knowing what he is talking about.

Here is a link to what I think the product range might be:

https://www.sondor.co.za/products/view/10/hush

Here is link to their branches:

https://www.sondor.co.za/contact-us

I hope this might help.

NorioDS

JohanP thanks so much! I'll check them out.

Yeti

My recording set up is simple... room has normal carpets, normal curtains and a couple of desks. So nothing special. When I record vocals I just hang a couple of camping mattresses using coat hangers (the mattresses have a loop for carrying on one end). I position the mic a few cm directly in front of one and have the other one roughly in the corner behind me... because that's where it's convenient to hang.
I've considered building something more substantial, but to be honest, this does everything I need and my vocal recordings are dry enough for me.

Incidentally, I also make sure that I'm singing at an angle in the room, rather than at a wall... and make sure to take the guitars off the wall first, those open strings can ring.

NorioDS

Yeti nice tips, thanks Bevan!

I have a sleeping bag that might work. Not quite as thick as a camping mattress I'm guessing?

NorioDS

An update on this from me...

I'm almost certainly going to make some of my own acoustic panels using Mike Delgaudio's "Glass Wool" method. But I don't want to let that to get in the way of me recording some voiceover and singing in the meanwhile.

So, after watching his video on how you can use your car as a vocal booth, I'm going to give that a stab. Hopefully this weekend.

One nice bonus about using the car is that, if it gets hot, you can stop recording and turn on the AC for a while. Then continue when the car's a bit cooler.