What kind of soundproof foam should I use?

TwoColorsKiller · #1 02-14-2011, 09:00 PM

Turning a room in my basement into a soundproof mini-studio. I'm new to this kind of thing, and I was just wondering what kind of foam should I use? the room's dimensions are (LxWXH) 12'x15'x8' (roughly). It has regular drywall walls and ceiling, and carpet floor. I'm thinking between wedges, pyramid shapes, or egg-carton shapes. Once again, I'm new to this so I have no idea what I should do. Also, I was thinking of putting the foam only on the walls, two adjacent rows wrapping the inner perimeter.

onionpuzzle · #2 02-14-2011, 09:03 PM

depends how mini. a room within a room is the best bet, but means building walls.

TwoColorsKiller · #3 02-14-2011, 09:42 PM

We're trying to be as money-efficient as possible, no excess construction other than gluing/stapling/etc the foam to the wall

trevcda · #4 02-14-2011, 09:46 PM

At best you could expect minimal defraction and absorption from "foam". Soundproof? Not likely. That comes with reducing sound transmission and that is a result of mass and isolation, particularly where the lower registers are concerned. If nothing else please, PLEASE be sure that what ever you use, that it is fire retardant.

prd004 · #5 02-14-2011, 10:10 PM

First, there is nothing you can put on walls to soundproof. Acoustic foam like Auralex is for acoustic treatment- that is tuning a listening environment. No amount of foam, carpet, or egg crates will soundproof a room. In fact you can very easily kill the room acoustics to the point where bands will have to play louder to be heard inside the room and therefore bleed even more sound through the walls!

The only way to soundproof a room is to build a room within a room. This involves staggered studs, floating floors and a suspended ceiling, and if you're gonna go this in depth, then it makes the most sense to go the next step and understand the dimentions/angles so that your room also sounds good!

The hard fact is there is no simple way to soundproof. If you're talking about improving the room acoustics, that depends on instrument/amp/speaker placement within the room, as well as room dimentions.