Foam Bass traps are rubbish??

[gavisthename]

I've ordered 3ft foam bass traps from amazon from a company called Comfortex.

http://www.acoustic-foam.co.uk/pages/AFBT02.html

I've read the absorption coefficient report that shows the testing that "Sound Research Laboratories" did and the results appear to be really good at absorbing really low frequencies.

I've read that Ethan says foam stops working below 500 Hz, but the SRL figures show otherwise

http://www.acoustic-foam.co.uk/nrc_test_results.pdf


I've been reading in a lot of forums online and the vast majority of forums say foam is rubbish and does nothing! Surely the figures don't lie. Everyone seems to be licking Ethan Winer's arse in the forums too and saying that the only thing that works are the mineral fibre slabs.

[madATme]

In the low freq's the density and the mass are very important i cant say you which one is right or so but mineral wool works best for the price in the low end. Most of the foam is for higher freqencies. But this foam you have here has a profile which works as a difusion panel as well...

[gavisthename]

Thanks man ... I'm sure it will come in useful even if i have to buy mineral wool at a later date!

Damn me and my impulse buying!

[Lost to the Void]

Essentially yes, for the low frequencies that make standing wave problems, foam is crap, from highbass/low mid, to the top end it is fine, but for the lows, just a waste of your cash.

It really is quite simple why, foam bass traps work on the depth of the foam to absorb the lows, but real low frequencies have wavelengths deeper than the thickest bass trap, and, are full of air.

A proper mineral wool (there are also more friendly paper based equivalents now) don`t work on depth, they work by the fact that the wool is a dense, but loose material. The wool is moved by the bass waves, vibrated, and moves enough to take out the energy of the wave, by transferring the energy into the vibration of the wool.

There is no real alternative to a dense loose material like Rock wool I`m afraid, if you bought foam bass traps for controlling your sub 300hz then you were sorta conned.

[gavisthename]

Bloody ball bags!!

Typical of me jumping the gun and impulse buying!

Looks like I'm gonna be having some fun with the return department of Amazon again!

[gavisthename]

Did you read the report Void? The figures by the Sound Research Laboratory look pretty good. These are proper chunky pieces of foam like ... failing that we recently had the loft rammed with mineral wool ... time to fill up a load of all bedding maybe!

[Lost to the Void]

1ft by 1ft is pretty small.
For foam traps to be effective they would need to be much bigger, in depth terms, and you would need a lot of them, plus foam actually only performs well when it isn`t against a wall, as against a wall the flow resistivity is zero, you would need to place the traps at your rooms nodal lines to be effective.

The secondary problem is that foam traps are broadband, so you end up deadening high frequencies and changing the room verb characteristics, which could actually enhance the bassyness of the room, by removing the top end.

All in all, a nightmare to deal with, which is why no proper studio uses foam bass trapping.

Here is my recommendation for budget studios, much cheaper than buying ready bags from ready acoustics.

Just get a bunch of these
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Large-Siz ... 1788wt_203

and stuff em full of rock wool (you can make a better seal at the ends with a little duct tape) and hang em in your corners.

[gavisthename]

The foam traps are 3ft x 1ft x 1ft. What you are saying makes sense! .... I'm gonna have a think more about the rockwool option, about hanging it in the corners and stuff...


.... anyone want to buy some awesome Acoustic Foam Bass Traps?

[JamieinNC]

Hey Gav,

Sorry to hear about your disappointment. If anything, you could simply place what you bought in the ceiling-wall corner to control any flutter echo that might persist in your room if you have a square shaped room. I built my bass traps with OC703 last year, stuck them in the corners from floor to ceiling, and they have done wonders in controlling the low-end. I doubled up the OC703 to create a four-inch think trap and the waterfall plot that resulted from the installation (running EQ Wizard) gained the approval of Ethan himself. It seems that OC703 is the way to go if you can get it for a good price.

Anything cheaper or advertised as something that is "supposed" to match OC703 is just blowing smoke. Nothing works better...

J

[gavisthename]

Luckily I managed to get the vast majority sent back so not a total loss. Now I have Rockwool re3 slabs 4' x 2'. This is meant to be the UK equivalent to oc703.

I now have a new conundrum in the acoustic war with my move in to the attic space which has height of 5'7 in the tallest point. So I'm trying to research to see if I can make this room work! I'm hoping that if I ram 4" thick rockwool slabs in between all the joists in the short sloping ceiling that ill absorb any reflective issues!

Please let this work!!!!!!!!

[Mslwte]

Luckily I managed to get the vast majority sent back so not a total loss. Now I have Rockwool re3 slabs 4' x 2'. This is meant to be the UK equivalent to oc703.

I now have a new conundrum in the acoustic war with my move in to the attic space which has height of 5'7 in the tallest point. So I'm trying to research to see if I can make this room work! I'm hoping that if I ram 4" thick rockwool slabs in between all the joists in the short sloping ceiling that ill absorb any reflective issues!

Please let this work!!!!!!!!

good luck with the attic, you'll need to keep warm in the winter and cool in the summer! i have a heater, an air con unit and some special insulation stapled to the rafters

[gavisthename]

Or I could just put coat on in the winter and get naked in the summer!

[Mslwte]

things are certainly hotting up my end lol

[gavisthename]

Looks like ill be making phat beats with a shriveled cack in the winter!