$20 DIY Acoustic Panels 👍 or 👎

DIY Acoustic Panels to reduce echo in my woodworking workshop and film recording studio. These sound panels are cheap and easy to build for less than $20 a piece.
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[Fixthisbuildthat]

It sounds a lot better to my ears in the shop! How do you think the sound difference came across on the video?

[studiogerk]

It definitely helps. To give you pretty close to DOUBLE the sound control ... get them at least a few inches down from the ceiling. Then they capture the reflections both directly into the side facing you and they also catch the reflections off the ceiling. I know ... not a great time to hear that after you just finished the nice french cleat mounting ... but coming from a music studio background I can tell you it makes a HUGE difference. You would also benefit from taking a handful of them off the ceiling and get them on the walls that are the first reflection points from where you stand at your bench, also a few inches off the wall. You'll find that the majority of the reflections from a voice, because you are facing in specific directions, will be captured better on walls that ceilings. Since you are using a shotgun mic also consider the reflection points for it's capsule relative to where you're standing. Have your wife hold a mirror at the left and right walls and when you can see the mic capsule in the mirror ... put a panel there.

[markswinson]

I just made 108 of these panels based on your video. I hung them on the walls of a school auditorium. Thanks for the inspiration!

[mynorchinchilla]

If the fabric is made of cotton or linen, you can spray with water and as it dries it’ll tighten up. That’s what I do with my canvas painting surfaces to get rid of wrinkles. Cheers!

[doctersound]

Quick rule of thumb, a 2" acoustic panel with a 2" air gap off the ceiling or wall will give you the same effective sound control as an equivalent 4" panel attached directly to the surface. Double the efficiency, and only 1/2 the cost. You can still use your french cleats too....just put spacers between the cleat and the roof. Just a suggestion. Its an easy fix. Seriously you went this far might as well do a comparison of all three Before/After/and then one with the air would love to hear the final result. Good luck.

[MVandemore]

I just wanted to comment that the editing on all of your videos is really good and this one was particularly well done. Kudos to whomever is doing the work.

[kwbarron]

I did something very similar for my theater several years back. I used cheap 1x4's from HD, Roxul insulation and black speaker grill cloth from Joann fabrics. They work perfectly, and were very cheap to build.

[mpgilbertusa]

That rhythmic stapling sequence—very satisfying! Also, asthmatics unite! Dust-free workspaces are the best.

[RobDucharme]

I built very similar panels several years ago for my studio. Except I used 1x4's (I think) and Rockwool rigid panels. Because they were to hang on the walls, I had a different hanging system but at the time I had never even heard the term "French cleat." Definitely made a difference!

[mcseforsale]

I build arcades from 3/4" MDF and to get the cut edges strong and smooth, coat the cut edges with a mix of 5 part water to 1 part wood glue. Dab it on with a foam brush, wait for it to dry, then sand the pebbly surface with 120 grit and Bob's your uncle. The edges will be much more damage resistant. I use this since I normally have to cut a groove for the T-molding and this re-inforces the MDF.

[taylorsand]

Those sheers are incredible to have around the house. Whether it's opening random stuff, working with landscaping or on Christmas morning where they get a big workout opening gift packages... they are a great add to any shop/house!

[JohnL]

I like what you did, but acoustically, you need to mitigate first reflections the most. Those will be the opposite wall from where you are speaking. If you don’t have much wall space to reduce the volume of reflections, you might be able to put in diffusers on the doors… just a series of panels as slightly different depths and angles that will reduce slap back transients by spreading acoustic energy over time.

[petestephens-brown]

At 9:48 to10:04, I particularly enjoyed the editing skills you demonstrated by effectively using your stapler as a percussion instrument. Well done! Made me smile.

[adrianabshire]

I built some of these for our church to reduce echo and hung them on the back wall and down the sides - made a huge difference; I used 2x4 construction with Rockwool but your idea with the MDF would have been so much cheaper and easier! Thanks for the great video - I have about 10 more to build!

[Evolventity]

I love how they just slide on to stay up. So simple and satisfying.

[cleatussfmo]

A good way to fix the ocd on it being semantical is to offset them on a checkerboard setup(so one side would be centered on the gap of the other side) which might also make the acoustic canceling effect a little better as well.

[jefffree]

Good job! I've used Safe N Sound in the ceiling in my home recording studio ( its much nicer to work with than OC compressed fiberglass). I can hear a slight improvement, but unfortunately you still have the other 5 surfaces reflecting. a workshop with cabinets is a tough one . Anything you can do to break up the long parallel hard surfaces will help.

[BigHeinen]

My dad and I built some sound deadening in a small radio station's production room in Corvallis Oregon in the early 1960's. We used egg cartons glued to the walls and ceiling and it worked amazingly! So cheap but knocked down all echo and was so quiet!

[MichaelSchreiber]

OMG, the staples in sync with the sound. FANTASTIC!

[chrisscarberry]

Cool video! I build panels like this for drum rooms. If the fabric sags from the weight of the insulation over time, you can add a few thin wires under the fabric to give the insulation a hard barrier inside the frame -- if you make free-standing versions, you can use chicken wire like a cage under the fabric, then add ski-style feet for them to move around the floor as needed. Thanks for the great content!