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Best way to arrange sound foam, and secret end question

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Hey all Skeleton aka Kyle here I have a question for you guys, i'm buying some sound foam soon (I need it for my live stream) and I rather not buy enough to cover all of my walls so I was wondering. Whats better

Spreading it out

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OR

Chunking it together

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Please answer I need help.
PS
if you read this far is there any questions you'd like me to ask when I get interviewed by massdrop about the community?
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JZStudios
66
Nov 20, 2016
My friend got some sound foam for his studio. He went with some Auralex plushy foams sort of like the red/black pattern and some harder fiber material. Pretty sure it's some sort of fiberglass. Anyways, he got some of the foam science board sheets from a craft store and glued the plushy to it in a 3x3 grid. Think people just turn the foam for visual effect. A lot of people just glue the foam straight to the wall, which is awful if you ever want to move it, the glue will tear the foam and stick to the wall. Just an application tip. As far as effectiveness, I saw a video where a guy tried a bunch of random things vs. sound foam, and a canvas loaded with towels was the cheapest option and absorbed way more sound. It also has the benefit of being canvas so you can paint it. I use a lot of different foams, and my friend swears the Auralex is a special kind, but it seems to me to just be straight medium cell memory foam. The same kind you'll find for sofa cushions. My moms also got a sheet of the eggshell stuff on her bed.
TheSkeleton
3134
Nov 20, 2016
JZStudiosactually that canvas idea sounds like it could be a really good project thanks for the idea
JZStudios
66
Nov 22, 2016
JZStudiosI'm assuming different foams with different densities help with certain frequencies... but yeah, if you just want complete sound dampening, buy some canvas prints you like, go to goodwill and buy a bunch of towels and jam them in there. Upon a quick google search, Target's website has the 3in eggshell memory foam for a twin size bed for less than $50. Not sure how the sound dampening is, but it's a hell of a lot cheaper than the Auralex that's about $150 for a few 12" square panels.
I am also curious about this. Also, if there's any difference between good noise cancelling foam and something like high density packing foam.
I'm always hesitant with stuff like this that has a huge price difference for what appears to be very similar material. Seems real easy to just sell whatever foam and market as 'noise cancelling' without any of the actual benefits.
billnye
65
Nov 18, 2016
Oh, generally the spec you're looking for to compare one product to another is STC rating of the material... sound transmission coefficient. Sound can get through in various forms (through cracks, through direct contact of materials, etc.) so surface absorption is only one piece of the puzzle... but that's the rating on effectiveness of that particular piece :)
Awesome! Thanks man. Will look into all this. The walls are surprisingly solid for an apartment, but the door is just atrociously bad at any kind of sound reduction.
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