John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum

So I am preparing to build a new space, and my old space has whhhooollleee bunches of 2" wedge foam. Is there anything you can think of I can do to repurpose this stuff so I don't let it go to waste? Perhaps cut it up and make it into bass traps...ooorrr...well I have no idea. Any ideas?

Is it proper open-cell acoustic foam? If so, then sure, it can be re-used as treatment in your room. But which room? What stage are you at? Are you tearing down the old one? Building a new one? Re-treating the old one?

A little more info would be useful!

- Stuart -

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I want this studio to amaze people. "That'll do" doesn't amaze people.

I am tearing down the old one, and then building a brand spanking new one at a new house. And yes, it is proper acoustic foam. I will have a live room which will double as a vocal booth with some gobo's, and I will have a control room as well. Because of the talk of foam not being really great with acoustic treatment, I was going to build 2' x 4' acoustic panels with mineral wool, and see what I can reuse the 2" wedge for something.

That's good news! You have the opportunity to do it all over, and make sure it is done as well as possible!

How about if you post your design / photos / SketchUp model, for folks here to look at? they might be able to help you improve your design, or avoid construction problems.


Well, it depends on the type of foam: proper acoustic foam is "open cell" foam, and it works very well. But "closed cell" foam, which is commonly used in furniture, mattresses, and such like, as well as polystyrene and polyurethane foams, are pretty useless acoustically. It its the fact of the foam itself being "open" or "closed" at the microscopic scale that matter.


Mineral wool is open cell, and works well acoustically. So does fiberglass insulation (the "pink fluffy stuff" that you often see in threads here). There are a couple of other possibilities, but must of the research that you can find on-line, and most of the construction threads you see here, are all about mineral wool and fiberglass, mostly because it is inexpensive (relatively), and has great acoustic properties.

So your 2'x4' mineral wool panels will work great, and will be cheaper than purchasing manufactured foam treatments, even though they work too (or rather, the good quality ones made by REPUTABLE manufacturers work: Beware of the cheap garbage stuff that is also out there....)

- Stuart -

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I want this studio to amaze people. "That'll do" doesn't amaze people.