Easy & Cheap DIY Acoustic Panels

[@Fixthisbuildthat]

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

[@MartinNyxel]

Ill do dampening in top corners too... :)

[@mojitomaker]

Not noticeable on video, but looks cool, and alex is rad.

[@OmarGarcia-bi7jq]

Yes there's a good difference, good job

[@MightySawdust]

So I'm not the only one that has bad luck with losing audio. Yes there is a bit of difference in sound with them. Thanks for the video, once I get more situated with my shop/studio, I'll probably do something too. I'm working with a 10x15 shed, I can only imagine how much that could help. I already have French cleats featured on the walls, why not bring them to the ceiling. Although I'll have to make a little stop for them or hang them more on vertical pattern so they don't slide off from slop of ceiling. Well I'm off to make something in my shop!!

[@BengaliMcGinley]

Awesome video, as usual, but on video there was barely a difference to me 🙁

[@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.

[@Fixthisbuildthat]

great tips, thank you!

[@wally7856]

Lowering the panels will get you reduction down into lower frequencies but won't improve mid to high frequencies. At the surface of the wall air pressure is the highest (node) and air displacement is essentially zero, a 1/4 wavelength away from the surface of the wall, air pressure is zero (anti-node) and air displacement is at a maximum. These panels work by reducing air displacement so they work best when they are 1/4 wavelength away from the surface for the frequencies you are targeting where air movement due to sound is at a maximum. These are about 4" away from the surface so good from 20 khz down to about 800 hz, there will be some attenuation below 800 hz but not a lot. Lowering those panels 4" will get that fiber 8" away from the surface lowering those numbers down to about 400 hz. Trying to tame any frequencies lower then about 400hz is a fools errand as to get down to 200 hz you need a 16" thick panel, 100 hz - 32" thick panels, etc. He should make half a dozen 6-8' high, 24" wide upright panels on a simple t-bar stand that he can move around for different shoots. That way he can always have them on the opposite wall that he is speaking. As it is, the difference is huge in the amount of reverb reduction, it's actually listenable now.

[@studiogerk]

@@wally7856 It honestly should improve mid-high as well in his environment at least for any of the reflections the backs can catch. It's doubling the exposed area that can diffuse the reflections (even though nowhere near double will be bouncing from in behind them). He could use some help in the midrange as well that the current panels are not catching so it's a win-win to drop them some IMHO.

[@ryanmcgowan3061]

@@wally7856 If the panels are cone-shaped, then the wavelength gets compressed. To be honest, getting to that level will be hitting diminishing returns in a garage where there's a concrete floor and lots of other flat surfaces. Any benefit to building them as sound traps will be lost behind echoes coming off the floor, corner-cube reflections, etc. Throw some cheap speaker carpet on the walls before you worry about acoustic trapping.

[@agmsmith4079]

@@studiogerk ...it doesn’t actually work like that in practice though. Any sound that would get behind the panel would be absorbed by the front of the panel anyway. Any sound coming at an extreme angle to the panel is a tertiary mode and won’t be reflecting back at the microphone with any substantial SPL. The most effective way to control sound in a recording is to stop the FIRST reflections. Each reflection loses roughly 6dB in SPL and so sound reflecting almost parallel along the ceiling will have to reflect of at least 2 or 3 surfaces before reaching the microphone, which means it will be 12 to 18dB quieter than the direct sound and won’t be an issue. Spacing the panels farther away from the ceiling will only effect the lowest frequency they absorb to, that is about it. In the recordings he made I can hear quite a lot of 600Hz still reverberating. So he may be worth it for him to hang the panels farther off the ceiling. But the best suggestion is the one Wally had, where he should make gobos that he can move around the shop and keep behind the camera to stop reflections coming back into the microphone. In that shop he would also be much better off using a cardioid boom mic than a shotgun.

[@markswinson8932]

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!

[@emmanuelmuzambi8123]

Do you have any pics of the auditorium

[@therealGP]

Yeah what Eman said. Send (I mean YT) pics of auditorium!

[@A6Legit]

How's it sound?

[@minecat1839]

Are you a professional or was that a STEM project?

[@markswinson8932]

@minecat1839 it was once a gymnasium, but is now an auditorium

[@mynorchinchilla2932]

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!

[@ezmoney57]

You want to use distilled water or you will get stains on light colored fabrics. If you don't have the stretch even spraying it though will expose a bad stretch. You want to do no more than about 6" on one side and then alternate all four sides from the inside out to the corners. also on your corners you want to use a pencil or bone to cut in tight on that inside of the extra fabric you folded in, if you want to do it really clean. over all this stretch was fine though as it is on the ceiling and looked pretty good but just thought i would share my professional knowledge. great video though always love the comments and learn so much on these types of videos

[@jordancockett3887]

@@ezmoney57 nope

[@honesttroll6332]

Yes, use stain free water to not stain your light colored fabrics

[@doctersound9630]

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 gap.....I would love to hear the final result. Good luck.

[@justfortier]

I came here to basically make the same comment. I also worry about the future sag. I feel that rockwool will need support and is weighs on the fabric and stretches it over time. I do like the cleats idea though, seems cleaner than what I was thinking for ceiling mount (two eye screws connected to each other with a little chain).

[@wadimek116]

It doesnt doubles efficency it just trades some of the 200-1khz range for quite a big boost below that. Still 20cm+10cm distance is minimal thickness for me to have any decent bass performance.

[@aemaury]

@@wadimek116 correct ^ the gap only improves low-mid frequency absorption. overall, these panels help shorten the decay time of the room's reverb, but there are still a ton of hard surfaces in the shop reflecting sound. many more panels are needed to eliminate the reverb. to my ear in the recording this sounds like maybe the verb is reduced by 15%

[@jpitt916]

@@justfortier I dunno, rockwool isn't very heavy and it tends to stay in place pretty well in walls with just a friction fit.

[@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.

[@ctrlalttaco]

This is a great idea. I am curious how it holds up in comparison to shellac

[@kleinisfijn]

I've been using watered down MDF primer (1:1) on the edges. Also works great, it really soaks into the material and when you apply the first coat of primer it has good coverage on the cut edges.

[@mcseforsale]

@@ctrlalttaco The reason I dilute it so much is so the glue soaks in deeper. I don't use shellac on my MDF projects so I can't speak to that.

[@Fixthisbuildthat]

nice tip!

[@mcseforsale]

@@kleinisfijn I like the wood glue as it hardens the face and makes it VERY dent/ding resistant.

[@JohnL2112]

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.

[@Fixthisbuildthat]

great tip! I might try and add a few right across from the workbench and see how they do

[@coffinsnail6930]

if you want ones on the wall to look good, find some cloth posters you can stretch over the front thats how i made my streaming ones to hide those funky looking foam that everyone uses.

[@chuckf3109]

@@Fixthisbuildthat I will second this. I have the exact same rockwool panels but they're on the walls not the ceiling. In music studios they're on the walls. If you put them on the ceiling, you want them to be floating. They should hang an inch or two away from the ceiling not tight to the ceiling. I understand that you have limited wall space to hang panels like this on the walls. Let me offer another idea. Diffusers. Diffusers can be decorative and look great. The idea is that they offer jagged edges to disrupt the sound and scatter it instead of just bouncing it back in a linear fashion. You could make many different kinds, and hang them in the shop like they're art. If you want to get real scientific with them, quadratic diffusion is the ticket. Basically the diffuser is mathematically structured to diffuse sound waves the best. Quadratic diffusers would make for a good woodworking project / video.

[@groeneribbroek]

@@Fixthisbuildthat You can try hanging some towels (or your ceiling panels) in different locations to test the placement with the most impact.

[@pabl048]

This is what I came here to say. Needs to be primarily on lateral walls and secondarily on upper/lower (where applicable of course)

[@jodysusanwrites]

A good sense of humor is the best remedy when life doesn’t align with perfect symmetry - you did a good job of displaying that skill. Thanks for the tips and for making me laugh. 😊

[@mpgilbertusa]

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

[@djjazzyjeff1232]

As a professional musician, it's worth doing for sure. Probably the singe most overlooked things in modern building is acoustics. You see so many beautiful works of architecture, that are like purpose-built echo chambers, it's ridiculous. Especially places like Bars, Wedding Venues, and Events Centers. If you're going to be doing something that involves sound, (which is EVERYTHING, that's why I worded it that way) some thought and care about acoustics will go a long way. Here's a short example: There's a KZbin channel I like to watch and the guy was building a new home-office/studio thing, built it all up, insulated the walls with what was effectively glorified carpet padding, and he was waiting on the Sheetrock to be delivered, so he worked out of there for a week, with no issues, got the Sheetrock, put it up, and it turned his room from basically a totally dead music recording-studio type room to a reflective echo-chamber, and he was bummed out. So he put MORE acoustic pads ON the Sheetrock. In my opinion he should've just not sheetrocked it at all, the week when it was "unfinished" was the best his videos sounded. Also It was never on camera, as he would record his screen and just do voice-over. Point being, I wish more people would consider acoustics. I've been to loud bars and stuff with live bands and it's just harsh sounds clattering around in there. I like loud music more than most people, but bad acoustics make things loud it all the wrong ways.

[@achappel]

Turned out great! 💪🔥

[@901D]

YOOO~~

[@Fixthisbuildthat]

Thanks, Alexandre! The sliding cleats were soooo awesome for an easy install 💪💪

[@SeBLASTian86]

Watch the full video to see if you were mentioned Alexandre😅

[@BlakePizzey]

I'm about to copy both of you! The echo is killing me.

[@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.

[@petestephens-brown5067]

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.

[@texasheat5400]

I Built 8 panels to hang on the wall of my studio. I used 4" in a 1x4 design. Same thereoy as you used here only hung on wall. They made a huge difference in how tight it was in my studio. Good Job!

[@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.

[@ModernBuilds]

French cleats are genius!! 🔥🔥

[@Fixthisbuildthat]

Yeah, dude, his design was so good! Got me thinking of other uses

[@iCrispyBaconHD]

i would add a small stop on the back end of the cleat so it's not possible to overshoot when sliding on the panel.

[@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!

[@AdamZollo]

I fix audio in my day job. The room noise is in much better control and they look great. If you want to do even better, try adding a 2" panel to whichever points of first reflection you can find. 2 or 3 really well placed absorbers will do wonders.

[@Stardew_Native]

How would you find point of first reflection?

[@AdamZollo]

@@Stardew_Native It's going to vary based on your position as the speaker and the mic. Noise comes out of your mouth and heads towards the top of the mic. Some noise will not go directly into your mic but rather go out at an angle, bounce off a wall, and then go into your mic. Sound bounces all around the room. The only way to really dampen ALL reflections is to put acoustic material everywhere. BUT you can also be strategic and focus on the worst reflection points. The points of first reflection are a good place to start. Their placement depends on where your mic is and where you are. If you are constantly moving yourself or your mic, then maybe it's not worth thinking about. But if you record from 1-2 places, you can do this: 1. Stand where you usually speak from. 2. Have someone else hold a small hand mirror up and place it on a wall. Then that person moves until you can see the mic from where you are standing. That is the place where light (or sound) can reflect directly from your position to the mic. In a square room where you stand at one wall and the mic is on the opposite, there will be 6 points of first reflection. 1. One is on the wall to your right, halfway between you and the mic. 2. On the opposite wall to the left. 3. On the floor (about halfway to the mic) 4. On the ceiling (about halfway to the mic) 5. Behind you. 6. Behind the mic.

[@Stardew_Native]

@@AdamZollo Ahh, okay I see. I am looking at ways to reduce the noise of dogs barking at a shelter so it's not a valid option for me since there are so many dogs! But it's fascinating for someone with little exposure to the audio world. Thanks for the explanation!

[@AdamZollo]

@@Stardew_Native Yes, a better strategy might be baffling. Kind of what they do at a lot of modern swimming pools where general noise is also an issue.

[@N0B0DY_SP3C14L]

Lots of good tips, but one other, and I know this one really doesn't go over well for most folks who are visually focused, but in fact, you will also get a better response by removing symmetries in the way you hang the panels. By doing so, any reflected sound waves meet with random air movements and thus cannot establish relationships that create patterns of air movement, which is what sound is, at its essence. A lot of folks may have difficulty with this aesthetically, but difference this makes is EASILY audible. So, if you're going for nice looks, not as good sound absorption, then stick with symmetrical placements. If you want better sound, break those symmetries up! Good luck.

[@WoodenLegWoodworking]

That staple and music synchronization was fantastic! Very crisp edit. I enjoy

[@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!

[@cartooner31]

Amazing build! Pro tip, rather than installing it tight to the ceiling, if you hung the panels off the ceiling, then sound energy has to pass through the panels twice (further dampening the sound more). The energy is dampened once on its way up, bounces off the ceiling, then dampens again on the way back down.

[@ryanmcgowan3061]

Also known as ceiling clouds.

[@embee5557]

Thank you for explaining the reason why the gap helps!

[@LG-ct8tw]

Panels should be hanging down on edge exposing both sides of the insulation. Sound waves going up will bounce and decay between the panels, the few to reach the ceiling will hit the panels on the way back down and die off.

[@chrisscarberry422]

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!

[@tdtrecordsmusic]

woa, that is a lot of echo. As I go for sound and not looks, I put fabric up. Just find a way to attach the fabric/carpet/foam to the surface. Typically I find cool looking tapestries. There are so many decorative fabrics the possibilities are endless, but the trick is to spend as little $$ as possible on supporting the fabric and just get it up there. One trick if someone wants a clean look is to use blackout curtains. Thick curtains on curtain rods does the job.

[@Dinuial]

I'm a stitcher and my brother is a professional sound engineer. Couple things to know when shopping for fabric. CHECK THE BOLT WIDTH. The way fabric is manufactured you can get any length you want but the width is determined by the width of the loom it was made on. Standard dress bolts you will find at the average fabric store are going to be 45" or 60" wide, drapery and upholstery bolts can be wider but you won't find them at the average craft/hobby shop. Also, check for mill joins in your cut bolt; fabric will sometimes be shipped with multiple runs joined on the bolt. "Breathable" is going to have different meanings for sound control v wear. Ask a stitcher about breathable fabric they'll talk fiber content and worry about trapping heat, for acoustic paneling it's less a matter of fiber content more weave or thread density. Anything light to medium weight should work for you. My brother like woven fabrics when building panels but other sound engineers I've met prefer knit. Woven fabrics will be more stable and can make cutting easier as many will tear on a straight of grain, knit stretches.

[@kreynolds1123]

I can hear a difference before and after. But I can't say it makes a difference to me, but I'm glad your happier with them and that's what maters most.

[@MrClarkisgod]

Best acoustic damper I've found so far is old bath towels. And you can usually get them for free. Raid the closets, ask friends and family, hit up the charity shops.

[@Fixthisbuildthat]

yes, saw DIY Perks make some really cheap ones with that method

[@Goggledreams]

One thing that can definitely help way more is to leave a 6 or 8 inches gap in between the ceiling and the pannel depending on the thickness of your pannel. For example. If pannel is 6 inches, gap shold be 6 inches. GREAT VIDEO!!!... thanksfor sharing...

[@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!

[@TheDudeAbides-247]

Great project. I made sound panels using a similar frame, and filling them with basic 2'x4' ceiling tiles used in office and basement drop ceilings to reduce noise. I covered the frame with inexpensive felt from the fabric store. The panel absorbs sound (it has an NRC rating of .70, not as good as Rockwool, but still effective. The air gap behind the ceiling tile absorbs sound that gets through (via transmission) after it bounces off the hard wall/ceiling. This "Double Absorption" cuts down a lot of room reflections. I put up 10 panels in my home office studio and they made a big difference.

[@DaveBode]

Hey Brad, nice build. I have built 46 of these panels using a combination of 3" Roxul Safe n' Sound batts and 2" Roxul RHT 80. The RHT stuff, which is now called Rockboard or something, is much easier to make, doesn't sag, and takes up less room because it is compressed. I believe it has the same or better noise performance as 3" Safe n' Sound. My first batch of panels was with Safe n' Sound. Then I found a local insulation supplier for industrial insulation. That was a much better deal. I recall twelve 2'x4'x2" panels being around $76. The key to getting a less reverberant sound is way more pannels. To kill those reflections you need another 24-36 panels. You have a lot of obsticals on the walls so you have to put them everywhere else. Another option is to use Producer Blankets. They are like really nice moving blankets that don't smell like petroleum. I have a video studio that is probably similar in size to your shop, 21'x21'x10'. It's a garage. I had 26 (2'x4'x3" frames loaded with the 2" thick RHT 80) panels plus three 72"x80" moving blankets covering the entire 2-car garage door and an 8x10' rug. Most of that was focused on one half of room, because I only shoot in one direction. All of that made an audible, but rather subtle difference. I have since moved some of those panels into my office which is 11x11x9'. In there I have...26 panels plus a moving blanket over the window and the closet. I mix audio and record VO in there and it sounds dead. Like super dead. Check out any of my last 3 videos for examples of what it sounds like in there.

[@DanielRuiz-vn8us]

The stapling going with the beat was pure satisfaction hahaha. Love your videos, excited to see many more!

[@haxney]

I did basically the same design a few weeks ago for the dance room at my house! It made an enormous difference. I like your French cleat system; it makes mounting a lot easier than what I had planned. One suggestion: you can get even cheaper fabric by getting old bedsheets at the thrift store. My local thrift store sold sheets for $2-3, and you could get two panels out of a single sheet.

[@DmitryMyadzelets]

Cotton get yellowish after time

[@tbmuse]

@@DmitryMyadzelets use cheap beach towels too ... or dense batting (there are some sound reduction fabrics that use old jeans as a base, I have designed several studios using these and they really do dampen the lows better than the insulation pads you used)

[@Tiger.Arcade]

Great video for people already with a ton of tools and equipment used in this video. So stack on $1000-$2000 for those tools and equipment and you’re good to go. Still entertaining to watch.

[@jppcreative]

I can hear some difference in sound. It's a slight reduction. The shotgun mic is likely picking up side-to-side/front-to-back reflections as well. Understanding the real estate of the walls is challenging, if theres a way to add abatement to any vertical surfaces, that can also be helpful. I enjoyed the video and the craftsmanship, for sure! Oh, and asymmetrical is ok, as sound bouncing from one surface can be caught on the opposite surface, etc. Helps get a better bang for the buck with some reduced coverage (when it comes to walls). I understand the aesthetics of the ceiling, though. :)

[@Fixthisbuildthat]

thank you for the feedback, definitely going to try some vertical abatement too

[@daveschmidt5713]

@@Fixthisbuildthat "thank you for the feedback" -- No pun intended

[@bancombe1]

I drilled multiple 50mm holes in the frames also to dampen through the sides when mounting on walls. Keep up the good work.

[@SQLJedi]

Great job Brad! Your shop has got to be the cleanest I've ever seen! Keep up the great videos.

[@Fixthisbuildthat]

I do like a tidy shop 😀

[@MichaelSchreiber1]

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

[@MichaelBuilds]

LOL I love that you have a note on your camera that says, "Check MIC plug!" I need one of those as well as one that says, "Don't forget to hit REC button!" LOL LOVE your content Brad and hope to collaborate with you or see you at WBC some day!

[@Fixthisbuildthat]

come up and grab me at WBC!

[@iambear.6526]

@@Fixthisbuildthat Has a reminder to "Check MIC plug!" then has audio issues still XD

[@TravisFabel]

Those helped substantially more than I thought they were. You want to put them behind the camera. Directly across from you because that's the direction you're projecting your voice and you get the first echo bounce off of that. So you've cut down everything that's coming off of the ceiling and floor and that vertical echo. But if you did the same panels on the wall opposite you, or even hanging panels that hang down and you can move them up out of your way, that would finish it. That said it's a substantial improvement.. And while the assembly of those are fairly easy, that is a lot of labor you put in and you did an excellent job on them.

[@danasuechilds]

Great video! Too late now, but a way of hiding the symmetrical problem is by using a fabric color that closely matches your ceiling color, then you won't "see" the panels, they'll blend in.

[@victorpapaavp]

That was a much easier solution for using the french cleats than I had in mind... I was thinking some overengineered french cleat clamping mechanism of some sort... glad You're the one in charge, Brad!

[@edflan]

The new editing style looks awesome! The different speeds of the more repetitive tasks, the tracking dolly, and the fade from lifting up the fabric to it being on the bench in the next shot! Very smooth and stylish man!

[@freddiedoyle472]

Great video love the bad mic recovery ! Quick tip from on over the hill drummer . If you have a dead corner .. Drill a bunch of holes in a length of sonatube fill it with insulation wrap with fabric and hang in the coner , makes a great sound trap. Thank you for all the great content you provide !!

[@hansangb]

That cleat idea is awesome. Thank you (Alex). But I think the insulation will sag over time. When I made mine, I just had a strip down the middle. Also, in my room, it made ALL the difference. But I concentrated on the walls. And your pre-post test shows a difference!

[@blodpudding]

It is also recommended to install acoustic panels 2-4 inches from the surface for optimal effect.

[@Evolventity]

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

[@michaelstaps5526]

We use Rockwool for years in many ways, and I think you will find the fibers everywhere in your shop within a few months, just because of air-movement (take a look at the panels when shutting the door). Echoes (or better reflections) occur between parallel surfaces. That is, between the ceiling and the floor, or between opposing walls. As you said yourself: after the stuff was out and you installed propper cabinets, the sound was bad.... Insulating the ceiling doesn't solve that wall problem, it solves another one that adds to it. Just for fun... try opening the cabinet doors at different angles. That will probably help a lot... Even though it would look a little weird in the videos, of course. Even if you open the doors just a little, the sound changes enough to have an effect. Anyway... The easiest way to create good acoustics in a workshop is to just not clean it up. As my grandpa used to say, if there are no chips in the carpenter's shop, the carpenter has nothing to do. keep going 👍

[@KelikakuCoutin]

I used to stretch canvas by hand as a kid, I've done thousands of them (artist's canvas). Basically the same operation as you're doing in the video. The best way to do it is to put one staple in the middle on opposite sides, doing them in pairs. Then tack down one side, going from the middle staple out to each corner; then go to the opposite side and stretch, tacking out from the middle staple. On a larger canvas sometimes you might need to stretch out to the corners, alternating ends. Next, tack down the middle of the other two sides with one staple and stretch again, repeating the operation, working towards the corners from the middle staple. Start with the long sides first, and finish stretching with the short sides. Always start with two staples in the middle of the opposite bars, then work out from the middle staple, stretching as you go. Of course the first side doesn't hold a stretch, it's not attached to anything yet, so you need only stretch starting with the second side. If you get a kink in the canvas, and there's room for another staple on either side of the kink, you can pull the canvas out and stick in an extra staple in between the two outer staples. Otherwise you may need to pull out one staple and restretch that kink, putting in two staples on either side of where the pulled out one was. If it's extremely bad, you should just pull out all the staples on that one side, your middle staple must have gotten pulled the wrong way, so you need to re-do the middle staple. There are special canvas pliers you can get, if you're really going to get into it. Hope this helps. Thanks for the content, keep up the good work.

[@jefffree6990]

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.

[@innerspearmusic]

The one thing I wish you did was use a decibel meter before and after for the ambient room level.

[@cedartreeworkshop]

These are great, Brad! Having done a fair bit of audio engineering in my career, I've found that recording in an echo-y shop environment isn't terrible. Using a lapel (as you do for most of your VO work) helps. There are some VST plugins out there that remove echo automatically in post production. That said, adding floating panels 2-3' above your head could provide some additional dampening of close range reflections and help mitigate longer reflections from above. Angling them slightly (as to not be coplanar with hard surfaces) away from your microphone at slight angles sometimes helps, too. It's diminishing returns at some point, however - especially in high ceiling shops with lots of hard surfaces.

[@ireallyreallyreallylikethisimg]

Yeah the echo removal vsts tend to have an insane amount of artefacts and you might as well have a proper setup at that point 😄

[@darkstarrone8764]

@@ireallyreallyreallylikethisimg well now in 2024 with AI, its insane whats capable of being achieved!

[@jeffmartin8953]

profs to you, giving credit to whom credit is deserved! refreshing to see a person w/some integrity 👌

[@cleatussfmo7437]

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.

[@mirdan1960]

Very nice work! An air gap between the ceiling and the panel can use both sides of the panels, doubling the effective surface and trap sound from behind too. I think it worth it.

[@raymitchell9736]

Hi Brad, I can hear less echo in your sound tests... so thumbs up! It is an improvement, but I think you still have just a little echo from the cabinets or walls... that said, I don't think you should/need to address that, I'd say go with what you've got now. Your audio is clear enough... and after all, you're recording in a shop... so IMHO you'd want some of that echo "sound" to convey that, if you had a deadened flat sound like in a studio recording booth, it wouldn't "feel" right in that space. Anyway, I hope my feedback (not the audio kind 😁LOL) helps. Best of luck... and NOW you can build something awesome!

[@Fixthisbuildthat]

thanks, Ray!

[@davemiles3387]

Great idea! I have the same in my recording studio. If you have room, you need some on the walls for those slap back echos and it would be a lot better. Great job!

[@stevet47]

I’ve considered building cabinet doors with a fabric or Homosote “recessed panel” to get more soft surfaces in the shop. Drop ceiling are good for acoustics too.

[@monkeyfeed908]

if u cant beat them then cut them while wearing a mask Also one thing that would have helped is cutting holes in the flat side of the MDF that faces out before putting in the insolation. Anything hitting the sides of those will cause echo too as its just going through one layer of fabric and into wood then back out the fabric into your ears as an echo. If there was holes it could get trapped and eventually either bounce until it ran out of energy or entered the insolation. would have been WAY more work though and may not have been worth it. I made something similar though a while back and someone mentioned it to me so when i made more panels later i did it and idk if it was just positive suggestion or what but it did seem slightly better. Anyway your panels are really working, sound way better.

[@ctrlalttaco]

I have been considering building some of these for my home office and am so glad to see this video drop today! Also, asymmetry is actually good for acoustic dampening as it helps to break up some frequency reflectance.

[@TravisFabel]

For my home office I did a combination of these and those RGB lights. Basically instead of making square panels, you make them in whatever shape you want, use a white fabric, and put the RGB right behind it... Then you can use a white batting and the insulation behind that. The effect is basically that it looks like one of those mood/gamer lights but A bit thicker, and it cuts down the sound substantially.

[@jamesgrant3343]

Excellent - cost effective and visually great. Please consider spraying with ‘Flamebar’ which dramatically reduces the flammability of the fabric. Also it’ll act like tightening a canvas when you mist it after stretching and attaching to frame- takes care of little wrinkles.

[@picabocarecordingstudio9507]

It is good to leave some space between the ceiling and the absorber. Then the sound is absorbed better.

[@RadiumRecordsHollywood]

It actually only helps absorb lower frequencies more effectively when you leave a gap... Highs and mids remain about the same. But YES, if the goal is to absorb lower frequencies, then leave a nice gap!

[@unstopology]

Thanks for sharing this. People are getting technical in the comments but what you've done is great because you're not trying to make a recording studio you're just cutting some echo so your voice comes out clearer. Great job and I'm thinking of doing something similar in my home studio.

[@jasonbailey9139]

As I watch you do the backing cloth I'm screaming, "Brad, fold the excess over so you don't have to cut and end up with jagged edges!"

[@Fixthisbuildthat]

towards the end I stopped cutting the whole length and just cut it out clean where the cleat would slide in 😀👍

[@jasonbailey9139]

@@Fixthisbuildthat I had to type that out as I was experiencing the anxiety and forgot to come back and say that they look great. Nice job as usual. Hope you are having and continue to have a great holiday season!

[@MattSpaugh]

Nice video - the french cleat is the bomb. You can improve the efficiency of your panels (roughly x2) by spacing them off the ceiling. Add a spacer block to your french cleat that's mounted to the ceiling. You want the distance from the ceiling to match the thickness of the panel. It'll be a dust 'shelf' in your shop but you will definitely notice an improvement.

[@PamelaBrandonChromeFoto]

Table saw guard….so happy to see someone that values safety, 2 injuries from kickback,yes 2… it took the 2nd injury to abdomen for me to put a guard on table saw, but I’m still to afraid to use it now.

[@Rosshutton92]

I need 9 of those in my bathroom please

[@Fixthisbuildthat]

😂😂😂

[@MrStupidHead]

You will ruin the sound of your singing in the shower.

[@barrettabney]

This is a great video. I'm an audio environment developer with over 20 years under my belt. I had a High School band room that had 3 seconds of echo in it, and it was causing hearing damage with the teachers. I hung two rows of 2x4 Rockwool panels in a checkerboard pattern on the tops of the 14ft walls all around the room. The echo went from 3 seconds to less than 1 second. And the sound became much more intelligible. Less echo means clearer transmission of cleaner audio data to the brain. Which means clearer understanding for people experiencing the environment. Your next task should be to hang them vertically on the walls across the top of the room on at least 2 adjacent walls. You can space them 2 ft apart. You will sound much more warm when finished.

[@yeahright2022]

Ok that's creepy. I googled "diy acoustic panels" this morning and now THIS pops up. It's a sign... errr panel? Hilarious!

[@Fixthisbuildthat]

😀 prophetic timing

[@pillmuncher67]

I built panels for the rehearsing space of my very loud rock band. For the frames I used dry wall aluminum U-profiles that I cut and bent in shape and connected with rivets. I used two layers of different thickness and density of Rockwool that gave me almost a 100% attenuation above 500 Hz, and a 50% attenuation at around 300 Hz when mounted one inch away from the wall/ceiling. I covered 20% of the room's surface area (26 panels) and the sound became almost too dry. Now we can turn the band way down because we're not drowned out by the reverberation of the room anymore. One panel was 40" x 25" x 3" and cost roughly €20,-.

[@billdiehl156]

So, your wife won’t let you take her “good” scissors out to your shop? Mine is the same way, but she sees nothing wrong with “borrowing” a hammer or drill from my shop.....and never getting around to returning them. 🤦‍♂️

[@Fixthisbuildthat]

it's always the tape measures for me!

[@spacekb17]

@@Fixthisbuildthat that's why you get a nice new one for the shop and donate an old one to the kitchen junk drawer

[@billdiehl156]

@@spacekb17 Tried that. She tends to forget where she put the junk drawer item and it’s easier to pop out to my shop and grab another. She says it’s my OCD that makes it so frustrating to me; I call it put the damn things back where you found them! 😂

[@lotubristol]

Great video Brad, you've made it look so easy! Don't worry about the fact they are not symmetrical, great french cleats!

[@stoveguy2133]

Worked at lab with sound room. 2 story. 18’ high. And 50’ deep and 24’ wide. Crazy room with low lights. Had 6” deep foam panels.

[@CaedenV]

Rockwool is absolutely amazing stuff and (relatively) inexpensive. After years of being annoyed with the noise of the HVAC and water heater in the basement, I built a wall with extra 2x4s and some extra thick drywall. And it helped knock the noise down a bit... but it was still disruptive when watching movies. Picked up a damaged bag of rockwool for dirt cheap and put it on the HVAC side of the wall, and wow! I mean, if it is dead quiet I can hear it, but even the quietest movie masks right over it. It was so quiet in fact, that I started getting annoyed by the fan noise of my computer... which itself is not loud. So I put a hole in the wall, and the computer right behind it, and fed all of the wires for USB, video, etc through, and then moved all of my network and server equipment back there too, and what a difference! And this isn't even a sealed enclosure or anything, just a wall going about 75% the way across the basement! Walk around the corner and it is loud as ever... actually louder because everything that makes noise is in the same spot now. But on the entertainment side of the wall it is great! At some point I'm going to enclose the utility space the rest of the way... but also want to make sure that it isn't going to cause any heat issues with the equipment in there... and I'd like to move the washer/drier into the space as well, which may take a little doing as I would have to move more water and power lines. But it is absolutely amazing just how much of a difference that stuff makes. Another thing you can do for the ceiling panels to make them more effective, is to get them off the ceiling. Adding an inch or two gap between the ceiling and the panel will make them nearly 2x as effective. Putting down some rubber floor matts, or flat carpet that is easy to clean can also help a ton. And putting panels on the wall behind the camera will help a lot with the reflections that are making their way more directly into the mic. I get the feeling the ceiling panels help a lot more with the experience of the room itself than what comes through in the mic, and deadening behind the mic would help a lot with that.

[@tomfavorite1020]

Thanks for the video. I am not sure which I am more excited about...the panels, or the cool workshop and "toys"....wow!!!

[@mkushin]

I saw another video where a guy used black weed block material on the backs of the acoustical panels… I thought that was super clever. These are looking good! I definitely like the idea of doing the cleats such that you can slide them in and make them flush against the ceiling.

[@PoisonNuke]

Cotton alone isnt a good choice as fabric. I have build almost the exact same absorbers like 15 years ago and after 10 years you could see the exact shape of the lattice /frame behind the cotton keeping all together, because the rest was soaked in fibers from the wool. for the next version I will use a foil on the inside. Yes youre reading correcty, a foil to totally enclose the inner volume. There are actually a lot of acoustic benefits from this: beeing only 10cm thick, this absorber only ranges down to like 250Hz-500Hz with most of the dampening in the highs. Having a foil behind the fabric will actually reflect a little bit of the highs and additionally the foil will act as a membrane and extend the acoustig range down to 100Hz or even lower.

[@brineich]

I noticed that you also have a musical back ground too. Noticed the slick edit on the stapling on the beat of the music but matching the triplets was a dead give away!

[@Duane_A]

When I made mine years ago for an audio room, to minimize the hard-surface area (allowing sound to enter the sides) & reduce the weight, I made box with 1x3 furring strips (looked good as new when I removed them from the walls 9yrs later). When wrapping the fabric, I used spray adhesive on the wood to hold the fabric in place while I used a pneumatic stapler to pin it down. I also used Rockwool, but in hindsight, I wish I had used Owens Corning 703. You can also make you a "Sound Cloud" over your workbench...same thing, it just hangs from the ceiling & spans the length of the bench + 10-20% overlap. These did make a HUGE difference!! Fyi...these are "bass traps" & better for lower frequencies, you could still benefit from the black foam panels also. IMHO these are overpriced, so I suggest waiting for Black Friday sales at a music store (i.e. Guitar Center).

[@PeteSimpson]

What a huge difference those panels made. The *Hi I'm brad* voice test definitely has less echo with the panels up and thus makes your voice sounds clearer. Nice job...

[@lavaweb1]

Air Staple Gun bass drop was not something I knew I needed but I DEFINITELY needed!!!!

[@RonnieLeBlancMusic]

Nice build! also leaving a space equal to the thickness of the panel behind each panel will do twice the job. In music studios the space is applied to wall, ceiling and corner panels. Sometimes quadrupling the effect. Catching both high frequency and mid frequency. If the panel is 6" or more thick, it will absorb low frequencies. For thicker panels you can use r19 insulation.

[@sidhree]

I've built my own panels 7 years ago, same dimensions as they were cut around the Rockwool. I could hear the candle flame flicker after hanging 5 of these and 4 bass traps at the corners... Couple of observations: 1. Minimise contact between panels and the walls, so they can vibrate by themselves, 2. The panels should be about 1,5 cm apart from the walls, so that some sound waves can bounce behind them and be nearly completely absorbed by the gap between the panel and the wall.

[@jamesbradley5908]

Great editing epically the sound trolling section. Look forward to more videos

[@dkdowntown]

It does sound better, however, if we are talking about affordable and sound dampening; think light with lots of air in it like studio foam panels. I use cheap foam pads covered in fabric, a new queen size foam mattress topper with turn a small bedroom into a studio easily and I've seem used camping pads to work well. still, cardboard boxes work best for both factors; cut them to fit at about 2-3" depth and cover them with fabric. Ive never experienced it but the end-cut wood panels look cool but surly heavy as heck.

[@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!

[@Locane256]

One of the things I love about your content is your committment to safety and cleanliness - I feel exactly the same way about breathing in random fibers, I don't blame you for wearing a respirator at all. I would be using chemical filters on it though, because why not 🤷‍♂ Breathing through them isn't much different than the dust filters, and you get far, far more protection.

[@dreadcthuhlu8560]

Sounds better already but ya really need some acoustic panels on the wall behind the camera as that should be more effective for reducing the echo off that wall… since your speaking in that direction it’s gonna produce more echo’s from their rather then from overhead. Even in the video you can notice the effect when your hanging the first panel your talking with a noticeable echo but then turn your head as your talking to directly face the panel to admire your work and the echo all but disappears till you turn away from the acoustic panel. The ceiling panels will help with secondary echo bounce spots but you still need to cover your primary echo locations.

[@jakestagg]

If it was in a smaller space, or more panels it would make a huge difference! Those a beautiful! I'd buy em!

[@agmsmith4079]

Also to those who mention first reflections... realize in a shop like that the first reflections to the mic will be the wood tables in front of him and the side walls to his left and right, not the wall behind the camera. The wall behind the camera is also a first reflections but it will be weaker and later than the side walls and tables. Building a couple of these panels as moveable gobos that you can reposition on the sides ans behind the camera for each shot will be most beneficial... also looking into using a cardioid boom mic on an actual boom arm instead of a shotgun mic mounted on the camera will help too... or just use a good wireless lav mic.

[@DesignsbyDonnie]

GREAT video brother! I enjoyed it and I think there was a big difference in the audio. I'm in the process of moving out of my 3000 sq ft workshop as we speak and moving into my home garage of 398 sq ft, lol... yikes.... lol. I've been doing research all last month on sound diffusers and what I could do to help dilute the echo and sound. I may have to do something like this; you got mind thinking big time. Peace out man!

[@shawnwright240]

Nice. Pro tip from a video guy…. Get a simple Lav mic like the Rode Go Wireless 2. This will take almost all of the echo out. Also try the Rycote Overcovers and you will LOVE the sound. And they cost less than your build here.

[@PressuredSpeechBand]

Would it be a good idea to add mineral wool batts inside the frame and cover with fabric?

[@ARepublicIfYouCanKeepIt]

A single sheet of XPS foam insulation, crossed to the depth slightly shallower than the load carrying beam running across the garage, and hung on edge with hooks and eyelets would've made for very effective echo suppression. Super affordable, albeit not much for content. Owens-Corning Foamular is a great choice for this application. Another option would be to add sound exciters to the back of cut XPS panels suspended horizontally from the ceiling. Two birds, one stone. Echo suppression plus speakers when not recording content.

[@paulzagieboylo7315]

Definitely a good call on the pneumatic staple gun. I was watching you struggle with the manual one and thinking "how many of these is he doing? how many hundreds of staples is this going to take? I don't think his hand is going to forgive him anytime soon."

[@theophilusthe3rd]

🎉🎉😊

[@Audrey-km9in]

Sounds much better! Well done. I am going to do this on my teen's wall. Thank you!

[@jk-76]

The screws are there to hold the joint together as the glue dries. As long as they are tight you are good to go. The glue joint it very strong once dried and you can remove the screws.

[@mohammedisaa9952]

Brilliant job..... very effective...... loved the french cleates as an instalation option......

[@avjake]

I know it's a bit late for this, but... All you would need to do to get rid of a huge amount of reverb is angle those cabinet face panels just a little bit. That would diffuse the reflections from the cabinets into different directions. Many recording studios have used non-parallel walls to get rid of slapback echoes.