What's The Best Insulation For Sound Treatment | Choose The Right Material For Your Absorption Panel

TOPIC: Choosing The Right Absorption Material For Acoustic Panels featuring Melamine Foam, Fiberglass, Rockwool, and Recycled Cotton.
Whether you're looking to DIY or purchase from a brand, choosing which absorption material goes into your panels is crucial. In this video, we gave a quick guide on choosing the most suitable insulation material for your space. Hope you find this video helpful!
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[@nickloss2377]

how fire retardant are these materials? would there be an insulation material that is more fire resistant than the others, or are they all about equal in that respect?

[@neptuneaudiospace]

Rockwool, Fiberglass, and Melamine Foams are non-flammable and highly fire-retardant. Rockwool is the most fire-retardant up to about 1500 degrees Celsius followed by Fiberglass which can resist up to 1000 degrees Celsius, then followed by Melamine which resists up to 250 degrees Celsius. Recycled Cotton on the other hand is NOT fire-retardant.

[@rob4601]

Wow. Where has this video been my whole life

[@belasribadreddine]

Just been up for 11 months. That's why

[@audifyhome]

A very straight and clear explanation. Kudos

[@frankroobaert808]

Maybe you could add polyester wool and recycled PET felt into your materials choice please

[@yotamlifshitz]

Thank you for the video! just several things I have to point out.. Material density is a bit of a controversial topic, primarily due to its correlative relation with the actual parameter that must be looked for when deciding on the amount and the actual material for these types of broadband porous absorbers. Finding the material's Gas Flow Resistivity (sometimes known as GFR or Airflow Resistivity AFR) would much greatly benefit when choosing the materials. Using the variety of Porous Absorber Calculators online could assist in making better decisions, all it takes is to input the GFR, the Thickness, air-gap space and you got a fantastic baseline for the following decision making endeavor. One thing to keep in mind.. not all manufacturers share this information.. it is best to check Gearspace for the "common GFR list" thread for a well condensed list of GFRs in a plethora of materials spreaded across the globe! Best of luck!

[@neptuneaudiospace]

Thanks for your comment! This is awesome information right here. Never actually heard of the GFR. Will definitely look into learning more about this parameter, and see how we can inform others about it. Once again thanks for this golden information!

[@Studio22mix]

Great 😊👍🏼

[@JazzzPianist]

Hey there! Thanks for uploading this video. Great stuff. I have two questions: 1. you clearly state the impact of thickness on the amount of absorption on all frequencies: the thicker the lower in can absorp within the spectrum. I am curious what would happen if you go thicker than 4inch rockwool: for example 6" or even 8". Would you be able to absorp the lower frequencies from 40-125 and obtain a NRC of 1 or more? 2. By replacing the rockwool by another type of insulation like recycled denim are the same amount of inches required to obtain an NRC of 1? Or do all materials mentioned in this video have the same density? Also I would recommend to use fabric on both sides of the insulation for safery reasons. Or is this not a good idea?

[@neptuneaudiospace]

Thanks for your comment and great questions! 1. If you go thicker than 4 inches, you will definitely have higher NRC and will be able to absorb those lower frequencies. While this approach may be good for 40 Hz - 125 Hz, you may start to lose that main energy coming from the low-mid frequencies. So you might want to test things out to see if it's worth doing this way. 2. Each material comes in its own various densities and thicknesses, so you may not require the same amount of inches to get the same results. Yes, feel free to use fabric on both sides for a safer environment. Hope this information helps! And sorry for the delayed response. We've been quite busy with building for our customers!

[@youtubewatcher2006]

Great video. Is it a good idea to wrap acoustic panels that are already built in plastic to prevent fibres from escaping, meaning that the entire fabric is covered by thin plastic tarp? Or does the plastic barrier have to be on the inside - between fabric and rockwool?

[@neptuneaudiospace]

The plastic wrap should be between the fabric and rockwool.

[@bullishasfck]

Hey, thank you very much for the video. Do u know why the KZbin Channel with 1M subscribers „In The Mix“ recommends to use a density of 20-30kg per m3? He said, 50 is too high. He worked with denim fibre. (For sound mixing purpose) I want to use denim fibre as well. Which density should I order for absorbing the whole frequency range? Of course I will build the bass traps way more thicker than the normal panels! I dont know if you can help me with this specific question, I read the comment about the GFR parameter under this video and I will go in the rabbit hole by myself to make the right decision. But if you know more, Thank you very much!!

[@bullishasfck]

(Denim fibre isnt only available in 40kg / m3 like mentioned in the vid)

[@neptuneaudiospace]

Hey thanks for your comment, and sorry for the delay. It all depends on what your goals are acoustically, what kind of room you have, and what problems you're facing in your room. Any information you find online will usually be a rule of thumb to guide you in your creative decision-making. No one knows your gears and room like you do! 20-30 kg per m3 is definitely a good option to absorb with the mids and highs, and this range will work perfectly well for larger rooms that don't struggle with problem-low-frequencies. For most small rooms, usually have problems with the Lows and maybe the mids if you have a glass window or door. So for smaller rooms, you might want to go a little above 30kg/m3 (40kg/m3 is usually perfect in this scenario.)

[@xmpla]

What about compressing earthwool batts as they are quite spongy? Woukd this increase density and therefore effectiveness if I was to make bass traps 6-8inches thick on the largest point? Thank you

[@Studio22mix]

The performance of many porous absorbers can be explained by comparing the size of the sound wave to the depth of the treatment. The size of the wave is quantified using the wavelength, which is the distance between adjacent crests of the wave. The wavelength varies greatly with frequency: at 50Hz the wavelength is 6.8m, at 500Hz it is 0.68m and at 5000Hz it is 0.068mm. A simple rule of thumb is that for a porous absorber to be effective it needs to at least a 10th of a wavelength thick. At 500Hz, this equates to a depth of 6.8cm. The very large wavelengths of low-frequency sounds are the reason why bare acoustic foam makes an inefficient bass absorber unless the material is extremely thick. For a 52Hz sound, for example, a layer of porous absorbent 65cm thick is needed to provide absorption and this needs to cover a large surface area, not just a few pieces in the room corners.

[@MrAzulikit]

What insulation should I use for a theatre false rear wall, 4-6 inches of insulation. Rockwool SNS or Comfortboard 80?

[@neptuneaudiospace]

Use either product. They are both great at absorbing deep. In terms of safety, the Rockwool SnS might be a little safer, but the Comfortboard is pretty safe too.

[@farfymcdoogle3461]

Thank you! Got a video on the best fabric options?

[@neptuneaudiospace]

Thanks for your comment! We're yet to put that video together. You gave us a reminder.

[@anhellehna6858]

What about woodwool

[@neptuneaudiospace]

Not sure about the effectiveness of wood wool compared to these industry standards but would be interesting to look into it and do some experiments.

[@happyandhealthy888]

childfree group - respectfully