I haven’t posted much about the design and construction of my studio, mostly because I don’t want to give you the impression I’m unable to work for you.  I am available and ready for your project.  With that in mind here’s an update:

The new voiceover booth is coming along nicely thanks to the generosity of some fantastic people that know much more about acoustic design than I do.  The isolation walls and ceiling are done.  Over 300 square feet of acoustic insulation is on it’s way.  The new door should be delivered on Monday or Tuesday of next week.  It’s a heavy beastie but it has to be to provide the kind of isolation I want (and feel that you as my client deserve).

The Hart Voice Overs Booth

Today I got the flooring installed. Boy it looks pretty. And it won’t mess with the high frequencies in the voice range the way carpet does.

The new floor in Hart Voice Overs Vocal Booth

I’ll have the door system installed next week. The acoustic insulation should arrive in about another week. As soon as it gets here I’ll be able to treat the walls and hang a “cloud” on the ceiling. Then the new booth will be ready to go!

I’m very excited about the upgrade to this booth and I hope you, as a client or potential client, are excited about the great enhancements it will provide for your projects with Hart Voice Overs as well.

I’ve participated in several radio station builds over the years as well as building two studios for myself.

I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly ways to hang acoustic foam.

While there are options for leaving an air gap between your panels and walls, for this discussion we’ll focus on placing foam panels directly on the wall.  Here are 5 examples of how and how not to hang that expensive foam.

1.

Direct From the Manufacturer.

For the first option I’m going to stick with the Auralex Studio Foam since that’s what I own but other manufacturers have adhesives/fasteners they sell with their foam products as well.  Auralex recommends using Foamtak, Tubetak Pro, or Temp Tabs.  From the Auralex site:

“The world’s best acoustic foam adhesives, guaranteed to keep your foam up for as long as you want it there and not to “eat” your foam. Also works great to attach various materials to each other during construction of your studio. Our adhesives apply easily and give a solid, permanent bond that actually improves the sound isolation of your construction. You don’t want to use Liquid Nails brand because its very manufacturer published a memo some time back advising that it not be used with acoustic foam due to possible chemical interactions that can cause the foam to disintegrate prematurely.”

I haven’t used any of these products but I know many people that have and have been satisfied with the results.  I especially like the idea of the Temp Tabs for Studio Foam as it’s a temporary solution and allows you to move your panels around when needed.  But all of these are expensive and there are cheaper options.

2.

Another alternative is construction adhesive from the local hardware store but that’s a bad choice as the excerpt from Auralex’s site mentions above.  I worked with a client station that used the Liquid Nails brand to hang their foam despite my recommendation against it.  Now I love Liquid Nails in the right application but this isn’t it.  Why is it a bad idea?

As you can see there are a couple problems.  This type of adhesive tears up the foam and that stuff is expensive!  It also tears up the walls you attached it to so when it comes time to remove your panel you have to do sheet rock repair and repaint.  Another potential problem is that some adhesives will actually eat away at acoustic foam.  I always recommend checking with the foam panel manufacturer before using a 3rd party product.

3.

Your third option is to use a 3rd party spray adhesive.  I’ve had mixed success with 3m’s Super 77 spray adhesive.  As you can see in the following photo it does a great job of holding this Sonex to my “portable” VO booth’s wood surface.

I built this box a few years ago and I’ve never had to reapply the adhesive.

On the other hand, at one radio station we used this spray adhesive to attach Sonex panels to sheetrock.  After a few months they started coming down.  Trust me, you don’t want to be respraying that stuff on your panels around all your expensive electronics.

So sometimes it works great and sometimes it doesn’t.  It depends on what materials you are attaching.

You might consider testing any adhesive in an inconspicuous area with a small piece of foam first to make sure it’s suitable for the job.  Actually, that’s good advice for lots of projects if you have the time, not just hanging foam.

4.

You can always use nails to hold your acoustic foam panels on the wall.  Obviously they won’t let go so that’s a plus.  But I don’t like to put the big holes in the wall.  That’s just more stuff to repair later.  And you’ve got the whole “I hit my thumb with the hammer and my thumbnail turned purple and is falling off” thing to explain to your friends.

5.

My personal favorite option is to use T pins:

You can find them just about anywhere that sells sewing supplies.  I usually get mine at Wal-Mart.  They are cheap and come in different lengths.  The beauty of these little guys is that they leave small holes in the wall that are easily filled later.  They “disappear” into the foam panels nicely so you don’t see the pins and they don’t damage your foam.  Check the photo in the intro of this post.  Those panels are held by two pins each.  The “T” head holds the foam panels in place very well and it only takes two pins to hold up a 2′x4′ sheet.  You can usually push them in by hand.  They make it very easy to experiment and move your panels around for the best placement.

So there you have it.  5 ways to hang (or not hang) acoustic foam.  Do you have another example of how or how not to do it?  Leave a comment below.  I always love to hear new ideas.  I hope you found this information helpful.