WHY FOAM IS NO GOOD IN YOUR STUDIO! 

Mixing underwater is the next breakthrough in studio acoustics, mark my word.

Wow, you explained in 60 seconds what others couldn’t do in hours. Thanks!

I am not even gonna lie. I spent 2 days looking for rock wall just to find out he was talking about rock wool... Now I can get some

Why can't all YT videos be like this. Succinct and Superb!

Streaky, the no nonsense man. Grabbing Rockwool with his bare hands. Respect.

Wow, man ! For many decades, millions of articles, forum posts, youtube comments, videos, etc etc, were made about the subject, often leading to countless fights, insults, bans ... But it only took you a few seconds, to show the planet what those different panels do !

This is so good, hearing the difference in an example is so much better than just an explanation. Night and day

lets push streaky to 50k guys , i gotta win that maselec eq

The foam is handy when you record videos, but for mixing 10 cm of rock wool panels are a must. Btw, there's wool material made out of used/recycled jeans and it has better absorption than the standard rock wool we all know and it's 100% safe.

I just got done building a bunch of panels, gobos, bass traps and ceiling clouds. I used 3” and 6” thick rockwool. I wrapped them (frames with rockwool), with lighter colored guilford of maine fabric, similar to wall colors so they kind of blend in. Yeah, it wasn’t cheap or quick, but it sounds great and looks great. I have done foam in the past, this is WAY better. Both sound and visual, a much better working environment. Thanks for the video, I totally agree!

So bad to inhale! I was panicking as soon as he lifted the rock wool into frame!

Just sent this video to my studio buddies. Great vid, straight to the point!

foam is still bettter than having a complete empty room sounding totally roomy any time... facts... you can always upgrade but people should not start to take their foam down... only use rockwool if they have time and can afford the upgrade... also you need to cover rockwoll you can't just keep it visible because of the particels... sooo really I would recommend just use headphones anytime and then check your mix in your car and phonespeaker, if you think it's good and it sound good those 2 places you really dont need any other things than headphones and knowledge...

great as always streaky!

best way ive seen someone explain this - great vid

I’m so glad somebody said it in a simplified manner. Sent this on to a friend of mine to explain my beef with foam vs. panels.

Ive made these error in my early days... keep up the good work!

shit and here i am watching this after having finished sticking acoustic panels all over my studio walls -.- regardless, thanks man!

Amazing video, thanks for the demonstration.

The problem Is the density and the thikness the second Is more relevant, beacause with hi density you loose in bass absorption

rather than just talking about it, you showed us examples with your voice! this really helped and was the most effective explanation I've ever found on this topic

That's the best demonstration i've seen for this...perfect!

Appreciate all your videos & the giveaway of your knowledge. Will pass it on to others too. :) Thanks

Great video! No bs for 10 minutes, only valuable information with great demonstration.

You are a genius. I just watch your videos on RU-vid and nothing else. I watched that Equalizer one as well. You are the man.

This is the quickest and best explainer video I've ever seen.

Great info! Thanks Streaky!!

Simply put. I love this dude.

I love these shorts

I could have used this video two years ago lol.. I'm glad i see it now

Gees what a powerful but simple demonstration 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

Just YES.

i was inside a radio station once and the entire room is covered in this wool. Like they had atleast 1 metre of this stuff EVERYWHERE

Best demonstration by far I've seen in the two years I've been hacking away at this art form

Because it collects dust, while I listen in cans. I'll not pretend that really need any sorts of these in my studio. Rather put my wife's and paintings and Moog poster for inspiration :)

best demonstration ever, go Streaks!

Streaky strikes again! Well done mate!

Love you 😽🙌🏼 absolutely true what you say!

KING, you explained what I could not to my friends in a minute

Straight to the point thank god. Rockwall panels.

But Streaky, you might want to tell some of us how you managed to get all that Rockwool above your head. Lots of us use foam above, because we don't know how to get Rockwool up on the ceiling.. Be glad if you did a quick explanation on how you managed that one. And when you do, I promise I'll throw out all my foam :)

You made my day a bit better Streaky... rock wool is the stuff I have all around me here in my studio. I have learned from you a lot and now this pat on my back from you THANKS. And the greates thing is that rock wool is cheaper and you can get it everywhere...

AT LAST someone telling you in less than a minute why FOAM dont work in a control room YEY , so next time you KIDS see someone giving you advice on youtube in there control with FOAM On their walls , just turn them off , coz they have no clue what they're doing . NICE ONE Streaky Dude :) A 1000 thumbs up mate.

Thank you a lot!your Tips are always usefull💪

Remember that rockwool is just asbestos with extra steps. Be really careful, and consider of your application deserves the assumption of risk therein.

Well foam still has its use. I have a nook in my studio that has rockwool inside a drywall but to keep sharp reflections when recording voice in that nook I have it lined with foam. Works pretty great :) But yeah foam alone doesn’t help a room much

Wtf 😒, why it takes me 15 years to understand this after seeing your video. I am auto subscribed. Thank you 🙏

Foam is not the problem. Getting the right thickness is! Same goes for rockwool. You need more thickness the lower the frequencies are you want to absorb.

I have found using both balances my room but still mainly the rock wool does most the work .

Nice demo of a subject which can get complex.

I‘m currently using foam as it‘s easy to get and easy to handle as well. Additionally, I‘ve made cylindrical „bass traps“ for corners by rolling up big sheets of foam. It works, or at least it‘s much better in comparison with having no foam at all (btw the room is quite small, and there‘s no way of putting any furniture that may act as an absorber/diffuser, so the foam really saved the day). However, it doesn‘t do a great job and gosh it looks cheap. I‘m definitely going to make my own rockwool-stuffed panels in the future when I have time for that.

Thank you Streaky your content is good in your videos again a BIG THANK YOU

Great demonstration.

Hell yeah great vid!

The truth has been spoken!

Thx , love your video about acoustic and room treatment

Similar NRC to rockwool per a given density/thickness is achieved with the much 'friendlier' material made from polyester fibers... it's more expensive but very much worth it IMO especially if the rockwool isn't isolated from the air... do a google search for "caruso iso bond" I've built thick panels out of different density layers and the results are great!

Fiberglass insulation has approximately the same amount of deadening as Rockwool while being 1/3rd of the price (in case you want to make your panels for cheaper) 🔥

Dude you are the best

Nice one bro 😎

One thing: Pretty sure you're not supposed to be directly touching rockwool directly like that, and it also has an issue of letting out fairly hazardous air particulates. For most people, that's just not worth it.

Don't forget placing at points of first reflection..........................

There is a book called master handbook of acoustics that taught me so much

When I built my tiny home I used a thin layer of spray foam for a vapor barrier and to seal air gaps, and then I put rock wool over the spray foam and the smack is amazingly sound proofed, I can watch war movies with my surround sound and can’t hear a thing when I go outside

I'm doing a bit of both for good measure 😆

Aight ...🎉🎉🎉

Yes the greater the density of the material the greater the reduction and absorption in sound .the shaped tiles be it foam or otherwise are there to stop /breakdown the Reflections around the room creating an unnatural reverb effect in the high-end and not specifically for the purpose of overall Sound absorption ?

So happy I’ve subscribed to Your channel @Streaky

short video but effective

Yep. Also, those foam panels have caner producing products in them.

Short and sweet

Not surprised the 4” thick rock wool dampens the sound more than 1” foam. Horrible comparison. Foam still works

Thats nothing new for me but this is by far the best explanation/demonstration I saw do far

Foam is designed in different ways to attack different frequencies. It comes in different denities and what you are holding is not acoustic foam my man. That stuff in your hand is designed to go inside a protective case for specialty eqquipment that has to be protected from impacts and vibrations during transportation. Now, proper sound treatment is king. That means you should take care of shapes, air, surfaces, corners, etc. Bass likes corners while trebles like flar and hard surfaces. The moment you get rid of those and get proper acoustic foam in your walls to brake reflections and couplings on the mids you are good to go for the most part. And, ypu should also adress EQ, compression, digital correctikns and mic sensitivity on any recording before and after. That is calles masterin a sound track. You already know all of this (I suspect). And I get the point of making it simple for newbies. But please, don't lie in favor of simplicity

All this research and the awnser was one short away lmao. Thank you good sir

Furniture is also an important staple because it absorbs even for sound than rock wall🙂💯

But it’s just to prevent extra sound from bouncing off the wall so it’s fine if it’s only able to take out the highs as it’s still reducing the overall acoustic sounds that could ruin the take.

I noticed the same thing. I made the same mistake at first by stacking foam panels on my walls, lol

i just came back from a local news room studio. it worked well there.

You're right. Good demonstration. But I wouldn't compare one inch foam panels to four or 6 inch thick squares of rock wool. A better demonstration would've been talking into 4 to 6 inch wedge foam panels. Also I might be mistaken but it looks like there's a paper or plastic backing on the foam panel you're holding. If so, you're not really talking into the foam - you're talking into a panel of plastic and that's not gonna absorb anything. If that's not the case, my bad! I think most of us are trying to reduce the energy of the reflections coming from the front wall, ceiling and the walls on either side of the mix position and conflicting with the direct sound from the speakers. Rock wool panel installations require brackets screwed into the studs of your wall and ceiling positions. The latter is a three man job. You don't want to be hanging 5 to 10 to 15 pound rockwool "clouds" above your head unless they're anchored into the frame structure. It's a worthy endeavor but if you have limited time and you really just want to try to reduce reflections til you can deal with the logistics of building and installing rock wool clouds and panels here's an alternative: 4 to 6 inch thick 12 x 12 (or larger) foam panels glued to 24" x 36" coroplast panels (or larger) can be quickly screwed into any ceiling or wall surface as a temporary fix. The panels can be moved or removed quickly later. Again rockwool or its recycled denim alternative is the gold standard. As far as the cost of foam panels, their prices seem hiked to an exorbitant degree. However one company is very affordable and the name of it is Foam Factory / Foam-By-Mail. It's in Michigan. For a comparatively small expense you can get enough 4 inch foam to temporarily partially reduce the reflections. If like me you have a small window in which to try to accomplish this, you have to work in phases. Is it perfect?… Absolutely not, but as my piano teacher used to say, "Perfection is the enemy of good." On the other hand is it absolutely worthless?? I'll let you know! www.foambymail.com/?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1bOtidjwhgMVqQutBh0dpg1MEAAYASAAEgJ42PD_BwE

Thank you 💯

I was gifted 48pcs of new 2'x2'x2" Auralex and 24pcs of 1'x1'x2" Auralex by someone who had no use for them and didn't want them taking up his storage space anymore. So, being that l had so much of it, l sandwiched to pcs face to face and put a 3rd piece on them, face out. Then used those triple stacks around the room at first reflections and mounted two stacks to a 1/2" piece of foam board and extended my 2'x4'x4" Rockwool cloud. Put 3 of the stacks mounted diagonally on both the left and right side ceiling/wall corners and 3 stacks up on the front wall/ceiling corner. And still have some 2'x2's left and all the 12"x12"s left over. Even gave one of those cases to friend. The room really tightened up especially at the listening position. When you go uder the cloud, you can actually hear it get quiet uder there. And the correction curve after running ARC-3 again is much flatter than the previous one

Yes!!!

Wow, heard an immediate difference when you grabbed the rockwool and I'm on a cell phone

Hi Streaky! I recently made 2 floor to ceiling corner basstraps with this type of insulation. They go from 24" deep at the corner to 4" deep at and angle. The room improved a lot. I need to make a pannel that will fit between both basstrap and the front wall will be considered done. Any tips for ceiling pannels above my listening position if the height of the room is already low? 4" with an air gap will be a bit too much. Should I go denser and thinner with an air gap or stay with 4" with no air gap? Recently sub and I don't regret it! Lots of great advices in a time format I really like.

Streaky! Love your videos man! Just a quick question out of curiosity: you are comparing a 120mm rockwool to a a 20mm foam panel. Isn't that a bit of a false comparison? Shouldn't the message be that in order to absorb the whole frequency spectrum you should choose thicker panels, it being either rockwool or foam? Don't think it really matters right?

Streaky getting itchy hands all for us to see what is actually working. And I can confirm, Rockwool transformed my home studio acoustics!

Hi Streaky. Could you please do this experiment with the same depth foam to rock wool, that bit of foam is only 1 inch thick, and no wounder it does nothing, could you please now try that with 4 inch foam and I bet it will come out nearly the same!

You'd need to use tons of foam--it still works and works great. The problem most people only use the thin foam on its own and think that takes care of everything, whereas as you mentioned, they only take care of flutter echo, etc. The absorb lower frequencies, we need thickness--be it foam or rockwool.

that's why you should mix in space

How much is too much rockwool? What max thickness would you go for corner bass traps in a small square room?

Wow impressive. I am trying to reduce the noise levels in an older diesel pickup. How would I know if I have low or high frequency?? I’m looking for a sound absorbing headliner btw.

The problem is not the foam, the problem is the thickness. Sure, rockwool is more efficient but you can get a full frequency absorption with only foam as long as it's (layered) thick enough.

Raw dawg handling that rockwool is crazy hahaha

your the man!!

Rockwool has a density that varies a lot and therefore doesn't evenly absorbs energy. If you take foam that is 4 or 8 cm thick it will absorb lower frequencies... and if you really need to absorb below 150Hz... have a look at the Artnovion Bass Traps...They are tunable and have a membrane that works much much better than rockwool.

Thanks man

So insulation is what’s needed 👍

What about rolled up towels or acoustic blankets/curtains? In the past, I've wrapped books in spare sheets or towels held together with tape!

The right formula is 15-20% of absorption and diffusion for the whole room . The bigger it's more towards 20%.. Sides and ceiling need 2D diffusors (curved plates) in combination w/ absorption, the sides should not be mirrored but opposites., In the back the same except for 3D diffusors (skyline designs)