How to make rockwool acoustic panels

This short video shows you how to make broadband acoustic panels or bass traps for treating music studio rooms, performance rooms or home theater rooms.

The panels that I made are 119cm x 61cm x 5cm but the dimensions can be customized to your own requirements. Rockwool can be purchased at a variety of thicknesses depending on your requirements. If you do make thicker panels you might need a mid supporting piece of wood as the fabric alone might not be able to hold the weight in the center. Mine are mounted at reflection points to dampen the room acoustics. If you wish to use them as bass traps then it's best to space them away from the walls and make them thicker. Alternatively they can be mounted across room corners but I recommend making them thicker if you intend to do this. You can use a fabric of your choice as long as it's fairly porous/thin. Try blowing through it!

Purchase rockwool or rocksill panels of the rigid type (not the rolls) as it's fairly easy to work with and can be cut with scissors or a knife. I got mine from my builder who got it from his local building supplies company. I recommend the following websites if you wish to order online: http://www.insulationexpress.co.uk/Multi-Purpose-Slabs/Rockwool-RW3-Slab.htm

and

http://www.just-insulation.com/

For more information on acoustics and room treatment please go to http://www.soundonsound.com/forum/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=DESIGN

If you don't want to make these yourself then gik.com is a good place to order ready made panels. I believe they work out at about £50 per panel. I made mine for about £15 per panel although the quality and workmanship is likely to be much better on those that were made professionally!

Thanks for watching!

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• howto
• acoustics
• panel
• room treatment
• bass trap
• rockwool
• home theater

[abrasunkulus]

sorry, but why did you use 2 fabrics? i realize the outer one is for looks, but isn't the "looks" one(outer one) enough? or is the inner fabric more expensive or something so rockwool particles cannot penetrate it?

[bradleysteenkamp]

@abrasunkulus that's right, the outer fabric was quite cheap and thin. The inner one is also quite thin but much cheaper to buy, I thought I'd go for two layers to reduce any rock wool leakage

[joeytunez]

@bradleysteenkamp

The british accent and jazz music makes this a really classy tutorial. I'm enjoying a glass of Vermouth on the rocks while puffing on a fine cigar and admiring my Oyster Perpetual while listening to this.

[bradleysteenkamp]

@joeytunez haha, excellent!

[mojopinner]

what did you shoot this video with?

[bradleysteenkamp]

@mojopinner shot with a Canon 7d, great camera but I've now moved on to a hacked GH2

[AmphibianDrumnBass]

Love when people make videos from uk!!!! 

[zzzxtreme]

making the wood visible looks better. so, another option is not to wrap the frame, but only the rockwool/corning

[bradleysteenkamp]

@omardude39 yes agreed, adding auralex or similar is really a better option, but costs a bit more!

[TV616]

yay an english guy doing soundproofing video! and actually more helpful than the ones i've so far seen...

[wickjamesgtar]

odd question: i am trying to make a bass trap for a basic logitech sub in a warehouse (roughly 1,200 sq ft, hollow, 34-38 ft high). the the neighboring clinic experiences plenty of bass bleed. by creating a rockwool dome around the sub woofer itself (covering everything but the sub tube/horn) would that direct the bass in a directional matter depicting on where i point the horn rather than behind the bass? i am not sure if this is even acoustically practical but any help would be great!