Egg Cartons

Allright, I talked to a guy who used to design sound equipment. I asked him, "Why is this sound isolation foam so reeking expensive?" And he put it this way: You can go the expensive way, and spend a lot of your hard-earned money, but there is another way. You can use egg cartons! They're the right shape, if you get the right ones.
To which I of course asked, "but aren't they too hard? That's why studio foam is foam, right?" And he said that it's the shape that matters, not neccesarily the density.

So, is this true? Pretty cool if it is, but I would like to hear your opinions.

Egg cartons may afford a certain amount of dispersion but offer no absorbtion at all.

I had a vocal booth totally plastered with 12 by 12 inch egg cartons. It had very little noticable effect on anything much more than spoken word.

I guess it depends on what you are looking for.

Yeah... Mostly I want to get rid of early reflections, which is probably what egg cartons can do, but I'd much prefer the flat sound.

I can just imagine... actually having an accurate signal...

Graphix,

> So, is this true? <

No, egg cartons are pretty useless as acoustic treatment. If you want to make a real improvement in your room, and resent the high cost of foam, get some rigid fiberglass and make your own acoustic panels. You'll find a lot of information about this in the Acoustics FAQ, second in the list on my Articles page:

www.ethanwiner.com/articles.html

--Ethan

Thanks Ethan! I found that a little while ago, and I plan on building one of each to start out.

[Bops2000]

<--- Graphix
Back in 88, I started gluing egg cartons on the wall, That was because some suggested it...
It did nothing but ruin the wall and created a fire hazard,\
However I had a synapse burst just now
WHAT IF I sprayed that 'stuff' from home depot, that uretheiac acid based foam that fills cracks on the walls, --- worth an experiment.. perhaps Ethan? any Ideas ?

*shudders*
I think I'll just go with the bass trap, thank you.

Bops,

> uretheiac acid based foam that fills cracks on the walls <

Don't bother.

--Ethan

[Sonic Valley]

I'm using these to diffuse the top end in my vocal booth. I'm making some bass traps as well. These triangles are the packing corners from guitar amps I got at a music store.

Nice! Nice lighting - I love good lighting too.
Does that really work? You must have bought a lot of guitar amps!

[Brian Jones]

Nice setup, I love good lighting it really gives a good ambience therefore hopefully a good performance. Have you thought about re-defining your studio as an art installation?

[Sonic Valley]

lol...it's a lamp in there oh and a musicstand light. Fancy....lol

[martin armsby]

Nice -
Are they cardboard or foam - difficult to tell?
How many amps do you need to sell to get that amount of corners ?

[Sonic Valley]

heavey cardboard type. When you buy a twin or super reverb it comes with 4 of those corners...

[lpdeluxe]

I probably couldn't afford to buy more than 12 or 15 Twin Reverbs in order to get the packing pieces...