Shoutout to the hardware store clerk who ruined my soundproofing plan

I was at Lowe's in Akron getting materials for my backyard vocal booth, and the clerk talked me into using rigid foam insulation panels instead of proper acoustic panels. After three weeks of setup, the room sounds like a tin can and my vocals have this awful echo that I can't fix. Has anyone else gotten bad advice from a big box store that set their studio back months?

2 comments

2 Comments

simon_chen5d ago

Three weeks of labor just to sound like you're yelling into a soup can. That's brutal, man. I can't believe that clerk actually convinced you that rigid foam would work for vocals. That stuff is basically just fancy packing material, it's not meant to stop sound from bouncing around. I've seen people try that with recording studios before and it always ends up the same way, all high end bounce and no low end control. You'd think a big box employee would know better than to recommend that for something that needs real acoustic treatment. Sorry you had to learn that lesson the hard way.

fiona_lewis374d ago

Did you actually return to the store and confront that clerk about the bad advice? I'd be livid if someone sent me home with the wrong materials after I specifically asked for acoustic treatment. It sounds like you need to add some bass traps and diffusers to fix that tin can sound, but that's going to cost you even more money and time. Was the clerk just trying to push a cheap sale or did they genuinely not know the difference between insulation and acoustic foam? I'd probably take the panels back and demand a refund since they didn't do what you needed them to do. That kind of bad advice can set you back months like you said, and it's frustrating when you trust someone's expertise.