Wasted $150 on acoustic foam panels that did nothing for my backyard studio

I thought throwing some wedge foam panels on the walls would fix my vocal recordings sounding boxy. Spent $150 on a kit from Amazon and stuck them all over my shed in Brooklyn. Recorded a test and it sounded exactly the same, maybe worse with this dead high end. Turns out foam only kills reflections above a certain frequency and does nothing for low mid buildup in a small room. Should have saved up for some DIY bass traps or broadband absorption instead. Anyone else fall for the foam panel trick before learning the hard way?

2 comments

2 Comments

bailey.sandra19d ago

Stuck moving blankets over the corners and built some DIY rockwool panels for around the same money. Night and day difference on the low end. Foam is basically a scam for anything but treating slap echo.

the_taylor19d ago

Yo wait. You're telling me you got a whole shed in Brooklyn for a studio? That alone is a flex. But yeah, that foam trap is real. @bailey.sandra nailed it though. Moving blankets and rockwool are the real deal. I spent like $80 on corner traps I made from old towels and plywood. Way better than any foam garbage. The low end in my room was so muddy before. Now it's actually usable without sounding like a cardboard box. Sucks you had to learn the hard way but at least you know now.