How Dedicated Studio Acoustic Kits Help Up Your Game
Key Takeaways:
- Improving sound in critical listening requires a full room approach
- Professional-grade panels are safe and effective long-term
- Consistent, accurate acoustics ensure mixes that sound good in any setting
- Balanced room sound = balanced mixes
- Complete acoustic ‘kits’ ease installation, enhance aesthetics, optimize sound control, and streamline workflow
Looking to take your studio space to the next level? Put down the carpet knife and glue gun. Step away from that pile of foam sheets.
Every recording and content creation environment evolves as you become more confident and professional, get to know your room and how sound interacts with it, and, inevitably, learn more about controlling sound.
Early on, when it comes to acoustic treatments, it’s tempting to DIY it as much as possible. Garden-variety (i.e., hardware store foam fixes) are not completely ineffective. But when you’re intent on upping your game and getting professional results, ‘not completely ineffective’ isn’t the bar you’re striving for.
Improving how your room sounds is one of the most impactful upgrades any creator can make.
However, determining how much or how little treatment is required, what treatments and materials to use, and how to place them to achieve the best results can be a daunting prospect.
Whether you’re outfitting a home studio, a project/livestreaming space in a larger facility, or even a home theatre, Primacoustic London Room Kits and our wide range of studio acoustic treatments take the guesswork out of getting the best sound possible in your space.
DIY Foam Treatments vs. Professional-Grade Glass Wool Panels
Although foam panels do dampen high frequencies to an extent, unlike high-density glass-wool panels, they do little to mitigate problematic low-mid and bass frequencies. Owing to their density and structural mass, glass wool panels absorb up to four times more acoustic energy across a much broader and more balanced frequency spectrum.
Professional-grade glass-wool treatments also offer rigid, resin-hardened edges, meet strict Class-A fire safety ratings (unlike highly flammable polyurethane foam), and last far longer without deteriorating or losing efficacy.
Greater accuracy = Better Results
Think of your room as the final, unavoidable link in your audio chain. Like all the other elements in that chain, its characteristics and quirks have a direct impact on what you hear when tracking and mixing.
Chances are you’ve chosen every device in your chain (from the instrument, mic/DI, on out) to ensure the sounds you capture are exactly what you want to work with. Obviously, accuracy matters as much for tracking as it does for mixing.
When you’re recording a source in the room (say a guitar through an amp) or just listening back through your monitors in a poorly treated or untreated space, sound waves continuously bounce off hard parallel boundaries, creating flutter echoes, resulting in phase cancellation, and longer reverberation times. When both a source and your monitors are in use together, those issues worsen, potentially masking details that are critical to achieving the desired results.
The more accurate your room sound, the more likely you’ll make decisions (for EQ and levels, for example) that will ensure your mix translates well outside your space: i.e., when played back on any other system, professional or consumer-grade
The limitations of foam and DIY acoustic treatment
Foam-based acoustic treatments, homemade or not, are generally considered to be an entry-level, rather than professional acoustic solution: typically delivering inconsistent results, at best. The type of results that, although they may sound ideal in your space, tend to fall apart when played back elsewhere.
The primary limitation of cheap acoustic foam is its inability to absorb low frequencies, leaving you with boomy, muddy low-mids and muffled, unevenly balanced mixes. Nor are they typically easy on the eyes. Over time, the colour (such as it is) of the foam fades, crumbles, collects, and traps dust.
While good sound is the most important consideration, a professionally kitted-out space goes a long way towards inspiring confidence in artists and clients considering where to work and who to work with.
Constructing your own DIY panels (even when using materials that absorb sound more effectively) also has drawbacks. Beyond being time-consuming, unless they’re engineered precisely, the results are still inconsistent. There’s also a greater risk of nasty airborne fibres polluting your space. Professionally proven, precision-engineered panels built to meet rigorous safety standards eliminate those issues.
How complete acoustic systems simplify the process for creators
There are very few things more frustrating than spending the time and energy getting just the right take only to discover you have to go through the whole process again because of some sonic anomaly you failed to notice during tracking.
If an instrument, mic, or any device in your studio isn’t working properly or doesn’t sound the way you want, before going any further with a session, you’d replace it or swap it out for a more appropriate one.
Changing how your room sounds, by contrast, isn’t nearly as easy. Consequently, when it comes to acoustically treating a room, getting it right the first time is even more critical.
That’s where Primacoustic’s London Room Kits come in.
Comprised of a full set of Broadway high-density glass wool panels for specific-sized rooms, London Room Kits offer substantial benefits over low-density, foam-based, and other DIY treatments, beyond superior broadband absorption, enhanced fire safety, and greater durability.
Taking the guesswork out of minimizing unwanted noise and reflections with a system that’s verified and lab-tested to ensure accurate acoustic performance.
Simplifying room treatment with a suite of treatments designed to work in harmony, sized to fit the specific dimensions of small to medium-sized rooms and including all the necessary hardware for easy DIY installation.
Providing professional-grade results and a wealth of finish and colour options to ensure your space looks as good as it sounds, including 39 entirely new shades from our new Waypoint Colour Collection. Eliminating primary reflections and controlling high frequencies as well as the low and low-mids that can muddy your mix, and allowing creators to monitor recordings confidently, with clarity, while eliminating the mental and aural fatigue and discomfort of constant and chaotic room reflections.
Essentially, delivering a professionally engineered, mathematically balanced ‘studio sound control solution in a box.’ Everything you need and nothing you don’t: eliminating the problems and streamlining the process of getting the right balance in a way a trial-and-error approach simply can’t.
Conclusion: Good sound matters, regardless of what type of content you create.
Improving acoustics isn’t just a studio improvement; it’s an investment in professionalism, designed to simplify sound control and enhance your experience as a creator. Whether you’re a pro player, producer, or just a fan of making music on your own terms in your own space. A full room approach – one relying on professionally proven solutions is a great way to up your confidence, your client’s confidence, and the quality of what you create.
Additional Resources:
Designing with Sound in Mind: Why Acoustics Should Start at the Sketch
How to Cut EcoScapes Acoustic Panels Cleanly: Tools and Techniques
