Starting Off

• The decision of where the studio foam is needed most can be made using a "hands-on" test. This means to simply clap your hands while moving around the room and listening for long and short echoes. Areas of short echo time will need less foam, so concentrate foam placement in those areas where the hand claps reverberate for longer periods of time. The decision of thicknesses to use is affected by frequency ranges. Lower frequencies will require thicker foam due to the strength and length of the sound wave. Areas where a bass instrument is recorded should have a thicker foam installed on the wall. An alternative to wall-mounted foam is a movable acoustic foam panel that can be placed in different parts of the room.
  
  

Advanced Studio Foam Placement

• The placement of the sound-dampening material is as important as the type used. There are different requirements for the recording and mixing areas. In the mixing booth, the engineer needs to have as true a reproduction of the sound coming out of the playback monitors as possible. Studio foam should definitely be placed on the walls and ceiling of this area, if not the entire room. A combination of thick foam around the mixing area and a diffusion-type of foam from the mixing desk to the back of the room will sufficiently provide a controlled sonic environment. The foam in the recording area should focus on the walls in general, with an extra effort to address hot spots where frequencies tend to reverberate more. Low-frequency signals will carry farther and collect in corners of square rooms, and there may be other spots that characteristically resonate longer at several frequencies.
  
  

Installing Studio Foam

• Permanent installation of studio foam involves the use of an adhesive to mount the foam to the studio surfaces. There are several studio foam adhesives available that are made specifically for this purpose. Once the adhesive has been obtained, the surfaces where the foam is to be installed should be cleaned and all items should be removed from those surfaces. The adhesive can then be sprayed onto both the back of the foam sections and the surface it is to be mounted on. A minute or two of waiting time will allow the adhesive to become tacky for the best adhesion. The studio foam can then be installed on the surface. A more temporary installation technique may be preferred, and this can be done using pins, brads or other small nails to attach the foam to drywall and paneling. The foam can be removed in the future without damaging the surfaces, other than needing to fill the small nail holes with putty or by painting over them.