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How to Make High Frequency Acoustic Panels

Acoustics play a major role in the sound of recorded music. The design of a room can enhance or hinder the sound frequencies produced in the room. High frequencies, along with mid-range frequencies, reflect against hard surfaces, causing some of the frequencies to scatter around the room, while others are absorbed. Recording engineers create acoustic treatments to cause more of those frequencies to be absorbed, so that there are less sound reflections in the room. You can make your own absorbent panels at home following the same design concepts that the professionals use.

Things You'll Need

  • Plywood
  • Miter saw
  • Power drill
  • 1/16-inch drill bit
  • 1 1/2-inch drywall screws
  • Wood glue
  • Coated fiberglass gloves
  • 3 1/2-inch thick fiberglass sheets
  • Scissors
  • Construction adhesive
  • Polyester batting
  • 5 yards of thin fabric
  • Staple gun
  • 1 1/2-inch roofing nails
  • Hammer
  • Brass hooks and eyes
  • Acoustic foam
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Instructions

    • 1

      Use a miter saw to cut enough plywood to make five 4-foot by 8-foot rectangular panels. Make 10 48-inch cuts to the sides of the wood to get 10 1-inch by 3-inch boards. Then, create 10 15-inch cuts in the ends of the wood for 10 additional 1-inch by 3-inch boards. You'll end up with 20 boards total, giving you four boards per panel.

    • 2

      Place four of the 1-inch by 3-inch boards into the shape of a rectangle and drill holes into each end of the wood pieces. Follow that by drilling into each hole with a 1/16-inch drill bit. Screw the corner of each board into the adjacent board until you have a complete four-sided panel frame. Apply wood glue to the corners for extra security.

    • 3

      Place a panel frame horizontally on the floor. Put on gloves before laying a fiberglass sheet over it. Press the sheet into the frame from the center. Use scissors to cut the part of sheet that's hanging over the frame, so that it fits inside the frame. Apply construction adhesive under the edges to keep the sheet in place.

    • 4

      Cover the frame with polyester batting. Use scissors to cut just enough to hang over the panel edges. Using 1 yard of fabric for each panel, lay your fabric on the floor. Place the frame on the fabric, so that the fabric hangs past the right side of the panel by 2 1/2 inches.

    • 5

      Staple the fabric from the center out, moving in one direction at a time. Pull the fabric on the right side and cut the extra material, but leave 2 extra inches of fabric over the panel. Staple the right side of the panel before stapling all the ends, pulling the fabric as you go.

    • 6

      Nail hooks to the top corners of the panels to hang them. Screw eyes into the ceiling and use them to hang your hooks. You can also nail a 1/4-inch thick piece of wood to the back of the panels to hang them against the wall. Nail hooks into the wood back and screw the eyes into the wall to hold the panels in place

    • 7

      Prevent low-frequency reflections that will result from sound bouncing between the panels and wall by gluing 3-inch foam spacers to the back corners so that air can pass through.

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Recording Music

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