DIY acoustic solution project

Rich210

Hi everyone, 

I've been thinking about developing my own acoustic panels and bass traps informed by some fairly recent research.

My chosen materials will be 2 part expanding foam mix and sawdust/shavings and whatever else would be interesting to put in there...some studies put tea leaves in, I don't want to waste good tea! 

The analogy is a car spring and damper scenario. Effectively the aggregate in the poly mix acts as a spring, while the poly mix acts a damper. I know that different particle sizes/mass resonate at different frequencies so ideally I'd need a very heterogeneous mix so I'm thinking of a sawdust/shavings/egg tray/vinyl (worthless and crap 12" 90's house) combination sandwhich in a 12"x12" box for the bass traps .

The methodology is basically mix up the 2 part PU with a whisk then chuck in 30% by weight (or there abouts) of sawdust/shavings into a container of my choosing, ie. a cardboard box as a mold. 

I've spied some 12"x12" boxes I'm thinking of using for the bass traps. I'm going for this size because I can get free egg trays (also 12"x12" from the 'egg man' in Hyde indoor market..but also can fit a crappy and abused vinyl record, and I want to experiment with layering the mix up with the egg boxes /and vinyl inside as it'll add a solidish/rigid layer to resonate with big bass frequencies, while the other material can deal with the higher frequencies. I was then gonna drill holes into the box maybe the have some purpose? The final part of the design is to cover them in some cheap material so they don't just look like cardboard boxes stacked in the corner or shelve up where those low notes dwell. 

For the paneling I'm thinking of a very similar concept, but using pizza style boxes as the mold. There are some that are 100mm deep which should do. Again debating to use an egg tray on top to get that 'classic' studio look ;-) and a bit more bottom end acoustic reduction...

I'm not an acoustic engineer, just someone that likes tinkering. 

Any design suggestions appreciated! I'll post progress. To be continued!

Rich