DIY acoustic panels for Australians

A while ago I was looking into DIYing some acoustic treatment for my studio and found that most of the resources online were tailored to a US audience, specifically they recommended Owens Corning 703 which is not available in Australia. After a fair bit of research I came up with locally available alternative, 50mm Tontine Acoustisorb 3. In addition to being specifically manufactured for acoustic applications it's made from polyester fibre rather than fibreglass so it's much more pleasant to work with and won't shed itchy fibres onto you over its lifetime. It's more expensive than a fibreglass alternative like Bradford Ultratel but I'd rather pay a little more now than be getting itchy every time I'm in the studio.

I tried calling Tontine to source the Acoustisorb directly from them in Coburg but was told they only dealt with people who had supplier accounts. In the end I called an insulation place in the Yellow Pages, paid for them to put the order in for me and then went out and picked up the Acoustisorb from Tontine. I got two packs of three 2400mm x 1200mm x 50mm to make a total of 18 1200mm x 800mm panels, as I was making some for some friends as well. I chose 1200mm x 800mm so they'd be big enough to be effective but not so big I wouldn't be able to move them in my car.

For the frame which holds the panel together I bought 2400mm lengths of 70mm x 18mm pine from Bunnings. Ideally the internal dimensions of the frames would be 1200mm x 800mm but to save having too many odd-length offcuts I cut the 2400mm lengths into 1200mm and 800mm lengths and made the frames with internal dimensions of 1182mm x 782mm. This meant that the Acoustisorb wouldn't sit exactly flat inside the frame, but the fabric on the outside would hold it in well enough. If I wasn't on a budget I'd cut them so that there was a little more room inside and the Acoustisorb would sit flat.

 

Some of the panels were to be hung in a ceiling so I added extra bracing in the corners so the frame wouldn't twist out of shape if it wasn't hung completely straight. I left these out on the panels I made for use on walls and haven't had any problems with them twisting out of shape so don't feel like you need to put these in.

 

I covered the panels with material I bought at Spotlight, ideally you want something with a nice open weave to be acoustically transparent. Something nice and light should work well, avoid anything too densely woven or with a backing on the fabric. I attached one long side of the fabric to the frame with a staple gun, stretched it across to the the other and then stapled that side down, then repeated the process on the ends. You don't want the fabric to be loose at all, it won't look good if you've got sagging panels.

Finally the Acoustisorb fits into the frame. This picture is of one of the ceiling panels so is just single sided, other panels were fabric-covered on both sides. Covering both sides helps the Acoustisorb stay in the frame, but isn't necessary if gravity can do the job for you.