Hi guys. Welcome to VO Tech Guru. Audio Technology, Simplified. Today we're going to show you how to make acoustic panels similar to the ones you see here in our control room. These panels will help get your room sounding a little less like this (echo sound). and a little more like this (no echo). Instead of going through the tools and materials list one by one, I put the list below this video for your convenience. So just copy, paste and print... and that should make things a bit easier for you when you go shopping. But nothing you'll see here should be too complicated for the average viewer. And everything was purchased from our local Home Depot, aside from the felt, which we got from
Joann Fabric. And finally, as of this video, the material cost came in around
twenty five dollars per panel, so they're pretty affordable. Alright, let's get to the build. First up, is building the frame. When we built our frames we used 4' X 8' sheets of 3/4" MDF. And one sheet should get you enough framing pieces to build somewhere around 8 to 9 panels. To save us time and extra work, we had Home Depot cut the 3 inch wide by 8 foot long sections for us on their panel saw. The outside dimensions for this panel will be approximately 16 and a half inches wide, by 48 and a half inches long, and and 3 inches deep, because a single piece of the 16 inch Roxul insulation we're using fits inside those dimensions perfectly. But if you'd like to make wider panels, you can order 24 inch wide Roxul and have it delivered to your local Home Depot. Just make sure you adjust the other material dimensions accordingly. And by the way, take note that
the entire side of the panel may be 48 and a half inches long, but the side
piece itself is only 47 inches long, and the top and bottom make up the 1 and a
half inch difference. So just make sure you keep that in mind before you cut
anything. Okay, so the frame itself consists of two sides, a top and a bottom. Along with two supports that will help stiffen the frame. First, you'll start with the top piece and mark 3/8 of an inch from the edge.
Then take a framing square and draw a line at that mark. Now mark 3/4 of an inch across that line on both sides. Those will be your drilling points. To drill our holes we're using a countersink bit, which has a sharp tip and allows for accuracy when drilling. Now drill at both
3/4 inch marks. Notice that the countersink portion of the bit routes out the wood making room for the screw heads. Pre-drilling will also help keep the wood from splitting when we assemble the frame. Now just repeat this process for the other side of the top and bottom pieces. And a quick tip for you: Fasten a piece of squared up scrap to your work-top, and it'll make the joints a bit easier to manage when you're aligning them. Now line up the top and side and pre-drill to ensure the wood doesn't split whenyou insert the screws. Take your glue and spread it where the top and side will meet. Now bring the pieces together so they're square and flush, then install your screws to fasten the top to the side. Now repeat the process at the other
three joints where the tops meet the sides. Now that you have the tops and
sides assembled, it's time to install the supports. Starting at either end, measure the inside of the frame. In our case, that came out to 15 inches, so we'll cut our
supports to that size. After you cut the supports, find and mark the center at both ends. Now put your support in position, making sure the pieces are flush at the top and side, and transfer the mark to the side piece. Now measure down the side piece near
this mark at 3/8 of an inch, then drill on this mark as we did with the tops. Now put your support back in position and drill into the side of the support to create a pilot hole for the screw. And simply repeat the process for the other side of the support. Now it's time to measure and mark your
holes for securing the tops or bottoms into the supports. Measure and mark four
inches in from either side of the support. As we did before with the sides, transfer the marks to the other side in prep for drilling. Measure down 3/8 of an inch at these marks and follow the drilling sequence as before. Now glue-up the support on one side, then the top, then the other side. Get your support in place making sure it's
flush with all surfaces and fasten it to the frame. Now just repeat on the other
side of the frame and it should look something like this. Now it's time to install fiberglass screen on the back of the panel. Make sure you leave enough overage on all sides of the screen so it's easy to grab and manage during the install. To begin, align the screen on one side and staple it into the frame. Now do the same on the other side, but this time, make sure you keep tension on the screen
to remove any wrinkles as you move along. Now move on to the top and bottom. If you end up with any staples that sit
proud of the surface, just tap those down flush with the frame. Next, use a sharp blade to cut the excess
screen flush with the edge of the frame. Wearing gloves, long sleeves and a dust
mask... ...cut away a bit of the backside of the insulation to make room for the support pieces at the top and bottom of our panel. To make the first cut using a long razor knife, take a piece of 3 inch wide scrap wood and use that as a guide... ...making a 3/4 inch deep cut
into the back of the insulation. Now make another cut into the insulation in this direction. Again, around 3/4 of an inch down all the way back to the cut you made earlier. Then remove the excess insulation. Then move on to the other
side of the insulation and do the same. Now it's time to turn the insulation
over and fit it into the frame. And when you're done with that step, make sure the frame is free of any leftover debris. Next, we're going to install screen on
the front of the panel... ...to ensure we have a firm and smooth surface when we install the fabric. For the front of the panel, you'll just follow the same procedure as the back of the panel. For the next step, cut your fabric 12
inches longer than the height and width of the panel. Now center your panel on
the fabric. Now you're ready to spray on the adhesive. Hold the can around eight to ten inches away from the sides and apply evenly and thoroughly across the
surface. In our case, a couple of passes did the trick. Next, spray the fabric ensuring that you're covering any area that will touch the panel. While the first side is setting up, spray
the opposite side. After the adhesive sets up for about two and a half minutes, adhere it to the panel. And as you move along, make sure you smooth out the edges. And when you're done adhering the fabric, be sure to give it a pass or two with your hand to make sure it's fully bonded to the frame. After the other side is set up for about two and a half minutes, get that side installed. Only this time, you'll need to pull the fabric away from the side of the panel as you go... ...to make sure you're removing any potential wrinkles that might be on the front of the panel. And as you see here, the fabric on our panel has been pulled tight so we have a nice, smooth surface without any wrinkles. Now it's time to cut away some fabric, but just enough to make room for the fabric at the top and bottom of the panel. To do this, use a sharp blade, and
while applying downward force on the
panel, gently and slowly cut away the
excess fabric at the corner where the
tops meet the sides. Now spray the ends
as you did with the sides. After waiting for the adhesive to set up, install the fabric on both ends using the pulling method to help tighten up the front of the panel. While the ends are bonding, cut away the fabric from the sides. It's a good idea to keep the fabric flat and
tight as you cut, and this 12 inch drywall knife worked great for us. We found that two light passes with a sharp blade gave us the cleanest edge. Now cut the other side using the same method. And now you can move on to the top and bottom. Next up is creating the hanging brackets.
We found that this carpet transition metal works great. It has a low profile and is easy to cut and fastened. Measure the space between the first two holes which is 6 inches in this case, then mark the center, then measure and Mark 12 inches up from there. First, cut off the end of the strip of the first mark with a hacksaw, then make another cut at your second mark. After cutting the brackets, you'll have metal burrs and sharp edges, so you'll want to sand those down. We used 80 grit sandpaper, sanding the tops, sides, bottom and face of the cut end, which left us with a smooth and safe surface. Now it's time to mount the brackets, so we're going to measure across the width of the panel to find center. In this case it's 8 and 1/4 inches, so we'll place a mark right there. Then we'll take one of the bracket pieces and find center, which is 6 inches, and place a mark there. Then line up the two center marks with the edge of the bracket, lining up perfectly with the top of the support. With the bracket in position, mark the holes on the back of the panel. Using a drill bit with a smaller diameter than your screws, create your pilot holes. Place the bracket over the support, re-center and fasten the bracket to the back of the support. Next, take the wall bracket and place it under the panel bracket as shown here. Then measure from the top of the panel to the bottom of the wall bracket. In our case, it's 4 and a half inches. Figure out the ideal mounting height for the top of your panel and place a mark on the wall at that point. From that point, measure down to the bottom of your wall bracket. And if you recall, it was 4 and a half inches in our case. Use a level to draw a line
across the lower mark. Next, line up the bottom of the wall bracket with the line. Now mark the position of the two bracket holes on the wall. Drill small pilot holes at these marks. This is one of the metal anchors we'll
be drilling into the drywall, using a standard Phillips tip. While keeping the drill level, screw in the anchors until the faces are flush with the drywall. Now we'll use these screws that came with the anchors to mount the wall bracket. Place the bracket on the wall and partially drive in the first screw. Do the same with the second screw. Double check to make sure the bracket is
level on the mark, then firmly fasten it to the wall. Now we'll use a self-adhesive bumper at the rear-bottom of the panel to make sure its equal distance away from the wall. This particular bumper is just short of 1/2 inch thick. And that's the same distance from the back of the panel to the back of the wall bracket, which is perfect in our case. Just remove the adhesive backing, stick the bumper to the back of the panel, and you should be good to go. Now center and hang the panel, push down firmly, and you're done. Alright guys, we hope this video was helpful, and if it was, please think about subscribing to this channel. And if you know someone who might benefit from this tutorial, maybe pass it on. Have a great day!
