Riffs, Beards & Gear Home Studio Acoustic Treatment

The Creator Behind the Riffs, Beards & Gear Studio

Ryan "Fluff" Bruce is the creator of Riffs, Beards & Gear, one of the most followed guitar channels on YouTube. Beyond the camera, Ryan is a mix engineer, producer, and touring guitarist for the band Dragged Under.

His home studio carries both roles at once. It is the room where he records, mixes, and produces music, and it is the visual stage every Riffs, Beards & Gear viewer sees in every upload. For a working YouTube studio, acoustic treatment is not optional. Reflections, flutter echo, and low-frequency build-up affect both the audio of every video and the accuracy of every mix. The room had to deliver clean monitoring and a strong on-camera identity at the same time.

"I got my first sound treatment with Vicoustic panels back in 2014 at my former house and home studio. That was such an epiphany. It was such a monumental leap forward in hearing the things I needed to hear, and hearing them accurately (...) And they (the products) also look great."

The Acoustic Treatment Challenge

The room is a typical home studio footprint: rectangular, parallel walls, low ceiling, and hard surfaces around the listening position. Without treatment, that geometry produces three problems that hurt both recording and content quality.

Early reflections at the mix position blur stereo imaging and make EQ decisions unreliable. Flutter echo between parallel walls colors recorded guitars and vocals. Corner build-up adds boominess to the low end, which becomes obvious on monitors and in any bass-heavy mix.

On top of that, the room is the brand. Wood tones, warm light, and clean lines define the visual identity of Riffs, Beards & Gear. The acoustic treatment had to integrate into that look, not fight against it.

The Acoustic Solution Designed by Vicoustic

The Vicoustic Project Team designed an integrated treatment combining broadband absorption, mid-frequency control, bidimensional diffusion, and dedicated low-frequency management. 

• Cinema Round Premium in Light Grey for Broadband Absorption

Fabric-covered Cinema Round Premium panels handle broadband absorption at first reflection points and around the listening position. With NRC 0.95 and Class A absorption, they control reflections cleanly from medium-low to high frequencies without overdamping the room. 

• Wavewood Ultra Lite in Natural Oak for Mid-Frequency Absorption

Wavewood Ultra Lite panels are used in two configurations: on the walls, they target mid-frequency absorption between 315 Hz and 1000 Hz, the band where most of the energy of electric guitars and vocals lives; in the corners, the same panels are mounted at a 45-degree angle to function as bass traps, adding a second layer of low-frequency control alongside the Super Bass 90 units.

• Multifuser DC3 (now DC4) in Black for Ceiling Diffusion

Black Multifuser DC3, now updated for Multifuser DC4, are installed on the ceiling to scatter mid and high frequency energy across both vertical and horizontal planes. Bidimensional diffusion preserves a sense of space and air around recorded guitars and voiceover, instead of leaving the room sounding dead.

• Super Bass 90 for Low-Frequency Control

Super Bass 90 corner bass traps from the budget line are mounted in room corners to tackle the resonant low-frequency modes that are unavoidable in small home studios with parallel walls. The result is a tighter, more defined low end on monitors and a cleaner low register for bass and kick on every recording.

The Result: A Home Studio Built for Recording, Mixing, and YouTube

The Riffs, Beards & Gear studio delivers what Ryan's workflow demands. Accurate monitoring for mixing and production. Clean, controlled tracking for electric guitar, bass, and vocals. And a warm, on-brand backdrop that strengthens the visual identity of every video.