Auralex Hoverdeck for Drums? Worth it?

[Diegel]

I am considering purchasing the Auralex hoverdeck to go under my drum set as a means to improve the sound of my drums in the room. I just removed the carpet from the birch plywood platform I built for the drums and this helped clear up the muddiness because the crapet was just sucking the life out of the drums especially with the room I'm in and additional treatment on the ceiling. But now I have all these reflections from the floor the make everything sound kind of smeared. Still I prefer it to how it was before. Is the Auralex hoverdeck my solution? I am also in the process of looking to get 705 panels to put up around the room.

[Ethan Winer]

Originally Posted by Diegel

I am also in the process of looking to get 705 panels to put up around the room.

Yes, that will do far more to improve the sound of your drums in your room than any sort of platform device.

--Ethan

[matskull]

I'm also interested in the hover deck....how does it compare, soudwise, to plywood?

I got 2 plywood sheet right now where I track drum and it sounds way better than carpet but I might remove the carpet everywhere and put a wood floor, I though an hover deck would be a great solution so I don't ruin my wood floor by putting a drum on it, I want it to sound good though.

Any thoughts?

[AKCSTUDIO]

Just put my drums on some dense rubber matting that is about 3/4 inch thick,seems to make the drums sound more natural than the bare wood flooring.Have not recorded yet on the new floor,but i think it will sound better than the bare wood floor.I played the set on it and noticed the drums had more punch than the wood floor.

[Jeffrey Hedback]

Full disclosure: I used to work at Auralex and personally developed the HoverDeck product and was first to put into action the Platfoam Kit drum platfoam.

The Hoverdeck is based on point loading of modular isolation boards that join together via commercial grade hook/loop. It rests low to the floor and should be on a firm surface (ie, no carpet).

The Platfoam kit consists of 2"x4"x4' high-density foam rails that are space 6" O.C. and glued to 3/4" MDF. A drum rug should be placed on the MDF and your done.

Acoustically, they decouple the impact (minimize might be better word) transmission of the drums to the floor in a spectrum appropriate manner...meaning they deal with the fundamental of snare, bass drum, toms. They also minimize the sympathetic vibration within the kit...doesn't kill the life of the kit but acts similar to a light duty gate without a hard threshold.

Sonically, I actually prefer the Platfoam Kit. The kick retains a true thump while separating sonically from the rest of the kit. The snare can voice more exact to your choice of drum and tunning and same for toms. I also appreciate how the lower mids of cymbals clean. The HoverDeck itself offers similar results but maybe a bit more "clinical" sounding than musical. Note: the Auralex Platfoam is not a common material and is well tested for this application...I love DIY and reverse engineering, but this is not one of those materials that are easy to do.

I assembled and placed the first Platfoam riser in Kenny Aronoff's personal custom build drum room. His TAMA kit is isolated in terms of stands and mounts (from drum gear perspective) and the riser immediately enhanced his tone. We also did noise reduction tests in an adjacent room (note the doors were hung but had to knobs...the hole was open): measured 5dB reduction with these factors...solid stuff.

To the OP, a riser built by random means can do much more harm than good with drums as they'll function as non-linear (or non-spectrum appropriate) filters & likely resonant chambers. What you're discussing though seems to be smearing from lively floor reflections. That is possible with any of the above and also able to be controlled with various types of carpets. Back to Kenny Aronoff, we covered his riser with a tight knit berber carpet just pulled out of another room in his house...for some that might have been too damped (early reflections), but for his aggressively controlled style it really sounded great. Others may like a this (1/8" or so) drum rug to just take the edge off the brash aspects.

These compared to plywood and going to be apples to oranges. I like plywood underlay: gives a warm/cohesive thump to the kit...more beneficial to close mics. The Auralex prodcts will actually give a cool enhancement to room mics...just different.

I have zero relationships with Auralex these days (meaning none of these words have any financial motives)...simply giving the insights from my perspective on the inside.

Sorry if that was way too long-winded.

[AKCSTUDIO]

Originally Posted by Jeffrey Hedback

Full disclosure: I used to work at Auralex and personally developed the HoverDeck product and was first to put into action the Platfoam Kit drum platfoam.

The Hoverdeck is based on point loading of modular isolation boards that join together via commercial grade hook/loop. It rests low to the floor and should be on a firm surface (ie, no carpet).

The Platfoam kit consists of 2"x4"x4' high-density foam rails that are space 6" O.C. and glued to 3/4" MDF. A drum rug should be placed on the MDF and your done.

Acoustically, they decouple the impact (minimize might be better word) transmission of the drums to the floor in a spectrum appropriate manner...meaning they deal with the fundamental of snare, bass drum, toms. They also minimize the sympathetic vibration within the kit...doesn't kill the life of the kit but acts similar to a light duty gate without a hard threshold.

Sonically, I actually prefer the Platfoam Kit. The kick retains a true thump while separating sonically from the rest of the kit. The snare can voice more exact to your choice of drum and tunning and same for toms. I also appreciate how the lower mids of cymbals clean. The HoverDeck itself offers similar results but maybe a bit more "clinical" sounding than musical. Note: the Auralex Platfoam is not a common material and is well tested for this application...I love DIY and reverse engineering, but this is not one of those materials that are easy to do.

I assembled and placed the first Platfoam riser in Kenny Aronoff's personal custom build drum room. His TAMA kit is isolated in terms of stands and mounts (from drum gear perspective) and the riser immediately enhanced his tone. We also did noise reduction tests in an adjacent room (note the doors were hung but had to knobs...the hole was open): measured 5dB reduction with these factors...solid stuff.

To the OP, a riser built by random means can do much more harm than good with drums as they'll function as non-linear (or non-spectrum appropriate) filters & likely resonant chambers. What you're discussing though seems to be smearing from lively floor reflections. That is possible with any of the above and also able to be controlled with various types of carpets. Back to Kenny Aronoff, we covered his riser with a tight knit berber carpet just pulled out of another room in his house...for some that might have been too damped (early reflections), but for his aggressively controlled style it really sounded great. Others may like a this (1/8" or so) drum rug to just take the edge off the brash aspects.

These compared to plywood and going to be apples to oranges. I like plywood underlay: gives a warm/cohesive thump to the kit...more beneficial to close mics. The Auralex prodcts will actually give a cool enhancement to room mics...just different.

I have zero relationships with Auralex these days (meaning none of these words have any financial motives)...simply giving the insights from my perspective on the inside.

Sorry if that was way too long-winded.

Hey Jeff thanks for your time,Kenny is a great drummer!,what a honor it would have been to help him out with your expertise,i am loving the punch that the rubber floor is making the set sound on it,i like a bit of reflection,the rubber seemed to be a bit more controlled than the bare wood floor that i had.I do have carpet squares around in spots to control some unwanted reflections.

[idrum4u]

I know this is an old thread but I just purchased a used Hoverdeck (1/10/12). I got eight (8) 24"x24" sections and one (1) 24"x32" section. I have a drum room in my basement that is underneath my sunken family room leaving a low ceiling height of about 7'. It measures 13' x 19' and has industrial carpet laid over the cement. Three walls are solid cement and the fourth wall (on the 19' length) has a 6' length wall. Basically this room is 80% cement walls. The 13' opening opens to the rest of the basement. Depending where I place the drums they sometimes sound ok and other places not so good. I am going to set up the Hoverdeck and see of I can tell any difference from the playing position. I suspect that the Hoverdeck is better suited for stages and studios. Let's see what happens.

[Robal]

Originally Posted by idrum4u

I know this is an old thread but I just purchased a used Hoverdeck (1/10/12). I got eight (8) 24"x24" sections and one (1) 24"x32" section. I have a drum room in my basement that is underneath my sunken family room leaving a low ceiling height of about 7'. It measures 13' x 19' and has industrial carpet laid over the cement. Three walls are solid cement and the fourth wall (on the 19' length) has a 6' length wall. Basically this room is 80% cement walls. The 13' opening opens to the rest of the basement. Depending where I place the drums they sometimes sound ok and other places not so good. I am going to set up the Hoverdeck and see of I can tell any difference from the playing position. I suspect that the Hoverdeck is better suited for stages and studios. Let's see what happens.

Have you reached any conclusions about the Hoverdeck? Please share.