Live room has low drop ceiling

[jeremycox]

Have a small live room (22x16ish) with a low drop ceiling (9ft) that sounds horrible. Normally we don't record bands so the room gets used rarely but i'd like to start working on the acoustics.

-everything recorded in there sounds like it was recorded in a bathroom (very small, short, muddy reverb)
-there is 6" of R13 above the drop ceiling. I assume this is part of the reason the room sounds odd
-Would there be any advantage to removing the drop ceiling and just adding a shit ton of bass traps? Or should i just add bass traps to the walls/corners and leave the low drop ceiling. The ceiling above the drop ceiling is a 20 ft high corrugated metal ceiling

Thanks
Jeremy

[Black Seal]

I took care of my problem with 2" OC 703 (plus R19 stuffed between the joists)mounted to the joists would work. Don't forget to bass trap the corners and diffusors throughout the rest of the room.

[Smithcok]

Can you post some pictures? (especially if you can remove some panels from the drop ceiling and show us up there)

[Black Seal]

I didn't take detailed pics of my studio contruction, but I will tell I used screws with large washers on the ends to support the weight of the OC 703. I used about 5 screws on each panel (2'X4'), 4 on the corners and one in the middle. I covered all of this with good fabric to make it look like a buttoned couch, but on the ceiling. Looks cool. Try looking at my websites for studio pics. If not I can take some pics later of the ceiling and upload them.

Perry

[Glenn Kuras]

-there is 6" of R13 above the drop ceiling. I assume this is part of the reason the room sounds odd

No that should be helping.

-Would there be any advantage to removing the drop ceiling and just adding a shit ton of bass traps? Or should i just add bass traps to the walls/corners and leave the low drop ceiling. The ceiling above the drop ceiling is a 20 ft high corrugated metal ceiling

I would not remove it but treat the corners of the room with bass trap and diffusion and absorption on the walls.

[Weasel9992]

Originally Posted by jeremycox

Have a small live room (22x16ish) with a low drop ceiling (9ft) that sounds horrible. Normally we don't record bands so the room gets used rarely but i'd like to start working on the acoustics.

-everything recorded in there sounds like it was recorded in a bathroom (very small, short, muddy reverb)
-there is 6" of R13 above the drop ceiling. I assume this is part of the reason the room sounds odd
-Would there be any advantage to removing the drop ceiling and just adding a shit ton of bass traps? Or should i just add bass traps to the walls/corners and leave the low drop ceiling. The ceiling above the drop ceiling is a 20 ft high corrugated metal ceiling

I agree with Glenn...the problem is probably not the ceiling. You didn't tell us the composition of the other surfaces...if it's cinderblock and cement, well..there's your problem. If it's wood and sheet rock, there's your problem. I suspect that you have a bunch of hard, parallel surfaces that you need to treat. Once you do that, and maybe add some rugs, the flutter should be a thing of the past.

Frank