Drum Room treatment on the cheap...

[yourhero]

Hi guys,

First time poster, long time listener.

I have a question about the first treatment step for a drum recording room. I took a look around some other posts and none answered my question completely.

I have a rectangular room approximately 12' x 14' with 9' suspended tile ceiling. Walls 1 and 2 are drywall/finished and walls 3 and 4 are brick.

To keep the room live-ish and be able to get some decent room mic sounds (while cutting down on some bad reflections) what would you recommend for my first treatment step

1. Bass traps in the 90 degree corners
2. Sound foam on flat walls
3. Other

I only have enough money right now to spend maybe $150-200.

Just wanted your valued opinions,

Thanks in advance,
Travis

[Glenn Kuras]

1. Bass traps in the 90 degree corners
2. Sound foam on flat walls
3. Other

I would use rigid fiberglass or mineral panels instead of foam.

I have a rectangular room approximately 12' x 14' with 9' suspended tile ceiling. Walls 1 and 2 are drywall/finished and walls 3 and 4 are brick.

Replace the tiles in the suspended tiles with rigid fiberglass. Some of the tiles you can find are made from rigid fiberglass but have thin plastic on the face. You can peal it off to stop any high end reflections over the kit.
Also you can stuff above the tile (throughout the room) with fluffy fiberglass which will help with low end control in the room.

[tINY]

For a "live-ish" room that small, I'd deaden things up pretty good first. Then add in a few diffusors.

A room that small isn't going to have a good "live" sound for typical drums. You have to make the liveliness artificially - either with carefully chosen reflective surfaces (shapes and angles) or electronically.

In an almost totally dead room, a pair of PZM's on the opposite wall fed to a delay and then to a reverb can make it sound like the room is "biger" and "livelier". The tools to de this electronically are good and inexpensive these days.



-tINY

[yourhero]

Thanks for the input guys. mUch appreciated.

T.

[DanDan]

8x4 sheets of ply can be simply laid against the walls at an angle. This kills flutter but keeps a useful woody ambience, nice for drums.
You are very lucky to have that suspended ceiling.
DD

[Glenn Kuras]

Originally Posted by DanDan

8x4 sheets of ply can be simply laid against the walls at an angle. This kills flutter but keeps a useful woody ambience, nice for drums.
You are very lucky to have that suspended ceiling.
DD

Actually I would bend them to make a poly.

[ol drippy]

Ahh, this is exactly what I'm trying to do.

Thanks for the question and answers.

Maybe I could ask a few more?

I covered my ceiling with blankets..don't know if that was a good thing or not?

Is it best to run the bass traps all the way up the corner walls or will just one 4' panel, centered between help at all?

Thanks.

[DanDan]

If the floor is hard, an absorbent ceiling is good. However, I simply don't know if your particular blankets perform or not. Probably good.
All the way with the Bass Traps. Maximum energy is at the tricorners, top and bottom.
DD

[ol drippy]

Hey, thanks for the reply. That's good to know, I'll just keep the bass traps going all the way then, I can probably afford that. The blankets seem to do good, they've kill a lot of the echo and splashy cymbals. The floor is older wood.