Getting my room sounding the best for live drums

[girlthatdrums]

Finally nearing the end of my studio construction (been going on for a year and a half now)

I've got a live room of 15 x 20 with a cathedral ceiling to 12', a flat span at the top of about 5'. I built it for general use, but as a drummer, that's what it will mostly be used for, so I'd like it sound as best as possible for drums.

I'm getting ready to think about treatment for the room. Right now it's totally bare. At my disposal I have some 703 and some sonex 2x4 pyramids.

I want the drum sound to be big and open, natural sounding.

The floor is concrete, with a vinyl pad. Drums are on a 4" elevated riser, in the back of the room lengthwise, centered on the wall.

Where do I start?

Also, anyone know of a way to attach the sonex to the walls without harming the walls as I experiment with placement? Brand new drywall, and all.

[SAC]

How is the riser designed and constructed?

If not done properly, this could be a big source of problems.

[girlthatdrums]

Truth be told, the riser isn't built yet it's still a sketch on paper. :-) and it's actually 8" up, not sure why I wrote 4".

Anyhow, it's getting built just like a subfloor - 2x8 stringers with a plywood decking. Should I be looking at another method?

In the past I simply had two sheets of mdf up on legs I built from plumbing flanges and pipes which really accentuated the low end of my kick. I'm going for something more permanent and nicer looking with the new one.

[girlthatdrums]

Hm, after doing some searching, seems solid concrete floor is best for drums, which is what I already have. So perhaps just abandon the idea entirely? I always thought it helped my kick resonate more, but maybe I was imagining things...

[johndykstra]

yeah ditch the riser. it likely did resonate. and on certain tracks, this may have been usable. but when you want it gone.... not so good.

drum resonance is best attained by tracking near a corner, where the room's resonance builds.

my advice, do a recording in there as is and let your ears tell you what needs to happen.

if you don't like what you are hearing in there, some acoustical measurements may point you to a direction

room eq wizard is a free platform.

i would start with bass trapping the corners. it's likely that modal ringing will make certain bass frequencies "reverberate" longer than other notes. reverberation is a good thing, but you want the response more even spectrum wise.

poly diffusors around the room treating opposite areas on parallel walls will kill the flutter, though if you were to use a more mathematical qrd type diffusor, your results would likely be more pleasing, it would just cost you a lot more time and or money. dan dan often suggests flat sheets of plywood leaned up against the walls to alleviate flutter on the cheap, never tried it myself but it's perfectly logical. sprinkling in some absorption may not be a bad option, but again your ears will tell you what to do.

vaulted ceiling area should be good, though depending on the flat ceilings proximity to your "tracking zone" you may want something up there to kill flutter as well.

to adhear your foam, look into some of those double stick pull off thingies I always see on tv around Christmas time. if they can hold up a stocking hook, I'd imagine they're good for some foam.

tracking rooms, for drums particularly, are often not heavily treated, and ignore a lot of what you read around here.