big room small 7' ceiling, am i fu@*ed

rynugz007 · 4th October 2004

im moving my studio to a finished basement. The room itself is around 15'x25' at least with another large room off to the side for tracking or whatever. Both rooms have very small ceilings around 7' tall. Am i going to have problems regardless of how i treat the room? Is there a fix?

Dave Martin · 4th October 2004

You can make that space work - I had my studio in a basement with around a 7 foot ceiling for 6 or 8 years...

shortyprs · 4th October 2004

I have a similar situation. The best answer is rigid fiberboard absorbption pretty much over the entire ceiling. Ethan Winer had designs posted around before the mini-trap boom. The end effect is closer to not having a ceiling at all. Get your early reflections off the floor. Its pretty good.

Oh yeah, I also aplogize a lot.

TML · 4th October 2004

Yeah...kill the ceiling as much as possible.....use the other rooms to put distant mics to make the drums more alive. Distance is depth. Their are no rules anymore. It doesn't matter. Get a great band to do great tunes in the rooms and your set. Just don't deaden all the walls or you'll have boxing sounding crap all over your mix.
Tim

Tim L · 4th October 2004

Quote:

Originally posted by shortyprs
... The best answer is rigid fiberboard absorbption pretty much over the entire ceiling.

Or at least over specific work areas... mix area, drum area,... etc

Ted Nightshade · 5th October 2004

It's a bad situation but you can make the most of it. Be aware of the patterns of your microphones- figure 8 patterns have big nulls that can lose a lot of that ceiling-floor interaction, cardioid mics have a big ol' null in back, supercardioids have nulls at 120 degrees or so. Finding just the right spot and angle to put each mic will go a long way towards salvaging things.

Bosco · 5th October 2004

Quote:

Yeah...kill the ceiling as much as possible.....use the other rooms to put distant mics to make the drums more alive. Distance is depth. Their are no rules anymore. It doesn't matter. Get a great band to do great tunes in the rooms and your set. Just don't deaden all the walls or you'll have boxing sounding crap all over your mix.

The wall deadening is something to watch out for.I found Realtraps for lowend absorbtion work wonders on the walls and corners for buildup,but do not deaden the room too much.I use the Microtraps above the source for ceiling issues.

The 7' ceiling is far from ideal but I work with it.Fletcher turned me on to an underhead mic placement for drums that turned out rather nice and I never would of thought of it.

If you get players that will adapt to the situation and watch your mic placement, you can make it happen.

heylow · 5th October 2004

Quote:

Originally posted by Bosco

The 7' ceiling is far from ideal but I work with it.Fletcher turned me on to an underhead mic placement for drums that turned out rather nice and I never would of thought of it.

Sounds interesting....please share!

On topic, my room sounds to be about the same dimensions and I've found that, while it takes a little more "creativity" to get around the low ceiling, you CAN get around it. Do everything you can to keep the mics away from the ceiling....as someone suggested, use "out" intead of "up" when possible. With drums, we will often "spot treat" particularly over the hi hat to keep the reflection down and it helps. I've also found M160s to be great kit mics in my situation.

heylow

4th October 2004	#1
rynugz007 Gear addict Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: cincinnati, OH Posts: 461 Thread Starter	*big room small 7' ceiling, am i fu@ed** im moving my studio to a finished basement. The room itself is around 15'x25' at least with another large room off to the side for tracking or whatever. Both rooms have very small ceilings around 7' tall. Am i going to have problems regardless of how i treat the room? Is there a fix? __________________ http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Lov...62853367074878

4th October 2004	#2
Dave Martin Moderator emeritus Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Nashville, TN Posts: 3,152	You can make that space work - I had my studio in a basement with around a 7 foot ceiling for 6 or 8 years... __________________ Dave Martin Java Jive Studio www.javajivestudio.com Nashville, TN

4th October 2004	#3
shortyprs Gear maniac Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: just west of east Posts: 216	I have a similar situation. The best answer is rigid fiberboard absorbption pretty much over the entire ceiling. Ethan Winer had designs posted around before the mini-trap boom. The end effect is closer to not having a ceiling at all. Get your early reflections off the floor. Its pretty good. Oh yeah, I also aplogize a lot. __________________ I follow the road less traveled, but now, where the hell am I?

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4th October 2004	#4
TML Lives for gear Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 1,026	Yeah...kill the ceiling as much as possible.....use the other rooms to put distant mics to make the drums more alive. Distance is depth. Their are no rules anymore. It doesn't matter. Get a great band to do great tunes in the rooms and your set. Just don't deaden all the walls or you'll have boxing sounding crap all over your mix. Tim

5th October 2004	#6
Ted Nightshade Lives for gear Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: state of jefferson Posts: 1,328	It's a bad situation but you can make the most of it. Be aware of the patterns of your microphones- figure 8 patterns have big nulls that can lose a lot of that ceiling-floor interaction, cardioid mics have a big ol' null in back, supercardioids have nulls at 120 degrees or so. Finding just the right spot and angle to put each mic will go a long way towards salvaging things.