Best piece of gear of all time!!!

[AudioFields]

For years i've been trying to figure out, "What is it that separates the men from the boys?". My projects had always sounded "okay" but not up to par. Well, this weekend i tracked drums in a studio that had the ONE piece of gear that solved all my problems, and gave my the best drum tones i've ever had.

ITS THE ROOM!!!!!!

All you beginners out there that are spending all your money on nice gear, STOP!! Do everything you can to make the room sound the way it should, re-evaluate, and then you'll be a third of the gear.

All the veterans say it over and over, and they are right! They havent been blowing hot air, it is the single most important component to our trade.

[Ethan Winer]

Testify brother.

[slaves666]

I must agree as well. I used to track my drums in "another" studio, before I got my new place, and I thought the drums sounded great. Once I got a kit in my new drum room, I was blown away at how good they sounded compared to where I used to go.

[Alex Specht]

Its also the moste expensive piece of gear.

Anyone know where to get some inexpensive rubber mat?

[narcoman]

Originally Posted by Ethan Winer

Testify brother.

word mama fondler.....

[AudioFields]

it is the most expensive, but if you spend your first $10-$100 thousand (small studio to large) on the room(s), i figure you dont have to have half the amount of gear. Most of the pros only have a handful of stuff the MUST HAVE anyway.

[Audiop]

Absolutely, and don't forget the room on the other side of the chain.

You record the room (more or less) that is driven by the instrument and you listen to the room that is driven by the speaker.

The rest in between we all (well you at least ) obsess about is a relatively small part of the equation.


/Peter

[asagaai]

Agree on room- and in terms of drums- of equal importance of room is locating that phase sweet spot in the room to put the drums.

I used to knee jerk place the drums in centre of room- where it looked best. One day a double bass player was tuning his bass- kept going to an area right up against a solid core brick wall which is lined with hardwood strips with gaps of perforated vinyl covered foam (used in trucks/buses etc for bass sound absorption).

I then sussed it out -and the bass and general tone in that spot was much thicker than in centre of room. Indeed as one moved out towards centre of room and towards the hebleblock control room wall the sound got progressively thinner.

Cost me some dollars to upgrade mike lead runs using canare to reach the spot against the solid wall to mike the drum kit- and it looks a little odd whacking the kit against the wall- but I cannot recommend enough if you have some size in your tracking room suss out where the sweet phase spot is for your drum/double bass instruments etc.

In my case simply moving the kit to the sweet spot has resulted in a vast sonic improvement.

GJ
Newcastle/OZ

[aclarson]

Originally Posted by Alex Specht

Its also the moste expensive piece of gear.

Anyone know where to get some inexpensive rubber mat?

Dude. It's not that bad. You can buy it from Ethan or Glenn for less than a lot of gear. There's also tons of ways to DIY on this if you're willing and able to get your hands a little dirty. Look at the acoustics board here on Gearslutz. I built (16) 2'x4'x4" traps for about $400 total (all materials included). Cheap! Best $$$ I ever spent. If you think you won't notice a difference, it's because you haven't done it.

[h_Jordan]

I agree, rooms contibute to the recorded sound much much more than any piece of gear treat your room, find the sweet spot before u spend any money on new gear

[Outlaw Hans]

Ethan Winer has a DIY plan floating around the internet. cheap way to make bass traps. I have them everywhere reaching to the ceiling in my tracking room. Best investment ever. Without them records sounded like demos. No matter the gear.

[jindrich]

Originally Posted by Alex Specht

Its also the moste expensive piece of gear.

€2,000 per square meter. Means an investment of at least a quarter of a million.

And it can be yours for 500/day (not just the room, it also comes with another 250k in equipment, plus a team of people to help smooth the session, at least a studio manager and an assistant engineer).

go check it out.