Anyone Wowed by Real Traps in their Small, Low Ceiling Tracking Room?

[Slap Back]

Mainly involving recording Drum Kit, but other sources as well.

I gotta preface this by saying I've put my little room through quite a few acoustic permutations involving all sorts of plywood sheets, carpet, tile, 703, double sloping walls, massive ceiling clouds, tons of absorbers in the corners...looking for fuller, wider, more hi-fi sound that would be great on its own so compression, eq and reverb could be added as enhancements rather than fixes.

And I always come to the conclusion that I should have spent the money on gear instead and left my room as the more dead than live carpeted room, as it was originally designed by ROPD in NY. I could hear a difference with the treatments, but nothing mind blowing.

Now the cycle is coming round once more and I'm taking a serious look at Real Traps for both my control room and tracking room based on some very positive reviews here.

It's just that I've taken stabs at DIY acoustic treatment and ended up trearing it down so many times that I'm a bit leary about being stuck in the same boat again but with several grand of commercial acoustic products tied to my ankle.

What I'm mostly fishing for is feedback/audio clips from folks that experienced something amazing about Real Traps in their small tracking room. Maybe someone who's been down the DIY road but found something vastly superior in Real Traps?

[bigos]

I dont see big savings in DYI acoustics unless you have plenty of spare time and your quite good at building things. TheReal Traps are tested and proven and they look good. The same goes for GIK and other companies.
Bigos
Saraswati Studios

[fifthflaw]

Can't give you what your after but i have a few in my control room and I like the way they reflect a bit of top end back in, its very noticeable.

[James_Avery]

I would recommend you getting an acoustic anaylsis done in the room by a professional first, so that you know not only what treatment you need but also where exactly to place it for optimum results. I am having a professional analysis done at the end of the month, it will only cost me 330 Euro (450 dollars approx). I'm sure there are companies close to you that offer a similar service.

[beats workin']

I'm not sure i get where you're coming from. You say you wonder if you should try real-traps, or other commercial products but you also say:

I gotta preface this by saying I've put my little room through quite a few acoustic permutations involving all sorts of plywood sheets, carpet, tile, 703, double sloping walls, massive ceiling clouds, tons of absorbers in the corners...looking for fuller, wider, more hi-fi sound that would be great on its own so compression, eq and reverb could be added as enhancements rather than fixes.


It sounds like you've already tried a ton of options, although home-brewed, in that room and it didn't get you where you want to be. perhaps the room is un-usable. Is it 10 x 10 x 10 or similar? Equal-dimension rooms are simply a nightmare and you may end up chasing your tail.
That said, i have quite a bit of experience in treating less-than-ideal rooms in my studio and after many years of doing this, i can positively say that proper acoustic treatment is more important than any gear you'll buy. It will improve the sound more and make your life easier. So keep on trying.

Also, this may sound funny, but my own experience is that you have to land on the right combination and placement of mics in a room like this. i keep figuring it out a little better with each passing year. Certain mics and placements for particular styles of music. The gear down the chain is much less important, whether it's api or neve, etc. But different mics "see" the room differently.

I can very highly recommend Real-Traps. I've got a ton of them and they are extremely effective. Ethan's a nice guy as well.
good luck in figuring it out,
david

[Renegade Prod]

real traps eat donkey c***

[Sqye]

.

junk in, junk out.

it's all about the room.

if you're trying to dress a monkey in a tuxedo, i hope you have a lot of patience...

i'm not trying to be a dick, but you know that one definition of insanity, right?


all these companies are basically offering similar physical products - in different colors -
and while they may help with some high freq. reflection anamoles at listening position,
they're NOT going to turn your bedroom into studio A at electric lady.

physics is physics, my friend...

if you're really having that much trouble with the space, it sounds like
you may need a better space.

i would spend my money on:

a) a sound analyst - WITH PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE in RECORDING and STUDIO DESIGN

b) a better room

c) stay where you are, and track drums in other better sounding rooms


i know choice b) is a pain in the ass, but when you get into a room you really like,
there's nothing like it...

maybe someone here with a similar physical situation (room size, shape & surface types,
mics, musical styles, etc.) will chime in - someone who's had real success with these products,
and you can go check out their space and see what they've done, and how much it cost them
(obviously that's your intention posting here, so you can ignore my post if you like ).

i'm skeptical about the actual physics of trying to make a crappy room sound like a good room...

also, please take my opinion with a boulder of salt - diff strokes for diff folks,
and i'm not steve albini (but i do have some major label engineering credits, FWIW).


all that said - i've had really good success creating tight dead spaces for drum kits,
but using all home-fashioned construction materials based solutions...and my ears and brain

anyhow, good luck.

.

[Terry McInturff]

All that you need to do is to contact Ethan at Realtraps and supply him with the dimensions and layout of your room.

If you follow his lead, you can be certain to achieve what Ethan will tell you to expect. He is a world-class pro at what he does.

Like any such product, it must be used in a correct fashion in order to do the job.

Contact Ethan.

[Slap Back]

Originally Posted by Terry McInturff

All that you need to do is to contact Ethan at Realtraps and supply him with the dimensions and layout of your room.

If you follow his lead, you can be certain to achieve what Ethan will tell you to expect. He is a world-class pro at what he does.

Like any such product, it must be used in a correct fashion in order to do the job.

Contact Ethan.

That's been done already. The folks at Real Traps are very helpful and professional.

But I'm really looking for independent evidence of what the product will or won't do in an application similar to mine.

[Terry McInturff]

Could you share your room dimensions with us? It would be interesting to know the respondent's dimensions too.

[Slap Back]

Originally Posted by Terry McInturff

Could you share your room dimensions with us? It would be interesting to know the respondent's dimensions too.

The room is 13' x 14' x 7'6" ceiling.

[alcohol]

At the risk of sounding like a heretic. I took a band to a top notch facility in Boston and recorded drums, guitar and vocals.

I have a studio with 7' ceilings, all walls and ceilings are hung on resilient channel. The studio is cluttered with equipment. Some commercial sound absorbing panels on the ceiling. Floating floor, rugs and a bass trap in each corner. Some acoustic foam. Not professional and never measured.

The difference in the sound of the close mics was negligible. The difference in the overheads were negligible, the difference in the room mics was substantially better in the top notch studio. They had distant mics near their 20' ceiling and the sound from those mics were worthless. All in all I feel that money on equipment is better for my small room than more sound treatment than I have, after making the comparison to a professionally treated room. I don't think any sound treatment would get the same room mic sound as the bigger studio.

[Slap Back]

Originally Posted by alcohol

At the risk of sounding like a heretic. I took a band to a top notch facility in Boston and recorded drums, guitar and vocals.

I have a studio with 7' ceilings, all walls and ceilings are hung on resilient channel. The studio is cluttered with equipment. Some commercial sound absorbing panels on the ceiling. Floating floor, rugs and a bass trap in each corner. Some acoustic foam. Not professional and never measured.

The difference in the sound of the close mics was negligible. The difference in the overheads were negligible, the difference in the room mics was substantially better in the top notch studio. They had distant mics near their 20' ceiling and the sound from those mics were worthless. All in all I feel that money on equipment is better for my small room than more sound treatment than I have, after making the comparison to a professionally treated room. I don't think any sound treatment would get the same room mic sound as the bigger studio.

No heresy at all IMO your room is similar to mine including the resilient channel. I took my drums to a huge room and found similar results:

Drum Room Comparision: Sound Clips and Pics

[Glenn Kuras]

Hey Guys,
I am not with Real Traps, but there seems to be some talk about acoustics in general (with our name coming up) so thought I would pipe in. BTW I have seen REAL Traps products up close and believe it will do a fine job for you.

Originally Posted by James_Avery

I would recommend you getting an acoustic anaylsis done in the room by a professional first, so that you know not only what treatment you need but also where exactly to place it for optimum results. I am having a professional analysis done at the end of the month, it will only cost me 330 Euro (450 dollars approx). I'm sure there are companies close to you that offer a similar service.

That is not a bad idea, but there is software out there, Room EQ (free) Room EQ Wizard Home Page that will let you shoot the room yourself. You can then send the results to the acoustic company you are working with and they should be able to direct you with the best solution.

i'm skeptical about the actual physics of trying to make a crappy room sound like a good room...

It is pretty simple. The products will help absorb sound. If you feel as though it is not working then I would download that program I just pointed out and work with the company you bought from to correct it. We have people emailing us ALL the time to work through there room.

[dhiltonlittle]

i just put 8 GIK 244 bass traps in my mix room. i love them. i use a few of them while tracking vox/gtrs on occasion with great results.