New 900 s.f. drum/live room design. Stone wall?

[Full Clip Audio]

Hi all. First of all I want to thank all of the Acoustics Gurus who take the time to share so much information on here. I have spent a lot of time reading both here and other forums and the amount of knowledge is priceless!

We are about to build a new live room and have a 30 X 30 X 12 structure attached to our current studio to do it in. I have attached a rough idea of what I have come up with so far for a design.

The structure will be floating (as is the rest of our place) and the floors will be hard wood. Since we already have a smaller room for other things, our main goal is a killer drum sound. One of the things I would REALLY like to do is add a stacked stone wall. I have read a lot of mixed opinions on stone in drum rooms yet I see it in some of the nicest drum rooms.

I would love to hear opinions on stone in general as well as where to place it. My initial idea is to use stone on the wall with the window since it is already going to be a reflective surface.

Any input on the room design itself would be great. This is the first draft so any input would be VERy appreciated! Thanks guys!

[avare]

The overall concept looks good. I strongly suggest you get a copy of Newell's Recording Studio Design. Several pages are devoted to comparing various stone drum rooms. The summary is that stone live rooms may sound great, but they are one trick ponies in that that they only do one sound.

Good for more than one trick,
Andre

[Full Clip Audio]

Originally Posted by avare

The overall concept looks good. I strongly suggest you get a copy of Newell's Recording Studio Design. Several pages are devoted to comparing various stone drum rooms. The summary is that stone live rooms may sound great, but they are one trick ponies in that that they only do one sound.

Good for more than one trick,
Andre

Thanks. That is my main concern. My thought was that if we only did a small wall we would be able to get a pretty aggressive sound by placing the kit in front of the stone wall. On the other hand, if we wanted less of that sound we could place the kit at the other and of the room and use gobos to tighten the kit as needed. Does this seem reasonable? We really do want the room to be versatile as well as "big" sounding.

Also, I'm not sure how much of the gaps created by the angles I need to use for bass traps. In the plans I have storage in the top two corners. Should I consider using those areas for bass traps also?

[avare]

Originally Posted by Full Clip Audio

My thought was that if we only did a small wall we would be able to get a pretty aggressive sound by placing the kit in front of the stone wall. On the other hand, if we wanted less of that sound we could place the kit at the other and of the room and use gobos to tighten the kit as needed. Does this seem reasonable? We really do want the room to be versatile as well as "big" sounding.

Yes. Another possibility is to have heavy curtains you can pull over.

Have you considered using Schroeder diffusers to get more full range diffusion?

Also, I'm not sure how much of the gaps created by the angles I need to use for bass traps. In the plans I have storage in the top two corners. Should I consider using those areas for bass traps also?

With the size you have, bass trapping for modal control is minimal. You could leave the one end with less trapping for more acoustic variety. Personally I would still have bass absorption in the corners. Whether it is full range or some form of broad range tuned, I would go with broad range tuned. That is more than just FRK or plastic covering. Either what is usually referred as slat type or some form of perforated cover.

Andre

[Full Clip Audio]

Originally Posted by avare

Yes. Another possibility is to have heavy curtains you can pull over.

Have you considered using Schroeder diffusers to get more full range diffusion?



With the size you have, bass trapping for modal control is minimal. You could leave the one end with less trapping for more acoustic variety. Personally I would still have bass absorption in the corners. Whether it is full range or some form of broad range tuned, I would go with broad range tuned. That is more than just FRK or plastic covering. Either what is usually referred as slat type or some form of perforated cover.

Andre

My idea was to use some sort of perforated covering to create the traps shown in the drawing. What that ends up being remains to be seen. We have thought about diffusers but were not sure the best approach. we can certainly build Schroeder diffusers but I'm not sure how much surface area to cover with them and the best placement. I am much more comfortable with the principals of treating a control room so I appreciate you taking the time to answer these very basic questions.

[avare]

Originally Posted by Full Clip Audio

My idea was to use some sort of perforated covering to create the traps shown in the drawing. What that ends up being remains to be seen.

If you go perforated, keep the % open area high, otherwise you end up with a midrange absorber.

We have thought about diffusers but were not sure the best approach. we can certainly build Schroeder diffusers but I'm not sure how much surface area to cover with them and the best placement.

Another option to consider is curved diffusers. Tracking rooms are subjective. Place them on a wall. Cover enough to effect the lowest frequencies you are interested in.

I am much more comfortable with the principals of treating a control room so I appreciate you taking the time to answer these very basic questions.

My pleasure.

(first time this month, must be a slow month) Good studio building is 90% design and 10% construction.

90% Andre