For my drum room...

[D7thproductions]

Originally Posted by brodieskiddlz

Hey guys, for my drum room, where I'll do my drum tracking, do I want a completely dead room, or should I leave some reverberations in the room? I plan on adding in any reverb I actually need in my DAW, and I'm close miking the set. So would it be better to have no reverb at all in the actual room? (i.e. completely insulated) Or should I just get rid of a decent chunk of it?

Thanks guys.

Depends on the sound of the room

[isawsasquatch]

"Completely dead" is more or less impossible for a small studio tracking room. What you'll probably end up with is a boomy, boxy ambience heavy on the low mids, which won't do you any favors come mix time. It's best to go after a balanced ambience, IMO.

[brodieskiddlz]

its really not that bad, however with my overhead mics, you can just badly tell it was recorded in a bedroom. Its got that 'quick roomy reverb' sound to it. Like if I clap my hands, or hit my snare, you can hear a very short, almost reflectionish sound.

What would happen if I did have a completely reverb-less room? Would it sound dreadful or ca it be pulled off nicely with good reverb channels?

[brodieskiddlz]

Yeah I was concerned about the boxy boomy sound. So bass traps would truly be the best way to overcome that nasty decay issue I'm hearing?

[justDoug]

Bass traps and a mix of some absorption and some diffusion...

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[brodieskiddlz]

Thanks man, I really appreciate the opinion. I know every application is different, but it feels better to have some general direction to begin searching in

[Ethan Winer]

Originally Posted by brodieskiddlz

you can just badly tell it was recorded in a bedroom.

A room that small should be made mostly dead. Small room "reverb" sounds lame, as you've discovered. If you make the room dead you can then add much better sounding reverb as an effect when mixing.

--Ethan

The Acoustic Treatment Experts

[DanDan]

Convolution reverbs can do an amazing job at placing instruments in very credible replicas of acoustic spaces, including famous studios.
However, some instruments are greatly influenced by feedback from the room.
e.g. in a hard corner they will have greatly enhanced LF fundamental tone. Or in a dead room the snare is reduced to a little ping.
If you room does not have blatantly obvious problems, e.g. a twanging flutter echo, then whatever liveness it has is probably welcome. Treatment over the drums is pretty much always welcome but if that is not possible PZM mics on the ceiling or wall behind the kit will fully eliminate those probably destructive early reflections.

DD

[DavePiatek]

Treat the flutter echo and install as much bass trapping as you can afford. If you treat the room everywhere with foam, it's going to sound very boxy and terrible. Bass trapping is key.

[justDoug]

And building your own bass traps is fun, and not too costly.

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[Bellico]

Originally Posted by Ethan Winer

A room that small should be made mostly dead. Small room "reverb" sounds lame, as you've discovered. If you make the room dead you can then add much better sounding reverb as an effect when mixing.

--Ethan

The Acoustic Treatment Experts

I agree

You can also add the reverb in after if you have decent monitors and AD By:
placing a room mic or stereo pair in a good sounding open room and playing your tight drum mix back in that room through some decent sounding monitors.
then mix that in as if it was a room mic during the original tracking
I know some big expensive studios that do it

Different strokes for different folks.