Drum Room Design

DigitalDon

New member
What is the minimum size (dimensions) for an isolated drum room? This would be in a 30' x 30' building which has not been built yet. I assume a small room with a lot of physical activity (duh - drumming) would also require some pretty good ventilation. Massive sweat puddles on drums is not a good thing.:D

DD
 
Personally, I wouldn't build a "Drum room".
I would build smaller rooms (in the corners) that could be used to place Speaker Cabinets , Vocalists, horn players, etc.
Then just have the drums in the main room.

Of course, I'm also taking into consideration that my Drumkit takes up about 10' X 10' (Okay - So I admit I'm playing a KISS sized drumkit now!) of floorspace itself.

The Drums need some "room to breathe" if you intend to use
overheads, and you need to keep in mind that you also need to be able to move all the way around the kit for mic'ing purposes.



Tim
 
I agree with Tim. Instead of building a drum room I would build the main room so it has one live end (hard surfaces, much reflection) and one dead end (heavily damped) and make the room as big as possible. Then, with the drum kit in the dead end of the room I would be able to put ambience mics in the live end. This makes the drums sound more natural. Good luck.


/fim
 
Ok so I use the main room for drums and build smaller rooms for everyone else. I know this is a dumb question but how does each member communicate with the others?

DD
 
Windows!! Put windows facing the center of the big room. Bands don't need to speak to each other while recording. They'll all be wearing headphones anyway.

I personally would experiment with drums in an iso room and with drums in a the main room and see which I like best. With a 30 x 30 space you should be able to swing having a couple ISO rooms. Maybe have a dead one and a less dead one.

The way I see it is, you'll need to have at least one vocal booth and at least one isolation room. That leaves you with a control room and a main room. Have you started designing your studio yet?? You might want to start as it would be nice to know what you are going to do with this 30x30 space as it is being constructed.

Beezoboy
 
I'd build a separate Iso drum booth if I had your area to work with. The live end dead end rooms sortta work but end up being neither live nor dead plus there is no instrument isolation. Don't bguild the drum room tooooo big. when was the last time you put 4sec reverb on a kit?? :):)

cheers
john
 
Thanks for the input guys. The windows will definitely be in so the band members can see each other. I was just wondering if anyone uses an intercom kind of thing. Of course we're not talking about a big building either.

The way I figure it I would have an iso room for drums, an iso booth for vocals, a control room then the main room (largest) for the guitar, bass and whatever. Guitar cab would be mic'd and the bass would be direct in. This should keep everyone from bleeding into everyone else. The way I have it layed out the vocal booth and drum booth can see each other through the windows as they share an outside wall. The windows are separated by about 7 feet. Sounds like a waste of space but I want the drums away from the vocal booth. The drummer looks to his left to see the vocalist. The drummer looks straight ahead (large window or sliding doors) to see the rest of the band. I'm concerned the kick drum might rattle the sliding glass doors since it faces directly into it.

I will have an outside entrance into the control room and also the main room (locked of course). Sitting at the board I'll face directly at the guys in the main room (through window) and have a view of the drummer also. I'll look to my right to see the vocalist. Oh yeah, there's also a bathroom. I live in the country but I don't want dead grass behind the building. :D

I would upload my drawing but I haven't figured out how to do it yet. I use Total 3D Home (Broderbund) and haven't been able to save in anything but their type of file. Suggestions or decent freeware anyone?

Sorry to get so long winded but a picture would have been worth more than these words.

DD
 
I would upload my drawing but I haven't figured out how to do it yet. I use Total 3D Home (Broderbund) and haven't been able to save in anything but their type of file. Suggestions or decent freeware anyone?

DD
How about a screenshots?
 
Considering the last post in this thread was 8 years ago, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for those screen shots. :eek:

Good solution as well as interesting information don't need yesterday's freshness to be useful. After so long, those designs would be even more valuable, as they've been well tested over the time period. I'd be happy if they'd appear here, so we all know a bit more about it.
 
Good solution as well as interesting information don't need yesterday's freshness to be useful.

I agree. All I'm saying is that responding to an 8 year old thread and asking someone to post something from an 8 year old thread is......how do I put this politely.......um....stupid? No, let's just say....un-realistic.


But feel free to hang around and wait for those screenshots. It's no skin off my back. :D
 
Blast From the Past

Wow. It's been so long since I've been on this BBS. Didn't realize its been YEARS! My son (the reason I built the studio) is still performing gigs several times a month, got married several years ago to a really sweet girl, and made me a grand dad 4 months ago. Life is good.

As far as the studio, the building ended up being 30'x40'. I opted for a control room (about 26'x15'), a 5 sided vocal booth, and a room I call the "live" room (about 24'x29'). When recording I put the drummer and bass player in the live room with drum kit on an isolated riser and bass on DI. The lead or rhythm guitar player is in the control room with me. The vocalist lays down a scratch vocal track with everyone playing. Of course everyone is on headphones. I HIGHLY recommend Sony MDR-V150 and V300 headphones. I forget the exact specs but they typically handle 750mW and higher. Best of all you can get them at Walmart, Target, etc for $20 or so. Forget about the cheap Behringers. I blew out a couple pair the first time I used them. But I digress.

All interior walls are staggered stud construction with all sheetrock mounted on resilient channel. A side benefit of being in a metal "butler" building along with all the resilient channel is the channel appears to act like a "Faraday" cage in blocking ALL radio interference from outside the building. This is a big deal since there is a commercial FM radio tower across the street from me.

If anyone is interested in drawings I'll see if I can dig them up.

One last note. I recently purchased a Presonus Studiolive digital mixer for our band to replace our Mackie 32-4-2 board. My first attempt at live recording with this mixer was last weekend. One word - unbelievable! 16 channels via firewire into my IBM Lenova laptop. I am in love with this mixer! It is fantastic using for live gigs and just as good in the studio. If anyone would like details let me know. I'll be glad to share details.

I'll make an honest effort to get back involved with this BBS. I'm no expert but I'll share what I've learned.

Don
Digital Don
Deaf Monkey Studio
 
Wow. It's been so long since I've been on this BBS. Didn't realize its been YEARS! My son (the reason I built the studio) is still performing gigs several times a month, got married several years ago to a really sweet girl, and made me a grand dad 4 months ago. Life is good.

As far as the studio, the building ended up being 30'x40'. I opted for a control room (about 26'x15'), a 5 sided vocal booth, and a room I call the "live" room (about 24'x29'). When recording I put the drummer and bass player in the live room with drum kit on an isolated riser and bass on DI. The lead or rhythm guitar player is in the control room with me. The vocalist lays down a scratch vocal track with everyone playing. Of course everyone is on headphones. I HIGHLY recommend Sony MDR-V150 and V300 headphones. I forget the exact specs but they typically handle 750mW and higher. Best of all you can get them at Walmart, Target, etc for $20 or so. Forget about the cheap Behringers. I blew out a couple pair the first time I used them. But I digress.

All interior walls are staggered stud construction with all sheetrock mounted on resilient channel. A side benefit of being in a metal "butler" building along with all the resilient channel is the channel appears to act like a "Faraday" cage in blocking ALL radio interference from outside the building. This is a big deal since there is a commercial FM radio tower across the street from me.

If anyone is interested in drawings I'll see if I can dig them up.

One last note. I recently purchased a Presonus Studiolive digital mixer for our band to replace our Mackie 32-4-2 board. My first attempt at live recording with this mixer was last weekend. One word - unbelievable! 16 channels via firewire into my IBM Lenova laptop. I am in love with this mixer! It is fantastic using for live gigs and just as good in the studio. If anyone would like details let me know. I'll be glad to share details.

I'll make an honest effort to get back involved with this BBS. I'm no expert but I'll share what I've learned.

Don
Digital Don
Deaf Monkey Studio


Pictures PLEASE!!
Not of the Grandkids, but Congrats.
Upload the pics man
 
At one time many of them were here on this BBS but I guess they were deleted over time. Man there's so many of them I had to look back on my external drive to find them but I did. I have an old website sitting out there doing nothing so I'll load them either there or one of the free online photo albums. They would really take up a lot of storage here on the BBS. Give me a couple of evenings and I'll get it going and post back here.

DD
 
Pictures posted. That didn't take long. Resized pics and loaded to Photobucket. Go to Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket . If the link didn't post then go to photobucket.com and do a user search for deafmonkeystudio. Maybe someone will get some use from the pics. I would take a current picture but the place is a mess right now. Between the band practicing and being used for "other" stuff storage it is pretty strewn.

I've also uploaded a crude drawing done before we built the studio. The desk does not face the window as shown rather it faces the wall to its left. The corner is not storage. Both corners of the wall the desk now faces have bass traps. Diffusers on the wall opposite the large glass window.

Shameless self promotion - go to Youtube and do a search for Ryan West Band. I've got a great camcorder with hotshoe-mounted mic that WILL NOT distort. Details if anyone is interested.

DD
 
That is an amazing project. You didn't cut any corners. 1 of the pics is funny,, You have a 100k-200k? Studio, and You're bragging about the cool desk you got for $100 at office depot,,hehe. Thx for posting that album. I'm gonna check out your vids too. Rock on
 
Believe it or not it cost me between $15 - $20K to build it. Contracted to put in concrete slab and erect building. The rest of it was all friends and bandmates contributing labor. Electrical, framing, sheetrocking, painting, etc. We all had a blast doing it too. Rule #1 - No beer until after 5:00PM. Rule #2 - no watches allowed in building.
 
Grimtraveller, prepare to be amazed !

I'd be amazed if any of the 2002 contributors appeared here. I've not seen any of them active while I've been on HR.

Wow. It's been so long since I've been on this BBS. Didn't realize its been YEARS!

I'll make an honest effort to get back involved with this BBS. I'm no expert but I'll share what I've learned.
Well, I said I'd be amazed, so here it is;
:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
 
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