Help with small room treatment! Tracking/live room!

mousedadrummer

Junior Engineer
Ok, ive been recording in my bedroom for a while now, however the room has no treatment and is very small for recording drums and i need some help in choosing what treatment would help with creating a good recording environment for recording mainly drums and guitars. The room is a rectanglular shape with a carpeted floor 5.5 meters long, 2.3 meters wide and has a 2.2 meter high ceiling. The drums are on their own at one end, the mixing posistion is the middle of the room against the long wall and my bed, tv, bookshelf etc are all at the opposite end of the room to the drums. Ive tried to attach some pics, hope they uploaded ok.


Anyway, I know this room is not ideal and the mixing position is not good however could anyone suggest a way i could treat the room 1) for tracking and 2) for mixing, although im more interested in getting a good recorded sound to start with as there is a possibility to mix elsewhere. Please suggest some practical solutions remembering that this is my bedroom and some things will not be possible, any good ideas for a better mixing position would be appreciated but, keep it realistic!




Cheers for your help, some recordings i have made can be found at www.myspace.com/onlyofyouuk

I can also upload some raw drums tracks if you would like to hear


Look forward to your suggestions!
 

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Putting your desk where your bed or drums are now would help a lot, especially with that curtain on the back and front walls. :D

I would, if possible, install bass traps in the 4 corners. If this is not possible, the wall-ceiling corners will work well too. Also treat your first reflection points (side and ceiling).

You could build some (i use 4) gobos for placing around the drums, and 2 ceiling clouds above drums.
 
Thanks,

Yer i was thinking that having the sound traveling longways down the room would be much better, and i have learnt alot from this forum of how to treat a mixing room, but im still interested in how i can treat the room for tracking, where my drums are. What would be best, absorbtion on both walls? If so, how much? Bass traps? Bass traps along the whole height of the room? Bass traps where the wall meets the ceiling? How about a cloud above the drums instead of where the light currently is, if i could built one with some acoustic tiles and some lights built in, i think it would look pretty good
 
Thanks,

Yer i was thinking that having the sound traveling longways down the room would be much better, and i have learnt alot from this forum of how to treat a mixing room, but im still interested in how i can treat the room for tracking, where my drums are. What would be best, absorbtion on both walls? If so, how much? Bass traps? Bass traps along the whole height of the room? Bass traps where the wall meets the ceiling? How about a cloud above the drums instead of where the light currently is, if i could built one with some acoustic tiles and some lights built in, i think it would look pretty good
I did suggest gobos (moveable absorption panels) for tracking. I have 4 of them placed around my drums, and 2 ceiling clouds.

Building a cloud with lights is a cool idea, but what are you gonna do when you move? It's just a bedroom remember. You can't see your light very well in the photos, but you could probably place the clouds either side of it.

Yeah bass traps where the wall meets the ceiling.

If you want/need to keep your bed where it is, you could have your desk where your drums are and drums in the middle of the room.
 
Ok, Ive moved some stuff around, now the desk is at the from of the room , pointing down the length of the room. There is now a gap of about 500mm between the monitors and the window, and i can shut the curtains behind them (would this be a better idea??)


atm, the drums are squashed to the side, but for recording would prob be moved more into the middle of the room.

Now, I plan to get some acoustic treatment. Im thinking of buying some 350 square tiles which i can mount on thin board, prob 2x3 tiles per board. Ill try and make 4 to start with and see what it sounds like. Will get some bass traps for the corners, and maybe make some gobos using foam and the bottom half of a cheap mic stand as the bass...good idea????
 

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That's a lot better. Yeah, i'd keep all curtains shut during recording. The only foam i'd suggest is auralex, although it's really expensive, i wouldn't trust anything else.

Instead of foam, you can build your own absorption panels (broadband, bass traps and gobos) with rigid fiberglass (I'm from the UK and used 2" Knauf Rocksilk RS45 which can be ordered from good builders merchants for around £20-30 for 10). To build them, make a wooden frame, either around or behind the fiberglass, then wrap the whole thing in fabric.

For broadband and gobos 2" should be fine, but for the bass traps, doubling to 4" would be best.
 
wikid, I found some of that insulation (rockwool type stuff), seems quite cheap. I they sell it in 50mm, 75mm and 100mm. Still not sure whether to go for the 75mm or 100mm for bass trapping (75mm is about 3 inches) so its thicker but 4 inches might stick out a bit too much..... hmm

Thanks for the advice!
 
wikid, I found some of that insulation (rockwool type stuff), seems quite cheap. I they sell it in 50mm, 75mm and 100mm. Still not sure whether to go for the 75mm or 100mm for bass trapping (75mm is about 3 inches) so its thicker but 4 inches might stick out a bit too much..... hmm

Thanks for the advice!
You want at least 4" for bass traps. More will be better though. If you find some stuff, look fort absorption coefficients and compare it to OC703 on bob golds. You might even find th coefficients for that rockwool type stuff on bob golds.
 
Agreed on the 4"

For recording the drums, you're going to need to kill behind you, above you, and directly to the sides due to proximity.

Bryan
 
ok, I will hopefully be getting some acoustic foam soon so that should help. About the bass traps..Im pretty clued up on how to make them and where they should be placed etc, however, It might not be possible for me to put them where I like. I should be able to put some in the vertical corners behind the mixing position and MAYBE 1 on each side of the drums on the horizontal corner, where the wall meets the ceiling, but prob not more than this. Would the bass trap be effective just hung on the wall around the drum kit??? I know they should really be in the corners but that mite not be possible


Cheers
 
ok, I will hopefully be getting some acoustic foam soon so that should help. About the bass traps..Im pretty clued up on how to make them and where they should be placed etc, however, It might not be possible for me to put them where I like. I should be able to put some in the vertical corners behind the mixing position and MAYBE 1 on each side of the drums on the horizontal corner, where the wall meets the ceiling, but prob not more than this. Would the bass trap be effective just hung on the wall around the drum kit??? I know they should really be in the corners but that mite not be possible


Cheers
It is the gap created by straddling the corner which increases the bass absorption, so it would be best to have all the bass traps on wall-ceiling corners if it's not possible on wall-wall.

What acoustic foam? Anything other than auralex will probably be a waste of money!
 
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