Thinking of building a Drum Box, suggestions?

[bombidol]

Ive been toying with the idea of making an 8 Foot By 8 Foot Room/Box out of wood to put a kit in to record. Anyone got any input on this? the room i have is Huge and doesnt sound all that great sometimes

[Farview]

That will sound like complete crap. The early reflections will kill you.
Find a way to treat the big room so It doesn't sound bad. It might be where you are setting up the kit in the big room that makes it sound bad, try a different spot.

[fldrummer]

http://www.clearsonic.com/isopac_s.html

They use em live. Never heard one in a studio.

[Farview]

You will run into the same problem with these. I've used them live, they give you a giant headache, just the slap off the plexiglass is enough to kill you.
Also when they are used the overheads are generally placed above the plexiglass so you don't get all those goofy reflections. In your case, that would leave you with the same problem, the room.

[mikeh]

I can't imagine an 8 x 8 room sounding good for drums. I would think the sound reflection would be terrible. I agree that room treatment of your existing space would be better. Possibly put down some plywood for the flooring. Maybe some gobos, etc. (normally a big drum room is preferred).

I am not a fan of the Clearsonics. They are designed for live application , mostly for mic isolation. The sound reflection coming back off those plastic panels is horrid.

[bombidol]

theres wooden floors in the room i use, but the ceilings are huge. I was going to coat the entire box in carpet to reduce the reflections. maybe i can make some panels and place them around the kit instead or something.

[Farview]

Huge ceilings are great. What don't you like about the sound of the room you are in. A completely dead room is no fun for drums.
Carpeting will only absorb high frequencies, if you put that on plywood, you will be reflecting back low and mid frequencies that will cause phase problems.

[glimmer_doll]

a drum box? where did you get this idea? this is a concept i've never heard of before...

I would think this would sound terrible, plus who the hell wants to play drums in an 8x8 box? this whole concept sounds a little screwy to me...

[noiseportrait]

Jesus man! I'll trade you spaces. What don't you like about your big room with wooden floors and high cielings? That's every home recordists wet dream! While we're all stuck here in our little drywall and carpet cubes, you've got this big room that could probably be made to sound great and you want to put the drums in a box? Dude, quit yer bitchin'. Get your room some acoustical treatment if you don't like the sound, but please don't complain about your wood floors and huge ceiling. I would KILL for wood floors and a huge ceiling.

[bombidol]

ive been messing around the last few days and i think ive nailed it. I moved some stuff around the room and gave the kit more room to breath now it sounds excellent.
on another note. im using Analog X Gate to gate the drums, anyone got any decent settings to try out or is there another better free gate i could download?

[Bdrum]

I have a very soundproof 12x14 Drumroom.I like the way I have to listen to my playing more. I thought this would be a good recording environment?

[crankz1]

No matter what the size or shape of a room .... if it offers the sound you are after, then it's perfect.
However, recording in a small room is gonna sound like ....well .... recording in a small room. Even with close micing, you'll probably still have to liven up the kit with some effects. Unless your after that boxy sound.

[Wireneck]

on another note. im using Analog X Gate to gate the drums, anyone got any decent settings to try out

I don't fool with plugins very often but gates are about as simple as it gets. If you can set it to work as an Expander it will sound more musical on your drums. Basically just move the threshold around untill what you want to hear gets through the gate and everything else doesn't. There are no "good" settings because its all dependant on your input source. Just "listen" and tweak untill it sounds good.