How can I get the best sound out of my basement

[ryanformato]

Hello,

Right now I have a huge rectangular basement. Everything is concrete but I have carpeted the floors already with a thin carpet.

I have also gotten an Auralex maxwall to act as a vocal booth and to act as a wall for mixing as well as while recording drums. To make the instruments sound even better, would it be smart to liven up the sound by getting wood to put on the floor (4x8 1/4" plywood)?

My other question had to do with basstrapping. I know that the Maxwall kills the highs/mids, so would sticking bass traps in the maxwall help absorb the lows within that area and would that be the right thing to do? Also, would I be better off getting those gobos?

To get an idea of how my room looks, look here. My mixing section is actually right behind the maxwall.

http://www.notquiterebels.com/drummiking.JPG

Please help me make some coherence out of this mess of ideas.

I have also done the Ethan spectrum tests. Please view the JPG
http://www.notquiterebels.com/soundspectrum.JPG

The first is without anything. The 2nd is with the MAXwall behind me and the 3rd is the maxwall behind the speakers. Which one do you think is the best? It looks like the 3rd is the most even to me.

My problem is this, when I record vocals, drums, I want to make sure that I am not creating mud by just knocking out the highs by using the maxwall. I also want to make sure that I can get the most pristine recordings possible.

[Ethan Winer]

Ryan,

> would sticking bass traps in the maxwall help absorb the lows within that area and would that be the right thing to do? <

No, bass traps work best when placed in or very near to the room corners. The good part about having an entire basement is you avoid the problems many people suffer with very small rooms. The downside is there's a lot more surface that needs treating.

> Which one do you think is the best? It looks like the 3rd is the most even to me. <

Sure, but none are particularly outstanding. A sure sign you need more bass trapping.

--Ethan

[dcwave]

Having a basement that I am building out I can tell you that the thing that seems to be most difficult to get "just right" is the mid/high; too much mid/high treatment and its too dead and muffled sounding, not enough and i get strange pingy/phasy sounds in the mids and highs. Fortunatly I have some time to play with different angles, trapping, try out different carpet thicknesses, etc.