Homemade drum shields?

[lumberintoad]

Hey everyone,

I want to thank you for helping me out earlier in the year with deciding how to treat my live recording room in the basement, as I have recently received my 2'x4'x4" rigid fiberglass panels from ATS acoustics...will post pics soon!

However I have another question...I was wondering if plywood (about a quarter to a half inch thick) could serve as a set of DIY drum shield panels.

The thing is, our drummer has no money and I cannot afford to buy a $400 drum shield (made of that clear plexiglass stuff) since I am a guitarist and would rarely have use for it...plus I have quite a bit of plywood panels sitting in the garage that I could cut into similar sized panels at no cost...

Does this seem reasonable because I know wood is reflective and I would assume that the material drum shields are made of are reflective as well (correct me if I'm wrong) so would it be able to keep out instrument leakage into the drum mics and vice versa?

Any help would be appreciated...
Thanks
Trevor

[pandamonk]

Originally Posted by lumberintoad

Hey everyone,

I want to thank you for helping me out earlier in the year with deciding how to treat my live recording room in the basement, as I have recently received my 2'x4'x4" rigid fiberglass panels from ATS acoustics...will post pics soon!

However I have another question...I was wondering if plywood (about a quarter to a half inch thick) could serve as a set of DIY drum shield panels.

The thing is, our drummer has no money and I cannot afford to buy a $400 drum shield (made of that clear plexiglass stuff) since I am a guitarist and would rarely have use for it...plus I have quite a bit of plywood panels sitting in the garage that I could cut into similar sized panels at no cost...

Does this seem reasonable because I know wood is reflective and I would assume that the material drum shields are made of are reflective as well (correct me if I'm wrong) so would it be able to keep out instrument leakage into the drum mics and vice versa?

Any help would be appreciated...
Thanks
Trevor

It may help slightly on higher frequneices, but not a great deal. For isolation you need mass, which plywood would suffice, and no air leakage, which a shield wouldn't. Low-mid frequencies will simply vibrate through and curve round the sheild, so only highs will be affected.

[lumberintoad]

Do the $400 drum shields sold in stores only decrease highs as well or do they cover more?

And I mean I understand that these won't completely isolate the drums by any means but would they not be helpful at reducing leakage?

I'm just curious because we hope to be recording everything in a live setting as we can capture the full chemistry that happens while playing together...

Thanks again
Trevor

[pandamonk]

Originally Posted by lumberintoad

Do the $400 drum shields sold in stores only decrease highs as well or do they cover more?

And I mean I understand that these won't completely isolate the drums by any means but would they not be helpful at reducing leakage?

I'm just curious because we hope to be recording everything in a live setting as we can capture the full chemistry that happens while playing together...

Thanks again
Trevor

They'd reduce leakage of high frequencies certainly, but low frequencies easily "bend" round or vibrate through objects. I don't actually see why anyone would want one. I used to think they'd work, so built my own, and it did nothing, haha. I even glued foam to it, and nothing.

[c7sus]

Build a big enough slot resonator and you'll get results.

[lumberintoad]

Slot resonator?

...as in a gap of air in the middle of the panels?

[c7sus]

You need a chamber behind the slots filled with 703.

You make that chamber deep enough it can eat a lot of bass. Make the back of it with 1/4" ply or similar and it's gonna act like a piston absorbing that energy.

You don't have to fill the entire cavity with 703 either. 2 inches smack against cloth that touches the backside of your slot panel and maybe 4 inches across the back should do it.

Tune your slots for about an octave or so centered around your most problematic frequency.

That's where I'd start, anyways.

[TexRoadkill]

You would need to cover the plywood with 703 to be very useful. If you have a low ceiling then the bounce from that is going to defeat the purpose of the dividers so you will probably have to treat the ceiling there also.

[pandamonk]

Originally Posted by c7sus

Build a big enough slot resonator and you'll get results.

No he won't. He's wanting isolation. Slot resonators deal with acoustics not isolation.

[lumberintoad]

sounds like a lot more stuff than I had expected...

Why do they use those drum shields at all if they don't really do much?

Just curious because I don't know much about drum equipment.

Thanks for the replies though

[Wish14]

I think those clear drum shields are used on stage to reduce drum bleed into vocal or instrument mics and it lowers the overall stage volume of the drums....for a quieter stage.

As you are in a basement (with low ceilings ???!!?!?), you will get a LOT of reflections, and as such, you may not get much isolation on the drums by using plywood.

If you already have the plywood....you might as well just put it up and test it to see if there is any benefit....that's probably the only way you''re going to know as there are a lot of different variables, especially the room....but I'd guess using plywood in a basement isn't going to do a lot of good....but you never know.

So try it out....let us know.

[lumberintoad]

Yea I will give it a try...because our whole goal was to be able to record all three instruments live rather than overdubbing and whatnot which is what we did in 2005 when we recorded our last CD...so I was figuring that some isolation needed to be achieved if possible but I realize it's not going to be even close to complete, since we want to be able to hear each other anyways...

But yea,

Thanks for the input

[TexRoadkill]

You can sheild off everything else much easier. Put some wood with 703 in front of the guitar amps and build a divider for the vocalist. You aren't going to stop the bleed but you can still get a controllable sound.

Here I recorded our band live in a 20'x20' room straight off the board to 2 track. I blocked off the amps to reduce drum bleed in the mics. There was a lot of bleed in the vocal mic and that is the main one to worry about. You'd be better off building a vocal booth, putting the singer in a different room or just overdubbing the vocals later.

http://www.nowhereradio.com/texroadkill/singles

[lumberintoad]

we're instrumental, so that problem is solved lol

[lumberintoad]

that kick drum sounds great...what did you use on that?

[TexRoadkill]

Thanks, it's an ATM 25. The real trick is the kick tuning.

[c7sus]

Originally Posted by pandamonk

No he won't. He's wanting isolation. Slot resonators deal with acoustics not isolation.

Plexi drum shields don't isolate anything.

If you have air moving, there is no isolation.

That's a law of physics.

A slot resonator isn't just going to bounce your soundwave back in your face. That's all a piece of plexiglass can do for you.

You want isolation build a room.

[pandamonk]

Originally Posted by c7sus

Plexi drum shields don't isolate anything.

If you have air moving, there is no isolation.

That's a law of physics.

A slot resonator isn't just going to bounce your soundwave back in your face. That's all a piece of plexiglass can do for you.

You want isolation build a room.

Exactly my point. But a slot resonator won't isolate, just stop the bounce.