need advice on budget sound treatment

S

shadowfax

New member
hey folks... i've just started recording and i've come to the conclusion that the space my drums are in is too live. they're set up in a little recession in the shape of half a octagon (just look at the pic, its easier than describing it.) anyhow, whenever i jam with some friends they always complain i drown them out, and also my overheads (AKG c1000s... i know, i know.. im trying to get some mxl 603s and sell these things) clip all the time. im thinking that deadening the space a little bit might help some, and have come seeking your advice. Take a look at the pic and tell me what you think. also the windows behind are a pain, and i'd like to do something about that if i could, but i doubt that'd fly with the 'rents. :/

the only idea i had thus far was to put a spare carpet i have up against the back wall, and maybe some egg cartons on the roof? (which is 7 feet high, btw) I can probably spring for some foam eventually, also. So what do you recommend?
 

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i just realized i forgot to state a budget.. well, just know that whatever you recommend has to be reasonable for a student with a part time job to pull off... i'm remarkably resourceful, but i'd like to spend as little as possible as i've still got a bunch of mics, pres, etc, on my shopping list. also, i dont really know what to expect when it comes to sound treatment.. i dont know what money is needed to accomplish what.

also... if it's evident that im a complete newbie and dont really know what im talking about, that's because it's pretty much the case.
 
Carpet will cut the highs, deadening the overall sound. It's liable to leave your low end muddy though. The egg shell stuff won't do much at all (try a search on that topic on this site).

In any case, the lowest budget approach is to build your own sound absorption panels. The easiest of these are designed around using rigid fiberglass insulation (e.g., Owens-Corning 703, Knauff, etc.). From my perspective though, this stuff isn't exactly cheap or easy to find. Cheaper would be slat resonators and traps filled with regular residential fiberglass insulation. You should be able to search around this site for designs. Also, check out John Sayer's SAE Institute reference material which has some as well.

Feel free to post back if you need some more specifics. I've assembled a pretty good stockpile of saved images and DIY files that I could send your way.

Alex
 
The acoustic treatments will help, but you've got another problem that should be addressed, also. Your pic shows the drums partially back in a wall recess. That recess, especially with the wood on the floor and walls, will act like a megaphone and will project the sound into the room. Some dampening behind the drum kit will help, but an additional option might be to get some cheap plexiglass panels, screwed together with some hinges, to create a drum cage. You'll still need to work on the sound for the mics, but this will greatly reduce the drum volume into the room.

Darryl.....
 
Alex W said:

Feel free to post back if you need some more specifics. I've assembled a pretty good stockpile of saved images and DIY files that I could send your way.

Alex
Click to expand...

You got a link to those files? :)
 
No link--I've just cut and pasted things I've found interesting and saved them onto my computer. Most of the stuff came from here originally or was linked from here. A lot of the files are saved as MS Word documents since that's an easy thing for me to paste into--can't re-upload these here. I could probably post a snapshot of my sub-directory and then e-mail you anything you're interested in.

Alex
 
actually the floors are carpet, but yeah, i figured it was doing something like that. the drums are seriously deafening. i put up a carpet against the back wall from the bottom of the windows to the floor spanning a little further on either side than the angles bordering the backmost segment of the cove, and it helped a bit. that plexiglass thing sounds like a good idea, i was considering getting something like that sooner or later anyway, but i'll take a look at the things alex sent me (thank you very much alex) and see what i can do with that too. thanks for the help guys!
 
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