Bitter Dawn
BM is the Devil's Fuel
I have a very small tracking room (10'11''x11'2''x7'5''/6'6'') and I'm looking for a bit of direction in how to optimize this space the best I can with some of your suggestions and experience. I apologize in advance for the lengthy posting.
I've spent the better part of the last three days doing extensive reading of old threads on here, so I think I'm starting to get the gist of generic room treatment. Most of the threads I've read have been in context to treating a control room but, the concept of treating a tracking room seems quite similar. I'm more concerned with the room's acoustics rather than isolation, if it helps at all, the room is technically in the basement of the house with the four walls being concrete and drywall, the floor is hardwood.
A bit about the crude diagram. I tried to label things to make it easier to grasp the layout of the room as is, obviously a lot of changes are in order.
The large and only window in the room (top of diagram) currently has a thick, bed comforter covering it and some excess area all the way to the floor and a bit around the walls (it is flush with the wall, between the wall itself and the long table), I'm not entirely certain how effective this is though. The round black mass near the top right door and between the upholstered rocking chair is in fact four stacked 17" alloy wheels with tires, I'm just storing them but thought it may help deaden the room a bit but, perhaps it's working against me, I really am uncertain due to lack of knowledge - they could easily be moved else where if you guys think having them there would worsen the acoustics.
An important bit. The solid black line that cuts across the drums is where the ceiling height changes, the lower segment is a mere 6'6'' in height, whereas the rest of the room is 7'5'' in height - I believe the lower segment is a metal vent from the furnace in the other room encased in drywall. Lastly, the [/b]doorway[/b] at the top left of the diagram is just a door frame with out a door, it currently has a flimsy sheet covering it.
I think it's going to be quite a challenge to treat this room and, I'm more than likely going to have to put emphasis on mic placement, tuning (drums) and pre-mixing to get an acceptable sound. My biggest focal point or, concern is recording my drums as, I typically close mic my amps, though I'm unsure as how a bass amp is going to sound recorded in this room but, I'm not quite at that point yet - though it's best to plan ahead for the inevitable. "Thankfully" getting a crystal clear sound isn't on my agenda, due to the nature of the music I will be creating and recording but, I also don't want it to sound like absolute shit.
Things I know to start doing first. Treat all the corners (higher to the ceiling the better), bass traps (in roughly the middle of each wall if possible) to deal with low frequencies travelling around and smashing into each other and, a ceiling cloud over the drums, as well as treat the rear wall behind the drums for diffusion. I don't think it matters all that much but, I will be gradually adding on more cymbals, stands and hardware (no extra toms, keeping it a single bass drum) to my drum kit over time.
Are the drums poorly positioned, should they be relocated elsewhere? Out of the points I mentioned to make improvements on the rooms acoustics, is there any major points I missed? Feel free to make any useful suggestions.
Thank-you in advance.