Am I getting a good sound by accident?

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chessrock

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I have very limited knowlege about accoustics.

Yet, somehow, I have a room in my basement that just seems to work for me, as if by magic. It just works so well, somehow, for drums. And you'd think with a basement setup, low ceilings, etc. that it would be an accoustic nightmare, but it's not. :)

To give a description:

The basement is large. And it is partitioned in to these little quadrants with big stone slabs separating it in to little "rooms," almost.

Towards the back, I have a little "quiet pocket" where I like to track. The walls go something like this:

________
[___
. . . [______]

I know this is petty f&*%e'd up looking. But let me explain it to you. The bottom line (after the dots) represents my back wall, which is surrounded on either side by concrete slabs. Up and to the left you will see yet more walls, which form yet another small "room" or pocket. So you got almost two little rooms almost that are slightly off of one another - not parallel, exactly. And to the upper right where it all opens up, well, that's actually a small opening that leads in to another back room (wich is about 12 feet by 12 feet). Behind the top line, which represents the front wall (it's a thin dry wall), is yet even more empty space (actually it's a continuation of the extra room I mentioned to the right).

Everything in these two adjoining "mini-rooms" or pockets I have lined with accoustic foam everywhere. It's in such a dead-sounding area, that once you enter this "zone," it souds pretty much like a sound vaccum when you talk. Yet when I use sensitive mics, you can definitely hear a room, but it is really unobtrusive and compliments the drums to where it actually sounds big and with excellent stereo image.

To anyone who might know: is it possible that the adjoining room to the right (or the space behind the dry wall) is acting as a natural bass trap? It's big, and there's plenty of space for the bass to diffuse, I'm guessing. Yet the opening to the room is about as big as a doorway. The only thing separating that room from my drum area (bottom of my awesome illustration) is a bed mattress stuck in the doorway-sized opening.

Is it possible that my odd room configuration lends itself to natural bass traps and is immune to a lot of the standing wave problems I might otherwise get? Just curious as to how this seems to be sounding good despite my conventional that would tell me otherwise.
 
I looks as if that Bass Trap thing is working, as I have a simmiler thing going in my room that acts as a bass trap. (but I also have the 4 corners lined with hemholtz designed bass traps covered with studio foam). I store my drums in that alcove when Im not tracking with them.

You should think of my arrangement as like yours but with the room on its side with a slanted Cieiling. While mine took alot of thought and math to design , You were lucky enough to move into yours.
:cool:

PS. I got a message from the BBS that you had tried the PM thing but my box was full, so I deleted some old stuff.
 
I think I was just responding to your last love letter.

I forget what I said anyway, and it probably wasn't that important.

Say I got a kick out of that whole pop bottle bass trap technique. :) Anyone tried this thing yet? Theoretically, I suppose you could use any sort of air-tight plastic container?
 
the concept of the popbottles was in the design and would be ideal, but I had to use pegboard with enlarged holes to 1/2" and stuffed with R11, then covered with the studio foam. the popbottles werent practical and would otherwise look cheesy.
 
Chess, my living room is similar with 2 large openings to the kitchen and a wide hallway. It does seem that having a few open corners really helps the bass escape. I hope that wasn't too technical ;)
 
darrin_h2000 said:
the popbottles werent practical and would otherwise look cheesy.

Perhaps with a little decorative skills it could be kind of artsy.

So I take it in order to fit the foam in there, you would have to cut it in half, and then glue it back together.

Would it have to be air-tight?
 
While we're at it, how about other types of air-tight containers?

Could I use a big 'ol Rubbermaid cooler?

How about other various rubbermaid storage containers?

Anyone?
 
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