best option is for a room like this? floor, wall, and ceiling treatment.

[GTFO]

walls of plywood and cinder block. room is about 11x15 with a back area thats like 11x5 divided into a control room and a drum kit area for rehearsal.

this is in new orleans so because of some minor flooding in the neighborhood when the pumps get backed up the floor is raised. concrete with 2x6 joists bolted down then 3/4" plywood over. like the door opens over the concrete but the rest is raised. so most of the floor is plywood with 6 inch joists under.

the rest of the walls are cinder block or 3/4inch plywood with cinder blocks behind it.

the ceiling is just plywood, with open air/duct space above it.

bleed from other bands in the facility isnt an issue, but what we want to do is have a rehearsal room that doubles as a decent studio for demo and EP production. the only time we get bleed is when our homeboys next door play and we would rather sit and listen. the door is a big thick steel door with a masonite backing. as is the control room door.

we would like to deaden reverb in the room(cinder block sucks!) so we can rehearse and record it without it sounding like a crappy room. we mic everything at the source but all the blocks reflecting seems to be kinda lame especially with the drums. we will probably end up framing a wall in front of the drum area with a big double pane auto glass window in it actually.

so on to the question, for rehearsing and some recording, is carpet a good idea? or carpet with some foam behind it? carpet suspended a few inches off the wall? we have limited space to work with.

in the tradition of new orleans musicians, i am kinda drunk, so some of this may not make sense to you. i also have a few pics.

despite what i said before, i should say the room really sounds good, but not good enough. definitely not for a decent live recording even using noise gates. it sounds decent for rehearsing in but not amazing and its hard to get a good vocal signal without feedback.

i will make a little drawing and post some pics tomorrow. also i will UTFSE but most people arent dealing with the same room conditions and the same needs, meaning both live and solo recording as well as general rehearsal for a drummer, percussionist, guitar, bass, keys, and singer.

im happy i found this forum, im somewhat of a forum junkie and one where my knowledge is useful and thats somewhat active makes me feel less like im just wasting time post whoring on the internet.

thanks in advance yall

-GTFO

p.s. you can also see a bunch of pics of our space on our FB page which i will be linking in my sig. though some of our old studio and rehearsal spaces are somewhere in the fray. the band is called The Chinese Drywall Band and our FB facebook.com/chinesedrywallband

 

[Capriccio]

Hi GTFO and welcome. I really think you need more expert advice than I am able to give, eg. I have no idea how to cope with a floor that rises, so all I will do is point you in the right direction.

You mention that bleed from other bands isn't an issue. Are you are confident that they have the same opinion of you, that it doesn't matter how much of your sound leaks out?

Acoustic treatment is the technical term for deadening the reverb in the room - or is that rooms? The control room will ideally be treated so that it produces a good sound for the engineer where he sits. Read the forums here, at gearglutz.com and johnlsayers.com to understand more about this. The live/rehearsal/recording/tracking room (pick which name you prefer) will need some acoustic treatment but as needs change it can be useful to use gobos, floor standing absorbers, so that they can be moved around or removed depending on the instrument and sound you want.

Carpet and foam are not a good idea to start with, because these absorb only higher frequencies - which will reduce the reverb you hear but will do nothing to control the bass frequencies which need treating.

I have some further thoughts, regarding the gap beneath the floor, the thickness of the timber floor and the void above the ceiling but don't want to start on a topic that you need professional advice.

 

[GTFO]

thanks for the info man. im going to go check out those other forums and ill get back at ya!

 

[GTFO]

ok im getting a pretty good idea of what im going to do here. I was thinking of buying some panels for the walls, and building some bass traps.
my keyboard player and percussionist both have full machine shops at their disposal so im going to get them on the bass trap project, ill put those up in the corners. im going to put some covering over all the walls and attach some acoustical treatment panels up there all the way around, spaced out a bit between each. ill probably get on that in the meantime. all of this is pending further research of course.

Im using my ((hazy)) memory to recall the setup at Loyola University's studio where my band recorded a radio show. they put the bass amp in one room, the bassist and drummer in another, and me in one with my guitar amp, with a double pane thick(automotive?) glass window between them. then the control room had a window to see into both. That place sounded great. they had panels and bass traps all over in there, im just trying to think about the placement of everything and how that contributed to the very clean sound.

oy, i need to go back to bed, got rehearsal tonight in our half built room. big show coming up on the 10th.