the room has tile floors. since I am renting the house, I have put rugs down so that the drums do not ruin the tile.
Why didn't you say you had a tile floor that you were protecting with rugs on it in the first place? What this says is you don't like the sound with the rugs, correct? Now I undertand what you are trying to do. Funny how one little piece of information turns things inside out
As Vspaceboy says, laying a sheet or two of plywood down will protect the floor. What it doesn't tell you, is even though it is reflective, compared to tile, it will also provide.....
ABSORPTION!!
Look, tile is an ultimate reflective surface. And since this is a rental, I assume this is LINOLEUM tile, no? Which may or may not be over concrete. No matter, it is a highly reflective surface, ceramic tile being the highest, because of it's stiffness. All woods absorb to a degree, soft woods more so than hardwoods. Plywood will absorb more than Oak plank flooring. Therefore, it will reflect less than hardwood, and MUCH less than tile. How much less is clearly audible, which is why Reverb rooms are lined with ceramic tile, and good recording live rooms have wood floors, because the absorption/reflection ratio PROVIDED with wood creates a somwhat desirable RT-60 for recording instruments. HOWEVER, the caveat is, usually, in good live rooms with wood floors, they have a very high ceiling, with patchwork absorption and/or diffusers to diffuse specular reflection from the ceiling. Since this is a home, and I assume you have 8' ceilings, AND since you can't hang clouds or an absorber, this means you will have a reflective surface on the floor AND the ceiling, which I submit, translates into COMBFILTERING/flutter echo!! This is why. Since you will have MULTIPLE mics somewhere between the floor and the ceiling, overheads being the closest to the ceiling, drum mics closest to the floor, and both surfaces are reflective, each of the mics will pic up TWO path differentials. This isn't even considering the walls.
Since the path of direct sounds is shorter from the drums to the mic, than the sound traveling to the floor and ceiling and then back to the mic there is a delay in the reflected sound. Especially with transients such as impact sounds. This delay creates comb filtering. If you have ONE surface totally reflective, such as the ceiling, this will result in your OVERHEAD mics, picking up not only the direct sound, but the delayed sound of the relection from the cieling, which is a short distance away. Then the lower mics will now pick up and even more delayed sound as the path is even longer. However, IF the floor is reflective too, I also submit that NOW, you will have another reflection, with an even greater path difference back to the lower mics, and then an even greater distance back to the overheads. This is MULTIPLE comb filtering. Add reflections from the walls....well, you can see where this is going.
And since you can't hang clouds or an absorber, VOILA!!
Actually, just the use of multiple mics will cause combfilltering as there is a path length differential to the different mics. Engineers fight this all the time. That is why I mentioned MIC PLACEMENT is important too. And if you can't monitor the sound while you play......well, what can I say? The sound in the room may sound good to your ears while you play...but that has nothing to do with the recorded sound when multiple mic recording.
Personally, IF you have a live floor, and no treatment on the ceiling, I would suggest that not only will your sound be colored, but you will have a very pronounced flutter echo between them also. That is why I suggested a rug, which you have already got, but for a different reason. The problem is this. You can't MONITOR the live sound in the room WHILE YOU PLAY. That is where people start having problems, cause they CAN"T HEAR THE DIFFERENCE !
This is why I suggested the use of a rug. I also ASSUMED
, this was a very small room, which makes for very pronounced comb filtering. Hence the use of absorbers adinfinitium in small rooms. Which translates into a very low RT-60(dead), which translates into.....yep, you got it...ELECTRONIC or PLUG-IN FX/REVERB!!!
But don't take my word for it. YOU are the only one who decides what you like. In that regard, I have two suggestions.
Listening to an A/B comparisons recorded under different conditions....ie. with a rug on tile, with a wood panel, and then with a rug on the wood panel.
First on the tile with a rug.
1. Have someone play the drums while someone else moves the mics around, WHILE you listen to the sound over the monitors in a different room. Only THEN will you be able to tell what you are really picking up on the mics. Now try recording a test track.
Now lay down a wod panel and place the drums.
2.1. Have someone play the drums while someone else moves the mics around, WHILE you listen to the sound over the monitors in a different room. Now record an adjacent track. Now A/B the tracks Only THEN will you be able to tell the difference. If you have problems now, then place the rug on the panel and try recording/comparing. You should be able to make a correct decision now.
Hope that clarifies my viewpoint.
fitZ
