Drum room and overheads

[chessrock]

Thanks for the reply Chessrock. I guess what I'm wondering is what should I be listening for in a track like this to note that the room is not good, or adding some undesirable sound to the recording. I think the answer is: there isn't enough mic in this configuration, picking up the room to notice it right now, but when overhead condensors are added the room will be an issue. Am I understanding that correctly?

No problem, Coloradojay.

I think the best way to put it is that it would be very difficult to notice what the room is contributing without hearing the same kit with the same player A/B'ed in a well-treated rooom.

Then it would be a situation where you'd listen to the treated room sample against the non-treated room sample and probably conclude that the bass sounds a lot "ballsier" and present (in the treated room), and the overall balance of the kit noticeably improved. You'd be able to feel more of the kick drum thump in your chest; that sort of thing. You might not even be able to put your finger on it, but you'd notice the difference and the treated-room sample would just sound more professional to you.

You might even believe the entire signal chain was upgraded or that he was playing on a better kit -- it has that much of an effect.

 

[theletterq]

Chess,

What do you go for in room treatments, ie what do you use?

Foam?
Fiber?
Fiber trappy things?

Just curious...I'm trying to get as many opinions as possible.

 

[TamaSabian]

I got to deal with my crappy room. I hope it will be enough for demo quality recording, or a pre-production kind of thing, before going to "pro quality" studio. Wait....I got a better idea, I should sell everything I bought for my homerecording project, and focus in my drumming

 

[chessrock]

Chess,

What do you go for in room treatments, ie what do you use?

Foam?
Fiber?
Fiber trappy things?

Just curious...I'm trying to get as many opinions as possible.

I use kind of long-island iced tea of different treatments. Mostly corning 703 rigid fiberglass (3 lb density, 4" thick) that I place about 3" from the walls hung from hooks. The boards are covered, either with packing blankets -- I just sort of wrap them in the blankets, which looks kind of interesting. A few of them I have covered with funky-looking tapestries and/or any artistically interesting fabric I might find at the fabric store.

I also have hooks on the ceilings where I can hang the boards so they cover much of the ceiling, when neeed. I can take them down when not in use, or move them to another room, depending on where they're needed.

I also have heavy mattresses and/or futons in most rooms where I track, and in my mixing room. I also have about 50 or so tube traps scattered about, which are made from industrial piping insulation. These act sort of similar to slat resonators. Not sure if they do any good, but they look interesting.

I also have a maze of thick packing blankets I hang from everywhere, along with the traditional auralex foam.

This is all downstairs in the "main" tracking/mixing area. Upstairs, I use very little treatment, if at all. The ceilings are about 15-16 feet high, with hardwood floors, wooden bookshelves, and exposed brick on one side. It's just a large and open space. Everything sounds great up there, but it's very live, so I have most of my bases covered, accoustically speaking, between the upstairs and the downstairs.

 

[theletterq]

Thanks,

Sorry to take this thread of track. I'm just kicking around what I should do in my new room (my wife and I are in the process of buying a house). There seems to be a heated debate right now over fiber vs. foam. Some say the foam is a god send, others are saying it does nothing, etc.

Thinking out loud now, I probably too will go with a cocktail. Fiber in the corners for more effective bass trapping, and foam elsewhere for some high absorbtion, diffusion.

Do you use any sort of diffusing materials?