Drums acoustic treatment

[wallystripes]

Recording drums with Earl Harvin | Flickr : partage de photos !

I recorded some drums last day and there was too much room sound, it was aweful. I have been thinking about treating my room but I dont want too much panels and I want them to be easy to move. Im on a budget, so keep that in mind.

I saw this video and I wondered if building something like that would be useful for my drum recordings. Also could I use those same panels for different instruments?

 

[GuitarLegend]

If you find something that fits your criteria, let us know

 

[Capt Hair]

Yes, definitely! Those are what we call Gobos. And they are a great idea if your for portable room room treatment when your in a position where you can't hang panels from your walls. They can be used for anything and everything to cut down on reflections and semi-isolate the instruments.

 

[wallystripes]

Great! I havent heard that tearm before. Ill look it up. I thought it would be a good idea beacuse I could move them around and adapt them to my recording needs.
So are them bass traps or more like absorbers?

 

[JimmyS1969]

Great! I havent heard that tearm before. Ill look it up. I thought it would be a good idea beacuse I could move them around and adapt them to my recording needs.
So are them bass traps or more like absorbers?

Both. A broadband absorber is, or can be, a bass trap. It's effectiveness is based upon thickness, material used, and placement. Using gobos, is a way to reduce reflections in a room. How efficient they are in any particular room, is a trial and error kinda deal. You would use them if you hear an issue.

 

[wallystripes]

Ok so building a couple of this out of thick fiber would be useful right? I was thinking in something like this
http://www.home-recording-studio-fo...&action=dlattach;topic=427.0;attach=296;image
Also, I know that would just be the beggining of my room treatment, but Im no professional or anything, at this moment I dont want to fully treat my room with thousands of dollars. Do you think these would do it for a while or what other treatment would you guys suggest?

 

[JimmyS1969]

That looks like a quite useable gobo. I have over 20 2'X4' 4" thick rockwool panels that I built for under $500. It is probably the best investment I have made in my studio. If you are handy with a circular saw, drill, knife, scissors and stapler, or know somebody who is that owes you a favor, absorption panels are quite cheap.

 

[wallystripes]

Great! Ill start looking for some fiber, it is not that easy to find here in Mexico.

I have anothr question. How should i use these if i dont want to completely kill my room's sound? Im a big fan of room sounds, but it is something that will play against you if the room is not treated properly. I know some guys place gobos around amps in order to fully isolate the mic from any other source, but i would like some natural reverb on my recordings.

 

[JimmyS1969]

Natural reverb is very important IMO. Depending on the size of your room, I doubt that even 50% coverage of walls would make a room sound dead. My 20 panels in two 27X15' rooms, does not even come close to sounding dead. Just more controlled. Even my drum room which has concrete walls and floor, 8 4" hanging wall panels, with the whole ceiling filled with 4" rockwool, has plenty of ambiance.

Roxul 80 is what I am using.

 

[wallystripes]

Thanks a lot for your help jimmy. Ill post my results when i build those gobos.

 

[ecktronic]

Yeah get those Gobos up!
if there is still too much room in your recordings after using gobos then I would look into using cardioid condenser mics for recording the OHs rather than omni or bi-directional. This way you can focus the mic on the drums and less on the room.

A pair of matched Rode NT2s will do the trick.

G

 

[wallystripes]

One more thing: oc703 is sold in packs of 6, so I had this in mind:

Building 2 double gobos (2 panels attached together each, so they can be folded and stand on their own)
This would leave me with 2 more panels, so I was thinking about cutting them in half and stacking them to have two 2'x2' bass traps with double thickness (4'')

Do you think this would be a good choice? Or should I just build 3 double gobos and then build bass traps in a few months? I know just two small bass traps wont solve all of my room troubles, but I want to work with some panels first and then build some more. Also, my room is small so I guess bass build up wont be as severe as in bigger rooms.

 

[Capt Hair]

Do what ever you think is going to be most applicable for your room. Either way, your going to have to buy another bundle in the future anyway. Option 1, will probably give you the most immediate results with a better quality drum recording. How ever, I personally wouldn't make smaller bass traps, just make a 2, 2x4 traps for your corners. And then with the next bundle build proper bass traps, and then use the ones you've already built as broad bands for your side walls or to make more gobos.

 

[wallystripes]

I didnt understand your suggestion sorry :S youre saying I should or should not build those small bass traps? If not, what would you suggest me to do? Im aware I will have to build some more panels in the future, I just want some decent results for now.

Thanks a lot Capt!

 

[Capt Hair]

it's ok lol, I have a knack for not being able to explain things clearly. What I was saying is, go a head and build your 2 double gobos attached to each other so they can fold out like you said. So you have just 2 pieces of 703 left now. I would then build two more 2x4' panels, not attached to each other, and use those temporarily as your bass traps for two of your corners. It won't give you the same amount of absorption as having 4-6 inch panels, but you are covering more of an area with the larger panels than two 2x2' panels and if you leave an air gap in between the panel and the corner of the wall, it will help take a little low end out as well.

Hopefully that's easier to understand lol. And then when you buy another bundle of OC703 you can build proper bass traps, take down the extra two panels you have and use them as to make another gobo or use those to put on your side walls to help with reflections.

 

[wallystripes]

Ooooh now I understand thanks a lot Capt. I think I will go for that, more absorption area in the corners of my room sounds more reasonable and as you said, later on I can either attach them to make another gobo or take the covering off and make a proper bass trap with double thickness

 

[ecktronic]

As I was mentioning before about mic patterns, what mics are you using for the the OHs?
And can you post a sample of your raw drum recordings please?

Cheers,
G

 

[wallystripes]

Well actually at this moment im recording with a single cardioid pattern LDC, but in a few weeks I will order a pair of NAIANTs X-O. I knoww they're omni and probably that will accentuate any room issues.

 

[ecktronic]

Yes they will make your room sound even worse.
I would suggest a matched pair that you can set to cardioid if you want to get over the sound of your room along with dampening.

G

 

[wallystripes]

Do you think that even with some acoustic treatment the sound out of omni mics will be too bad?

Those Naiants look really sweet, everybody seems to love them, they're hand made and they are very cheap too. I just thought it would be beter to get a pair of those instead of some cheap chinese SDC