floors & ceilings & office furniture

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nero's lung

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to anyone who can help... i'm pretty new to this whole recording "thing" in the sense of actually recording music myself... the big problem is i don't have much money to spend...

i just moved into an office 10'3"x 15'6" and a ceiling height of 12'6".
i want to set the room up for recording drums, the floor shakes with every footstep, so i'm considering building a raised floor (something i read about in a magazine) also i will have to divide the room so i can use the rest of it as an actual office (with a desk and bookshelves)

Question 1: should the drum tracking area be larger than half the room size to get a better sound, and if so, should i use some kind of partition... like an office cubicle?

Question 2: the ceiling is a typical office ceiling... suspended ceiling i believed shared by another 2 offices... any suggestions on soundproofing???
 
Danger Will Robinson, Danger! (If you're not old enough to get that TV reference--sorry!)

Welcome to the board. This is my way of warning you that you're likely to get hammered for one of your questions. There are some real knowledgeable & passionate folks around here--but they're gonna say you should've used the search before asking about soundproofing.

Here's the short version: Soundproofing and sound treatment are two completely different beasts. Soundproofing requires mass (lots of it) and separation/isolation--almost impossible to do post construction. But soundproofing doesn't enhance the quality of your recorded or monitored sounds.

Sound treatment is about managing what you hear & record--controlling standing waves, flutter, nasty reverbs, excess bass, etc. That's usually fairly doable to an existing space. But sound treatment doesn't isolate your noise from the rest of the world--or the rest of the world's noise from you.

As far as the cubicle material goes--I've got no experience with it. Sorry...
 
There is very little you can do to soundproof that type of situation other then making sure the doors and windows have a good seal.
 
thanks for the input...

what about blankets?... i spoke to a guy earlier tonight who has some studio engineering experience and he suggested hanging packing blankets on the walls...
not that i don't trust him, but i don't want to buy a bunch, hang them, and then find out they don't really help
 
TexRoadkill said:
There is very little you can do to soundproof that type of situation other then making sure the doors and windows have a good seal.
Click to expand...

100% true. Unless you tear the building down and start over you're stuck with what you have now.

Office cubicles will do nothing from a treatment standpoint for the most part. They may attenuate the high mids and highs (depending on specific construction) but low end will pass through them like paper. Blankets will do the same thing...high mids and highs, and that's about it. The thing is, the room is likely to have a much more significant low end problem than a high end reflectivity problem, and blankets won't address that at all. As a matter of fact, they'll suck up all the highs and leave the bass a tubby mess.

The way you'd usually want to attack a room like this is to deal with the low end first (bass traps in corners and on the back wall), THEN deal with the other issues. Until you deal with the low end you won't even be able to accurately determine what the other issues are.

Frank
 
thanks frank...
i was at the new office today checking it out... still haven't moved all my gear in yet...
but i was with a guy who teaches 'sound' at a college, and he checked out the area... he seems to think the packing blankets are not needed... and to concentrate on the Low frequencies for right now...
i appreciate all you guys' input
 
Try the blanket test...
get your partner to hide under a blanket and let a loud fart rip.
Can you hear the fart? Y / N if Y proceed to the next Q.
If N get under the blanket and fart.
Can you hear it? If Y proceed to the next question.
Now, climb in under the blanket.
Can you smell the fart?
If Y you know you are under a real blanket.
if N you know your partner isn't eating enough fibre.
 
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