Moving Blankets

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So is that a bunch of bull or do moving blankets really help with soundproofing, absorption, acoustics, etc? We're trying to isolate the drums and people have told us these work. Besides this any other ideas on how to isolate the drums more? They're placed in the corner of a room not facing the wall, and the ceiling is about 7'0 feet. Short I know, but that's what we have.
 
Moving blankets (quilts) can help to get a little more seperation but do very little for soundproofing. The blankets work similar to gobos to seperate sounds. The blankets may absorb some of your high mids and high frequency sounds, likely to help with cymbals as you have a fairly low celing. I'd also suggest you move the drums out of the corner if you have enough space, drums need a little space on all sides to sound their best.
 
So is that a bunch of bull or do moving blankets really help with soundproofing
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When you say "help" with soundproofing, it depends on what you are trying to do. You have to understand what "soundproof" really means. In reality, there is no such thing as "soundproof". Only degrees of "transmission loss", which can vary depending on frequency. If the room envelope "transmission loss" is what you are trying to improve, then no, they won't help very much. Only mass and decoupled assemblies such as adding layers of drywall or decoupled assemblies, such as building a room within a room. You could add resiliant channel to the existing structure, by either removing the existing drywall or cutting holes in it before adding drywall to the RC. But stratagies such as this must address a host of issues beforehand. Such as HVAC, door jambs/ existing floor composite assemby etc.

If you are using them as gobos, well, again, it depends. If they are hung at a hieght that allows impact noise to escape over the top, then no, they won't help much either. If multiple layers are used, floor to ceiling they might reduce some impact, and mid to high frequencies but will do very little for bass drum. And if you are trying to isolate drum mics from other mics in the room, it also depends on proximity, type of mics outside of the enclosure, decoupling mic stands and or the drums from the floor, or using mic isolators. You need to attack all the sources of transmission to be successful. Again, if you are trying to "soundproof" the room from adjacent rooms or neighbors, then no, blankets will do very little. Especially if the floor is a framed wood assembly, or if it is on a second floor. And if the neighbors/rooms are above.
One thing that will help these blankets when used as gobos, is to build frames and fasten a panel of 3/4" MDF, and hang the blankets on one side. But again, there is a definite limitation to their effectiveness. Or...you could add a layer of lead.:D
As far as acoustics, then yes, they can help with reflections off adjacent boundarys. If you hang them in patchwork fashion, about an inch or two from the wall, and hang some on a framework or directly against the ceiling, they will help with higher frequency reflections and give a bit of diffusion as well. But as broadband absorption...well, in my opinion....no.:) Unless you were to use MANY layers with airgaps between. And there is no way of guessing how well they work. Thats why rigid fiberglass products are recommended for absorption panels...because they are TESTED in a lab, and given an "absorption coeffecient" at various frequency bandwidths, usually dropping off drastically on the low end. And it also depends on thickness. It also depends on the user's ear, his subjective approval of the end result, or how much a neighbor will take.;)(in the case of "soundproofing")
fitZ
 
No, it won't help. It will make it worse. You want to treat frequencies across the spectrum, not just HF. Using blankets, like foam or carpet, will suck out the HF but leave the LF and LMF gremlins running rampant.


Can't have that.

Blankets are useful for spot treatment (I use one over my kickdrum when recording) but not as the main course.
 
For our practice room blankets made a world of difference. We aren't trying to make it a live room to record in it's just a practice space.
Two of the wall are concrete block so there were tons of high end reflections. It sounded terrible and was painful to our ears. We hung up some blankets on the concrete and the difference was HUGE.
I wouldn't record in there but it is now a usable practice space. It also slightly reduced the amount of noise in the rest of the house but not much.

We are actually replacing the blankets with some fiberglass ceiling tiles that I got from work I'm hoping that will help even more.
 
Ok well here's the deal. The moving blankets we're getting are about 6 by 6 feet and weigh 8.2 pounds a piece and they come by the dozen and are made out of cotton, so they're no lightweight house blanket. We really just want to isolate the drums for when we record to produce a better sound. I know it won't soundproof the drums or anything but twelve eight pound blankets completely surrounding the drums including the ceiling and the back walls doesn't hurt either. By the way our studio is in a basement with a concrete floor and wood ceilings, but my drums are sitting on carpet of course. Any ideas on how to hang these to get the most use out of them?
 
I don't see how moving blankets would hurt anything. And I think the better the blanket (heavier), the more it would help. It certainly isn't a substitutute for good corner bass traps and panels but it would probably do well to cut down reflections on an untreated wall. I would probably double them.
I also think that certain mics will work better on drums to keep some of the bleed out. I just started using Cad M177's for overheads and it's amazing they don't pick up much anything besides the drums. Great mics.
 
If you want to hang them from the walls to cut some reflections, hang them so you have a space between them and the wall. Two-four inches of airspace between the blankets and the wall will work much better than just hanging them on the wall.
 
Dani Pace said:
If you want to hang them from the walls to cut some reflections, hang them so you have a space between them and the wall. Two-four inches of airspace between the blankets and the wall will work much better than just hanging them on the wall.
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This is actually what we're going to do. We're going to put some hooks in the ceiling all around the drum set and then put wire or chain through them to make like a curtain system.
 
i dont intend to offend here, so please dont be.

it seems like anything short of "proper" and expensive treatment is viewed here as not only wrong and a waste of time, but as an exercise in idiocy. to a point, and within reason, i agree completely. however, financial compromise seems to be a common theme with "most" home studios (definitely is in mine), and in such cases, it seems to me that "anything" may well be better than "nothing". YMMV.

again, this is not directed towards anyone in particular.

actually, i am almost surprised that you havent yet been insulted for even considering the option. low end first, remember?

i have been piece mealing my home studio for over 15 years, and just got *some* (but not "enough") "proper" broadband absorption a couple of years ago. before, i had an assortment of ghetto-fab damping, including an old sofa, a pillowtop mattress (with a couple of ominous "water" stains) in a corner, heavy blankets and drapes, and (gasp!) "studio" foam. ideal? not even. any improvement over bare cinderblocks or painted drywall? you betcha. learning your space is not unlike learning your monitors. just because one of your bass traps is a well-used mattress doesnt mean that it is completely worthless, or that your sounds are going to suck no matter what.

just MHO.

a
 
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