small drum room considerations

E

enjaku

New member
Hey all. Been lurking here a bit. I'm building out a small, sound dampened, drum room so that I'm not disturbing the rest of the neighborhood. When I say small I mean 7'x12' with 6'7" ceilings. It's barely big enough to hold my kit. The walls and ceilings will be painted drywall and I need to sort out what the floor will be. I'm currently leaning toward carpet with additional rugs. I don't want to add any acoustical treatment until I hear what the room sounds like.

To my question, what can I expect in terms of recording my drums in such a tight space? What special considerations are there in terms on miking. Right now I'm planning on either overheads (not much room)/ well-placed room mics (MXL V250s or maybe AKG C214s), single snare mic (SM57), kick (D6) + DIY sub-kick, and I may mic the 4 toms (PG56s) individually. I'm unsure if the planned mic set-up is conducive for such a small space, or there are other, more efficient techniques.

All of the mics will feed into a Yamaha 01V96i, and then into a MacBook running Reaper, all of which will be located in an adjacent, separate room.

Thanks for your thoughts.
Eric
Chicago, IL
 
Man, that is a low ceiling. :( I would make sure to at least place something up there to reduce high end reflections. Even if it just 2" Auralex (I would rarely recommend that but you have very limited space). It will help a little.

As far as bass traps go, it is tough to say what a recording room needs. I would try it first as well. My drum room is 13x27 with 9' to the bottom of the upstairs floor. Joists filled with insulation covered with cloth. I don't find the need for bass traps though I do have 5 2x4'x4" panels hanging on the walls. You will surely want to control reflections in that room, but again, you won't know until you try it. It may sound just the way you like it to sound.
 
Agree. My plan is to complete the build-out and then load the drums in to see how the room sounds naturally. From there, consider bass traps and other acoustical treatments as needed. Yup, it's going to be loud :) We'll see.
 
My live room (drum practice room) is only 12'X15'. I wanted to be able to record in there but as importantly be able to play drums at any hour of the day or night. The house has all plaster construction, inside and out. I first built plugs and semi-permanently closed off the windows. Then I added another layer of drywall to the interior walls. I added as much insulation as I could in the attic above this room and while up there disconnected and plugged the heater ducts to that room. Back down inside. I added 18 2' X 4' X 4" thick absorbing panels on the walls and 10 more suspended from the ceiling. The floor is covered with carpet designed for a Casino. I pretty much had to go for a dead sounding room to be able to play at 2AM and have to make up for it in recording with effects.

IMAG0116.jpg

The clouds are visible on the ceiling, sorry for the crap pictures.

IMAG0118.jpg
 
Very cool. I have a low basement ceiling, and have taken everything down to the studs and beams. For sound dampening I'm insulating the spaces between the beams and studs, and then covering with 5/8s drywall, Green Glue, and another layer of 5/8s drywall, off-setting the seams. This is being done for all of the walls and ceiling. As far as a rug or carpet, I'm still researching that. It has a cement floor, so I have some options. I don't have enough headroom in the room to install a hardwood floor.
 
I don't want to add any acoustical treatment until I hear what the room sounds like.
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That's arguably the wrong way to approach things. The room is going to sound like crap. It's going to sound like crap with the energy of a voice - much less the energy of a drum (or multiple drums).

I always suggest throwing in at least a dozen broadband panels (2'x4'x4") before even bothering to shoot the space.
 
The ceiling truss is for hanging overheads as you mention, but also I route cables that need to go from one end of the room to the other through the truss, keeps them from being underfoot. Then there are the headphone mix cables and most of the mic cables, dropping out wherever needed. Also the room lighting is handled by the truss, clamp on LED spots and floods that can be directed as required. That pic was taken just after I finished the infrastructure, since then the truss has been loaded up :listeningmusic:

Edit: Oh and when Im into the gong it hangs from the truss too, LOL
 
mdainsd said:
The ceiling truss is for hanging overheads as you mention, but also I route cables that need to go from one end of the room to the other through the truss, keeps them from being underfoot. Then there are the headphone mix cables and most of the mic cables, dropping out wherever needed. Also the room lighting is handled by the truss, clamp on LED spots and floods that can be directed as required. That pic was taken just after I finished the infrastructure, since then the truss has been loaded up :listeningmusic:

Edit: Oh and when Im into the gong it hangs from the truss too, LOL
Click to expand...

Great design, share some pictures of the 'loaded' room when you can!
 
Will do! Last night was in there doing quick and dirty recordings of our 4 piece. Its tight, but it did what we needed. Keeping the cables out from under everyone makes it so much more workable for me...
 
mdainsd said:
Keeping the cables out from under everyone makes it so much more workable for me...
Click to expand...

I can appreciate that! Half my tracking time is really pluggin in and laying out cables, or putting them away after I'm done because my tracking room is also the general purpose computer room, instrument storage room and dog lounge. :rolleyes:
 
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