smallest practical dimensions for a live room w/ drums?

[delorean]

hey folks. been lurking and soaking up the awesome info here -- so thanks for that.

i'm spec'ing out adding a live room to my very modest garage studio, and wondering how to lay it all out. the space i have in mind for the live room is roughly 9' wide (goes down to 7' wide at one end) by maybe 12' long, w/ a loooow ceiling -- maybe 7', if that.

any chance that's big enough to fit a 3-piece band to track live and rehearse? or should i be rethinking this?

thanks in advance for your help.

-ian

 

[TexRoadkill]

Not only will it be very tight but it will probably sound like shit unless you can do some serious treatment. You would probably have to put in some slat resonators over an entire wall at minimum. It's big enough for a drum booth if treated well but having all the musicians in there will be tough. Just pray nobody farts.

 

[Ethan Winer]

Ian,

Besides the potential fart problem (good one Tex), and besides the low frequency response problems inherent in small rooms, there's another big problem if your goal is to play and record instruments: When a sound source or listener is very close to a wall or the ceiling, you get comb filtering which sounds like a phaser effect. In fact, it is a phaser effect, except it happens acoustically in the air. If you get EQ magazine, my article in the current (June 2004) issue explains this in depth.

--Ethan

 

[delorean]

thanks for the responses, guys! guess it's back to the drawing board.

the space in which i have to work is a modified garage -- essentially a garage with an extra room tacked on the back (which was going to be the live room). the original front garage bit is relatively big by comparison -- maybe 10' by 16' or so. that room is currently functioning as all-in-one control room/tracking room (no live drums, but guitar, bass, and synth), but looks like that needs to be the live room if there's a live room at all...

thanks again.

-ian