Members joestanman Posted November 30, 2005 Members Share Posted November 30, 2005 Been tracking demos for a couple months, and about to start actually getting sounds I want for my album. Right now I am in a tiny, soundproof studio that has been great for ease of recording. But I want much more ambience, so I am going to do some tracking at my house: Basically I am confused as to what makes a room useable acoustically. I understand phase issues and frequencies, but not overall room sound. How do you elimnate crazy waves without making the room "Dead?" My new living room has 11 foot vaulted ceilings, hardwood floors, and plaster walls. It has a nice natural reverb ambience to it that I think drums would sound lovely in. I havent moved things in and started testing yet... but thought I would ask before I start. It would seem opposite my intention to tack heavy blankets everywhere, and neighbors shouldnt be a problem. Anyone have experience in rooms like this? Any tips to getting a big open ambient sound, but not a mess. Im much more of a re tune, move things around kind of guy than a "fix in the mix" kind of guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted November 30, 2005 Moderators Share Posted November 30, 2005 You can try to break up some of the slap by moving furniture into places that will obstruct a straight refection. If you have a china cabinet in there for instance, you might angle it some. Turn any tables on their side and do the same. The ambience should be nice as long as you don't get a ping going from the slap. Refine your ambience if you can with diffusion. Use close mics and room mics. Give yourself options. One thing I did was stick a mic around the corner in the other room. That sounded cool. Sounds like a good time! What kind of beer should I bring? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted November 30, 2005 Members Share Posted November 30, 2005 I do things like roll up large carpets and stick them in the corners, and put things in front of large windows. Diffusors are wonderful (bookshelves filled with books is one great solution, but there's others). But first, try and mic up the drum set and see how it sounds. If there's problems, then try and address them. If it sounds fine, then start recording! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members joestanman Posted November 30, 2005 Author Members Share Posted November 30, 2005 thanks guys... just sick of the "padded room" sound... would a few pictures of the room be any help to identify potential "trouble areas?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted November 30, 2005 Moderators Share Posted November 30, 2005 A picture's a good idea. Ken's makes sense with the listen then fix perpective. One thing though... slap your hands and listen for the ping, then kill it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted November 30, 2005 Share Posted November 30, 2005 Well, since the ceilings are vaulted, I doubt the floor / ceiling geometry is parallel. Some of your side walls might be though, and parallel walls can produce slap and flutter echoes. If that is indeed the case, try breaking up the flutter echoes by applying thick blankets to the wall on ONE side... leave the other one untreated. IOW, if your east and west walls are parallel to each other, a blanket on one or the other (but not both) may help. Ditto that for the north / south walls. Furthermore, placing those blanket(s) several inches out / away from the walls (instead of directly on them) can also increase the low frequency absorption a bit. And as Ken said, re-arranging the furniture a bit and sticking rolled up carpeting into the room corners might also be beneficial. Don't forget to experiment with the actual placement of the kit within the room... you might be surprised by the differences in sound a different placement in the room can give you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members joestanman Posted November 30, 2005 Author Members Share Posted November 30, 2005 thanks guys! very helpful. I think I need to create a temporary drum riser w/locking casters so I can move the whole kit around. Hell then, I could just roll it out of the way when I was tracking something else. Im going to try to post pics soon... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted December 2, 2005 Members Share Posted December 2, 2005 Originally posted by Lee Knight A picture's a good idea. Ken's makes sense with the listen then fix perpective. One thing though... slap your hands and listen for the ping, then kill it. See? Once in a while I actually make sense! Yes, clapping your hands is a good quick way to check for funny pings. And banging on a snare is not so bad either. Carpets in the corners. "Bass Traps" for the kick: I get a sofa and plop it in front of the kick drum, and then stuff blankets tightly underneath. Is it ideal? I seriously doubt it. But it's better than nothing, that's for darn sure. RealTraps are really useful. I have four of those. But darn it, those actually cost money!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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