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Drum shield in rehearsal room?


Coverdale

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Hey guys!

Do you happen to know if a drum shield (acrylic panel) in front of the drums would help with a loud drummer in a rehearsal room?

 

We're a 4 piece band, the drummer is facing the rest of the band (see primitive drawing) . It's too loud for confort, it makes the rest of the band turn it up and we'd like to do something about it.

 

----------------------

|______Drums_______ |

|_________________ |

|___________________|

| Guitar - Bass -Guitar |

| ---------------------

 

We're thinking of putting some acoustic foam behind the drummer because of the reflections a drum shield might cause.

 

I'd appreciate your help!

Thanks!

 

I know, the drummer should play with more control, etc :)

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Well, my first thought is to ask your drummer to play quieter at rehersals. :D

 

However, I have these big office cubical walls that seem to work quite well at isolating sound. You can get em cheap at discount used office furniture outlets.

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Yea, size of room, what the walls are, (block, drywall, paneling). What are you guys using for amps? How loud are you all? Are you using a P.A.? Are you micing the drums? Help us with that first. The question will be easier to answer. Plus, I didn't quite get the drawing.

Marko

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If you need to look at each other while practicing, then I would recommend sound absorbant behind the drummer if using the shield. But telling the drummer to calm it down would be the best.

 

Of course telling many drummers they are too loud and to hit softer is like telling a guitarist he's too loud so take off 2 strings.

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To quote my new favorite T-shirt "I'll play softer if you play better"

 

 

But seriously....Try not turning up your amps when he gets too loud , unless he's not paying attention he'll be forced to come down to be able to hear you , otherwise it can become a vicious circle of everyone turning up over and over.

 

Draw a line in the sand.

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Yea, size of room, what the walls are, (block, drywall, paneling). What are you guys using for amps? How loud are you all? Are you using a P.A.? Are you micing the drums? Help us with that first. The question will be easier to answer. Plus, I didn't quite get the drawing.

Marko

 

 

Well, to answer your questions:

1 : The size of room is (using online conversion) 18 feet by 20 feet.

2 : The walls are block, but they are covered with wallmate and with random pieces of acoustic foam and cork panels.

3 : The floor is a cork composite and we have same carpets on the floors.

4 : We have several amps, from Deluxe Reverbs(22w) to Marshall JMP 100w to Engl Master Volumes - he doesn't play louder because of that -

5 : The drums are not being miked (they could be if necessary, but the acoustic volume is already too loud)

6 : We are using a PA for voices - we don't usually mic anything else for rehearsals

7 : His drumkit is a top of the line RMV (Made in Brazil) The damn thing sounds louder than most drums I've heard.

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Well, to answer your questions:

1 : The size of room is (using online conversion) 18 feet by 20 feet.

2 : The walls are block, but they are covered with wallmate and with random pieces of acoustic foam and cork panels.

3 : The floor is a cork composite and we have same carpets on the floors.

4 : We have several amps, from Deluxe Reverbs(22w) to Marshall JMP 100w to Engl Master Volumes - he doesn't play louder because of that -

5 : The drums are not being miked (they could be if necessary, but the acoustic volume is already too loud)

6 : We are using a PA for voices - we don't usually mic anything else for rehearsals

7 : His drumkit is a top of the line RMV (Made in Brazil) The damn thing sounds louder than most drums I've heard.

 

 

Hang more foam/carpet on your walls. If his drums are just THAT loud due to quality, you could try some dead ringers/; 3-4 moogels on the batters. I still think setting up as if you were on stage will help. you guys can still turn around if you need to see one another. He can try and player softer, but chances are it won't last. Wear hearing protection.

 

Majoria's comment is so true.

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Well, my first thought is to ask your drummer to play quieter at rehersals.
:D

However, I have these big office cubical walls that seem to work quite well at isolating sound. You can get em cheap at discount used office furniture outlets.

 

Thats a really interesting idea. You mean the standard, Everday cubicles that so many of us seem to spend all our time in?

Im gonna try that, as the neighbors are complaining again.

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thats a pretty good sized room. it sounds like you have the reflections undercontrol. have you considered the fact that he has those amps firing in his face while you guys have them aimed at your butts? most of what you're hearing is a reflection off that back wall, which if I'm not mistaken has sound deadening material on it... I've been in that situation before, and it's hard to mix your self when your preception of volume is so different from what the rest of the band hears

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I'm not a drummer, but I did get a drum shield for the same reason. However, they're really designed for recording isolation, not solving volume issues.

 

The drum shield reflects more sound back to the drummer, so it will force him to play softer. However, now all he can hear is drums. We ended up setting our drummer up with headphones with a custom mix, and everyone's happy now.

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Thats a really interesting idea. You mean the standard, Everday cubicles that so many of us seem to spend all our time in?

Im gonna try that, as the neighbors are complaining again.

 

 

Yeah man. The insides are made of a material similar to "Sound Board" that you can buy at Lowe's/Home Depot and then are covered with thin foam and then fabric. Good for sound deadining. I think that's the purpose since many cubicals are quite close together and should isolate worker's sounds to some degree.

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I'm not a drummer, but I did get a drum shield for the same reason. However, they're really designed for recording isolation, not solving volume issues.


The drum shield reflects more sound back to the drummer, so it will force him to play softer. However, now all he can hear is drums. We ended up setting our drummer up with headphones with a custom mix, and everyone's happy now.

 

 

please don't record with one of those... I can't imagine early reflections like that sounding good. you will probably end up with phase cancellation too.

 

the only use I can see for those things is to help control stage volume like you guys are using it :)

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please don't record with one of those... I can't imagine early reflections like that sounding good. you will probably end up with phase cancellation too.


the only use I can see for those things is to help control stage volume like you guys are using it
:)

 

If it has phase issues in the studio from the shield then it would have phase issues on the stage as well. I doubt there would be any phase issues as I've never had such things in that manner in my studio or live. It could easily have excessive reflections if placed close to the kit (I would expect that) but not phase issues. I agree that it should be avoided for recording, just properly treat the room.

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I'm just a hobbyist, but I thought you get at least some phase cancellation in pretty much all reflections because it would be impossible to space reflective walls to propperly return all the harmonic content in phase. it's not much of a problem with reverb because it's so broken up and quiet, but I believe early reflections that break the 3 to 1 rule are still in tact and loud enough to cause audible phase issues. depending on how far away the shield is, this could cause problems with the overheads I just think live sound is a little more forgiving because of extreme SPLs, so it doesn't matter as much.

 

if your over heads were 4 ft above the drums, a drum shield would need to be about 5.5 feet away from the source and the mics to keep the 3 to 1 rule

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please don't record with one of those... I can't imagine early reflections like that sounding good. you will probably end up with phase cancellation too.


the only use I can see for those things is to help control stage volume like you guys are using it
:)

 

We are recording with it in place, but these are just rehearsal recordings for our own enjoyment. Not sure if we're observing the 3-to-1 rule, or if the drummer's happy with his sound on the recordings, though. However, he seems to like the sonic isolation and using headphones to hear the rest of the band.

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