drum placement

I might have to put my drums in my garage cause of space reasons.... Will it change the sound alot. (as in bad) Or should I build a shed in the backyard?

Try it and find out.

Then, if you don't like it, build a shed.

A garage will definitely affect the sound - the concrete floors and reflective walls will have sound waves bouncing around like crazy. That being said, it's going to cost less than building a shed, but I'd be concerned about heat/cold/humidity, too.... got a finished basement? How about building a small room in the basement? God bless `em, my parents did that for me when I was in high school... talk about support...

Garage is fine for rehearsal.

Yeah, drive those neighbors to drinkin or mother's little helpers.

My parents are great, too. I have 2 older brothers who both play guitar, one for about 4 years and one for about 3 (I think). My parents knew that I was interested in drums, and they wanted us to be able to play together for a couple years before my oldest brother (who was 17 or 18 at the time) went away for college. So for Christmas, 2004, they surprised us with a drum kit, a new amp, and a new guitar. (This was even more surprising because we usually don't do much gift-wise for Christmas).

Then this past year, we got a keyboard, PA speakers, a mixer, and recording gear. Now our basement is crammed with music stuff chillin everywhere. We even had to get rid of the couch, which was a blast because we had to disassemble it (and by this I mean whack the {censored} out of it with an axe) before removing it.

I love my parents. :cool:

*ahem*

But I digress. In line with the current thread topic, heat/humidity/cold is a consideration, definately. Temperature/climate changes can murder drums. Also, there's the soundproofing aspect, which may/may not be necessary.

Is it at all possible to use the basement? It's worked great so far for me, and it's cheap (i.e. free) and convenient.

I have my drums in the garage. I just keep 'em covered with an old bed spread when not in use. Where I live, Seattle, it doesn't get cold or hot so temperature is not a problem. We have insulated doors on our garage and usually the temp is only + or - 10 degrees from the house. I've had them there for 3 years and as far as I can tell have not been damaged in any way.

Basements are great, but for some of us, we don't live in basement areas of the country. I grew up in Dallas where we didn't have them and then moved to Seattle a few years ago where most houses don't have them either.

They are definitely loud and boomy in the garage. I never ever ever ever play them without headphones on. It also makes recording interesting, but that's a whole other story!

Neighbors can hear them better if they're in the garage than a basement I'm sure! My neighbors are cool. They say they can hear them, but don't complain. I also never play past 8:30 at night.

Bottomline: At least for me, garage is fine. Not ideal, but still good.

a room in the garage? or at least a partition? When I was growing up. Next door had a band practicing in the garage for a little while. They boarded up the the door and carpeted the floor. You still heard it a little. I think is mostly cause they left the inside walls from about waist high up the same. mostly was the bass amp. I would try to think of making a room with a room (garage) that might help.

I live in Bellevue so it won't be a problem right?

I live in Bothell. I've had my drums setup in my garage for three years. I've had no problems. I would suggest keeping them covered when not in use. There's a lot of dust and junk in a garage. Have fun.

Keep them in the garage because then you can be in a garage band. Who's ever heard of a shed band?

Keep them in the garage because then you can be in a garage band. Who's ever heard of a shed band?

I've always heard the term 'woodshedding,' with it meaning 'to practice.'

Keep them in the garage because then you can be in a garage band. Who's ever heard of a shed band?

lol

If you DO move them into the garage, then it's a good idea to put a carpet, rug, curtain etc up on the walls, so that the sounds don't bounce off the walls, it sounds horrible.

We play in a conctere walls/floor/ceiling basement. Wy poot a carpet on the floor, bought a bid roll of heavy (heavy!) cotton textile and draped it 5" from the walls and 10" from the ceiling. Sound is better than in any DIY studio i've been and our recordings (often just two roommics) sound great. If the Garage is all yours, may be worth a try. It's low cost and acoustically very effective. Brings reverb down to a "wood-ish" warm sounding room.

Hey Guys:

One summer, in one of my variants of a Garage Band I played in, we offered to clean up the garage, in exchange, we'd try to make it as soundproof as possible, given we had no $$$ to speak of:eek:...anyway, here was what we did:

1) Sheets of large Bristol Board

2) old guts of junk couches ( preferably foam)

3) a HUMONGOUS amount of empty egg cartons ( dozen size)

4) a few rolls of Duct Tape

After we cleaned , tidied, and generally made the garage way more neater than any garage should be, we stuffed the foam into the egg crates, taped them to the bristol sheets, then taped them to the walls of the garage. Does this seem like a lot of work? uh huh. Was there a measureable drop in the volume? without a DB meter, hard to say, although I THINK the sound improved. Of course, the irony is that after all that work, that variant of the group went their seperate ways soon after:eek: Oh Well, at least we left behind a clean garage and some nice ' Performance Art' on the walls;)...knowing the guy that was there, I bet it's still up on the walls!! PEACE.

You are lucky you have a garage....when I was young my folks made me play in the back yard:cry::cry:

You are lucky you have a garage....when I was young my folks made me play in the back yard:cry: :cry:

Actually that makes a better sound cause there's no walls surrounding.