Home recording studio

[CycleDude]

Nucjd did an awesome thread a while back about treating his control room at home.

I (finally) just bought a Behringer Xenix 1202FX at by local big box store, plus 4 cables. This will get me my kick, snare and overhead x/y, which should sound great for what I need.

However, it's all about room acoustics. My basement is divided and the music area is about 16x20, sheetrock walls and sticky tiles over poured concrete floor. I have a drop ceiling at about 7 1/2 feet high. Pretty bad, huh?

What could I do for some inexpensive room treatments? I was thinking of getting some of the egg crate foam pads from a bedding store, rather than the expensive stuff at a music store, but where do I hang it... upper or lower portion of walls? and what about the corners?

Thanks for any light you could shed...

[VIbes]

I use the Auralex Panels and there corner bass traps. That stuff is pretty pircey though. I really would not go with the egg crates either.
I have the walls of my recording room and control room paneled from where there top touches the ceiling placed about 8 inches apart on all walls, then the corners have a bass trap. There's really no need to completely cover the walls. It is sound absorbtion you want, unless you are going for sound proofing. Which is almost impossible.
You can get a case of 2'x4' acoustical panels like you use in ceilings that look good and absorb well at Lowes. or Home Depot. Not sure how many panels, maybe 8 or so , and they are fire retardent, cover a lot of space, and look nice..

[CycleDude]

Hmm, drop ceiling tiles, eh? Might be a good idea.... Thanks. I was going through some old posts about hanging up area rugs as another option.

[Northern Redneck]

Heres a great instructional video on home recording lol
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axgbToJc7TA"]YouTube - Killer Dwarfs - STAND TALL - dwarves[/ame]

[CycleDude]

heres a great instructional video on home recording lol
youtube - killer dwarfs - stand tall - dwarves

roflmao!!!!!

[VIbes]

Here is a pic of my home studio. You can see how I have my panels in the recording room. The same in the control room. Also have a bass trap for the corners like the one sitting on the little tv. It had fallen down. I put it back up. you can probably get creative with the tiles to make something comparable. I am even considering putting those white acoustical ceiling panels below the purple auralex, spaced in the gaps.
Might be to much absorption though. The drums sound good as it is. I als have indoor/outdoor carpeting on the floors. It is very thin over concrete
so it doesn't eat up the drum sound.

[CycleDude]

Here is a pic of my home studio. You can see how I have my panels in the recording room. Also have a bass trap for the corners sitting on something. It had fallen down. I put it back up. I am even considering putting those white acoustical ceiling panels below the purple auralex, spaced in the gaps.

WOW.... So you have the foam going all the way around the room, or just around the kit area?

[VIbes]

Spaced evenly all around the room. One on the back of the door. I have a big shelf on one wall thats crammed with CD's cords, all kind of stuff, then the window with panels above it. Same in the control room.

[CycleDude]

sweet.... Thanks for sharing, Vibes.

[nucjd]

If you can DIY then I highly recommend Rock Wool. Super dense and absorbs the problem frequencies in small rooms. For a bass baffle (Which is needed for drums in a small room) instead of building traps like I did, if you have an old mattress or futon stack it in the corner. Above your kit pull out the acoustic tiles which will allow the sound to diffuse into the rafters above you. This also really helps the snare sound big as well.If your floor is carpet then throw down a sheet of plywood and put your kit on it. If it is hardwood, or concrete then put a rug down and place your kit on it. Also heavy floor rugs work well for walls and can be picked up at thrift stores for nothing. Instead of just hanging it, build a 2x4 frame and stretch the rug over it and nail it down. This will allow the mid high frequencies into the space made by the frame and the air gap will trap the sound much better. Good for you for CD. Hope you have fun.

[CycleDude]

If your floor is carpet then throw down a sheet of plywood and put your kit on it. If it is hardwood, or concrete then put a rug down and place your kit on it.

Ummm. I'm confused.... why would I lay a rug on a wooden floor, or lay a piece of wood on a carpeted floor???

[gonefishin]

I built a 2x4 floor on top of tar paper and filled the voids with foam panels.

The walls were made of 2x4 construction with those same foam panel boards behind them against the block wall. I then put plywood up on my stud walls and covered them with commercial grade carpet. Finished off with accoustic ceiling.

When I built the house I added 2 extra coarses of cinder block to my foundation to make the finished ceiling at 8 ft. My floor joists to the first floor were filled with R30 fiberglass insulation and the walls I added R13.

[Juanbonham]

I'd usually have some thick rugs for my drums to sit upon, it usually helps me with resonance ofthe drums and absorbs very little problems frequencies, maybe even none. Then I'd go to put some foam from walmart and put it all over the corners of the room, and have some peices of it randomly or evenly scattered on the Walls. It usually gets rid of flutter echoes and controls and focuses the acoustic so your drums can sound good, big, and full. And it's cheap

[CycleDude]

Juanbonham - I love your username... made me laugh out load here at work.

[nucjd]

Carpet floor will kill the presence of drum kit in a heart beat on mics. The brightness/ attack will become muddy. A hardwood floor or concrete floor will cause phasing issues with the mics from the sound waves bouncing off of the floor and interacting with the ceiling. A rug will keep the brightness but help null the phasing issues.

[MetalMan1992]

its all about fabric man, i've got my garage soundproofed with specialist sound proofing hard board, dunno what the hell its called but is purpose built. But my dad the bright spark he is told me to paint over it. while no sound gets out of the garage, it isnt absorbed either so it used to just bounce around the whole room. Like shooting a gun in a steel box. we just glued carpets to the walls and ceiling and stuck a panel of roof insulation foam on the back of the door. nice and cheap if you get offcuts of capet and works a treat

[DrumRookie]

hmm, drop ceiling tiles, eh? Might be a good idea.... Thanks. I was going through some old posts about hanging up area rugs as another option.

+1