Basement Drum Practice Room

Started by flaquez on 22 June 2010. 2 replies.

Originally posted at johnlsayers.com, topic 14487.

Hello. I'm from Argentina, and this is my first post (so excuse me for my english, and tell me if the post it's not right). I'm a drum instructor, and I have my practice room in my house basement. I have usually two drumsets there, and a PA system. (sometimes I use the room to rehearse with some bands and some demos recording, but mostly is for teaching and practicing). Attached is a drawing I made (the height is 2.40 meters, it's not on the drawing). I also attach the response of the room to different low frequencies (40 to 300 Hz). My problem is that on the place that I am (Drumset 1) I hear everything boomy. I made a measurement, and apparently I have a problem with exactly 100 Hz, there's a huge peak there (there are other peaks, but that one is clearly the biggest by far) . I tried putting some superchunks on that wall (back wall) (0.48 m x 0.48 m x 0.67 m front side), but with minimun results. I can't use the other two corners because there are doors there. So Here is what I'm thinking: Build a massive bass trap of 86 cms deep (that's the quarter wave leght of 100 Hs, right?) that extends all over that wall (it's also on the drawing I made). I was thinking a wood frame, with 3 milimeter perforated plywood lying on it, fiberglass panels touching the plywood on the back, and all the space behind that I can get some used rolls of non-rigid fiberglass for filling all that space). The downside is the space it will take. :( Will this work? Is it too much? A better suggestion? Thank you very much!
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Remember that there are more than four corners in a room. There are also floor-to-wall corners, and wall-to-ceiling corners. Those will also build up bass. If there is space against those corners, adding traps there could improve bass absorption. One other thing is that the width of the room is 3 meters, which would be one full wavelength at 114 Hz - very near that peak you are seeing. That's probably not helping much. As an aside, it would be a very good idea to add your location to your profile - rather than simply stating it in the message. A great deal of people will not respond without it.
Bob, thank you for the advice, location added. Yes, 120 hz and also 138 hz are problematic. But I assume that if I can get down to 100 Hz, those freq will be affected too. Regarding other corners, I can't effectively use floor-to-wall (apart this rear wall) because it would take valuable space. And the only wall-to-ceiling corners that I can use are very near the rear wall (remember my ceiling is not very high, so on the other side of the room I can't work wall-to-ceiling corners as desired because of the doors, and the space under the stairs).