Poor Man's Acoustics...Need advice....

Currently we focus on mobile recording but we would like to offer services at our studio too. We are in the middle of setting a small studio room for recording. Unfortunately, our budget and space are limited. We have a room we can use that is: 12 feet Long 10.5 feet Wide 9 feet Tall Wood Floors Popcorn Ceiling I currently use a E-Drum Kit, so I don't have a problem with the neighbors but I want to be able to record other acoustic drummers in our room at normal volumes. I've read many articles that state the acoustic foam won't help much for preventing noise to leak out of the room. However, I have looked around on the net and found a good deal on foam via www.foambymail.com on their eBay store. I was thinking about covering the room with: Walls - 4" Wedge Foam http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 7313627813 Ceiling - 3" Acoustic Studio PYRAMID Foam http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 7313681686 Floor - FOAM GYM FLOOR FLOORING MAT http://cgi.eBay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 7146860638 Corners - Bass Asorbers http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 7313157612 Am I wasting money by doing this? Surely this foam can cut the sound enough so I could record acoustic drummers. Keep in mind, most of my clients currently are metal bands. Thanks in advance for your help.

MK, > I've read many articles that state the acoustic foam won't help much for preventing noise to leak out of the room. < Those articles are correct. Acoustic foam won't do anything to reduce the amount of sound that leaves the room, and that particular brand won't do much for the sound quality inside the room either. --Ethan

The fact that they call is "sound-proofing" foam on their website is a red flag to me...

Geoff, > The fact that they call is "sound-proofing" foam on their website is a red flag to me... < Yeah, that too. --Ethan

Man, that just sucks. Oh well, thanks for the advice. I really do appreciate it.

MKS, sorry but unless you can actually MODIFY your space (a LOT) you will never contain live drums with any "add-ons" - this takes some serious mass, support for quite a bit of weight, and at least a FOOT lost on each dimension, usually more like TWO feet. It's nearly impossible on anything but a concrete slab, and isn't even CLOSE to cheap. I'm not saying you can't IMPROVE the isolation, but the above comments relate to your neighbors not even KNOWING you're playing drums. Once that's been accomplished, then you STILL need to make the room SOUND good; that can take ANOTHER big bite outa your usable space. This is why a LOT of project studios work on a Schedule; there may be (depending on your location/neighbors) certain times when nobody's home, or awake and don't care about some noise, or (industrial area) the whole place is vacant except you, etc - Others will cut all the tracks they can at their location, then hire a REAL studio to cut drums and any tracks they want good live ambience. Let us know if you want more info on any of these ideas... Steve

I really do appreciate all the advice. I'm going to wait and save up some money so I can do it right. Thanks again!!

No prob, man; believe me, if I had a magic wand I'd wave it in your direction - meantime, I think you're making the right choice... Steve