Drum riser: poor man's floating floor? *DONE! WITH PHOTO!*

[Chippy569]

Just checking now, is the rockwool actually resting on the floor for this?

[AjD]

Ok, the riser is built! Here's a photo (see above discussion for what it's made of).

Adam

[sharward]

Wow! I'm trying to decide what I like best:

• The handsome drum riser (that's the point, right?)
  
  The treatments in the corner
  
  The cool area rug
  
  The Jetsons-style seat at the console
  
  The lighting

Now go hang up that picture already!

[Dieter@be]

Yes it looks very stylish

join the drum riser club

(weird setup btw, with the kick drum pointing forwards and the snare totally on the left)

[AjD]

Thanks for the compliments... would you believe it actually looks cooler in person ? Sounds good too - tighter, less mud, more focused & well, decoupled. More thorough tests to come this weekend.

Warm, interesting aesthetics of the recording space are really important to me. I think it makes for more comfortable musicians, and better performances.

Sharward, I keep holding off on hanging that picture, 'cuz I'm debating about adding more absorbers above the couch!

Adam

(Dieter, about the snare/kick position, must be an optical illusion with the photo... it's a standard set-up.)

[pulse]

Please dont flame me

What do you think about a solution with tyre instead rockwool ... meaning you put 4 tyre on the ground and then the MDF ? will it work too ?

I put a tyre under my sub and the sound is really better so it should work for drums too ...

[Chippy569]

my question wasn't answered... :-\

is the black stuff in the picture the foam, and is that resting on the floor or is the riser on feet?

[sharward]

My guess is that the "back stuff" is "absence of light" (i.e. shadow from the overhead lights). I'm assuming there are "feet" of some kind, or maybe it's hovering an inch off the ground!

[AjD]

Yes, in the absence of real hover technology (sorry, chippy ), the riser is resting on 2" of unfaced 705 6 pcf rigid fiberglass panels.

But seriously, Sharward is right about the shadow. The reason it may look like the riser is in fact "floating" is I left an empty inch-wide space under the whole perimeter of the riser. That is, the riser itself is 6' 6" x 6' 6", and it rests atop 6' 4" x 6' 4" of rigid fiberglass. I custom cut the fiberglass to those dimensions using a jigsaw.

I left this perimeter because a) it allows the riser to clear the floor toe molding and almost 'kiss' the walls, without actually touching them; and b) it looks cool & 'floaty' (most important!), especially once I added the wood trim border.

Incidentally, the wood trim border you see isn't plywood - it's poplar (made of 1 x 4s screwed into the MDF). In addition to nicely matching the look of the wall absorbers & bass traps (also trimmed in poplar), this poplar trim helped to reinforce that inner 1" floating perimeter of the MDF. I had originally thought about staining the poplar (it has a nice, pleasing deep grain) - but ultimately decided the blonde look worked best with the mod furniture & stuff.

Adam

P.S. I made a 3' x 3' version of this riser over the weekend for bass amps, larger guitar cabs, etc.

[pulse]

"my question wasn't answered... :-\ "

me too ... ;-(

[the dreamer]

"my question wasn't answered... :-\ "

I suppose you can be lucky and it works as you planned....but...if not?
I would opt for predictable solutions!
For more info:
http://www.recording.org/ftopict-28648.html
http://www.recording.org/ftopict-20719.html
http://forum.studiotips.com/viewtopic.php?t=1586

Florian

[pulse]

thanks ..

I wish I could find again the link where they were saying that putting a tyre below a sub is a good way of decoupling the HP from the floor ...

[johnz]

great job! i'm gonna build one too, or maybe three for amps too.

i noticed an inconsistancy in the design plan. the liquid nails goes in between the two layers of mdf, right? not between the insulation and mdf?

thanks

[JohnGardner]

Guys,

Do you think you would get the same/similar result glueing 4"x4" 1/2" 60duro rubber pucks to the bottom of the first layer of MDF rather than using rockwool or rigid fiberglass?

If my riser was 6'x8' how many do you think I would need?. one every 2 foot square? less/more?

The benefit would be a small saving on headroom.

I brought some for a floated floor that didn't happen!!

JohnG

[sharward]

See my EPDM Compression Test Data which I paid a machine shop to do for me (back in the days that I was planning to float a floor on the stuff). Ideally you want a loaded compression rate of about 10-15%.

It may not be exactly correct, since it may not be the same type of rubber you plan to use -- but you can at least ballpark it. Since it's just for a riser and not a floating room, the risk of being incorrect is a lot less disasterous!!

--Keith