How do small recording rooms affect the sound?

[TerrorFiend]

I'm planning to build a small recording room, approximately 2m by 2m (big enough for a drumkit) due to little space.

Is this a bad idea? Does anyone know what nasty effects it will have on the sound of the recordings, especially the drums?

I know absolutely nothing about anything to do with recording. A complete newbie. I have a decent budget (due to a small inheritance) to spend, so am looking for something above your average "messing around studio" at home. I'd sound proof the whole garage, but there's two windows and I need them for light as I will be living there as well!

Ill post plans in another thread.

[knightfly]

Square rooms are not good for acoustics, since both dimensions support the same resonant frequencies (called modes) so if possible you would be better shifting your inside dimensions so that none of the three dimensions of the room are even multiples of each other.

Small rooms will never sound as good as larger ones, but you can treat walls with absorbents such as rockwool and help them out somewhat... Steve

[Jai]

i will let the guys that know the graphs and charts answer the technical stuff.

But.....

Think about what you are trying to accomplish.

are you looking for that led zepplin big drum sound? you would never be able to get that in a small 2m x 2m room. You have no room for room mics. yes, you can add canned verb but will still not get the results of that huge drum kit. If you are doing loop based, hip hoop, R & B, or pop drum stuff than that room would be great (aside from sq. room stuff) you will get a nice tight kick and snappy snare.

One thing for sure!!!!! I am a drummer for 20 years. The number one thing I have disliked for years (since studios got small) is that I have to move a hi hat to get into my chair. Then reset hats and mics to do recording. Make sure your room is big enough for atleast a 5 piece kit and the person playing the drums. Sooooo Many studio say .... ohhhh, I forgot a person has to get back there and play too .

Hope this helps, Not technical but artistic views.

jai
www.themixstudio.com

[TerrorFiend]

Thanks for that, that was quite helpful.

Unfortunately, the kind of music I'm hoping to record is more along the lines of prog rock/metal. (Like Dream Theater/Liquid Tension, Pain of salvation, Devin Townsend, Symphony X etc.).

What's most irritating is that I am a guitarist and actually not the drummer involved. So all this worry and concern over the sound of the drums is on his behalf.

I'm actually very hesitant to finalise anything at the moment. There's a possibility I may be able to negotiate myself the rest of the garage, not just the two thirds I have now, and use the whole lot. That would solve the problem, because the whole thing is approximately 8800 by 5030(mm) or 28'10" by 16'6"(feet & inches), and there'd easily be enough room for a superb studio and a place to live/hang out.

Still waiting on peoples opinions in regards to my initial design plans, too.

Thanks again for your reply.

- Brad

[dymaxian]

Another prog rocker! Good to hear it!

One concern I have is that in today's pop music scene, the biggest drumsets are with the prog bands. So you should try to accomodate a lot more than a 5-piece kit...

There's a few things you can do treatment-wise that'll help, but having a big room is going to make a difference.

One thing you have going for you is the ability of prog drummers is usually on the up-side, as opposed to some of the guys I've seen trying to play old-skool rock or grunge... If they're going to play the kind of thing you're thinking about, there's a better chance that they've taken some time to, you know, try to get a good sound out of their instrument...

Good luck!

Kase
www.minemusic.net

[knightfly]

"Still waiting on peoples opinions in regards to my initial design plans" -

TF, if you're working on scoring the rest of the space that would change everything - I barely can steal enough time for ONE project per person, let alone several, so I'm waiting til you find out which it's going to be.

Multi-purpose things (rooms, tools, vehicles) are ALWAYS compromises, but you can get closer to audio nirvana by studying some of the basic ideas behind good sounding rooms that are available on the design forum, and in the SAE site that can be reached by clicking on the John Sayers Productions logo at top right of the page - the link titled The Recording Manual, for example, is a complete engineering course including acoustics, etc - While you're finding out whether you have 2/3 of a room or all of it, you can learn why your original layout isn't optimum for sound.

Then, once you know what you have to work with, we can do this ONCE instead of twice.

I'm not trying to be rude or unhelpful, I'm just really pressed for time so it helps if people can read up on the info that's already available here instead of me having to repeat it a dozen times a day... Steve

[TerrorFiend]

Sorry man, I didn't mean to be a pain in the A***

I know exactly what it's like not to have enough time, and I sympathesize completely.

I am about to undergo six weeks of radiotherapy and am really keen to get something started to take my mind off it. But you're right, I do need to do some more research on the topic of accoustics and whatnot. And negotiating with my brother-in-law to steal the rest of his workshop is a delicate process at best.

Thanks for your help, I'll get back to you when I've sorted out what I'm doing.

PS Prog rock OWNS

[knightfly]

Sorry to hear about the radiotherapy, I hope all goes well for you on that - If I were put in your situation (as little as I know about it) I would divide my time between learning new techniques on guitar and devouring everything on the SAE site I linked to - having more than one project allows me to "get a breather" without stopping, maybe it will work for you? If nothing else, you'll know a lot more of what you want/don't want in a studio setup (plus, your calluses won't get soft)

I have three of Dream Theater's CD's, they are freakin' incredible - sorta like Metallica if they learned more than two chords and one rhythm... and Yes's 90125 still grabs me occasionally... Steve