John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

hi I'm Marco from Rome
I have a garage studio used for my drum recordings
the walls, floor ad ceiling are well sound isolated
and there are corner traps, and some other panels with mineral wool and foam(ceiling)
for internal acoustic improvement.
The measures of the room are 15 x 12 x 8,5 (H) in feet
The sound is controlled but probably too dry for a drum room
I have available 4 wood qrd diffusor panels (120cmx60x10deep) and I'm asking:

1) is my room too small for improvement with diffusion (as I read frequently) ???

2) is it better to have the 4 panels at the wall (the 12 feet one) behind me (and I normally position the drums at 3 feet from that wall), or to have the 4 panels at the wall in front of me ?
The fact is that I always see diffusion behind drums but I think that drums'll be too close to the panels, limiting their efficacy (I understood that diffusion needs a distance from the source to work)

3) someone think that drums are better in the corner. in this position I can separate 2 panels at left and 2 at right of the corner. of course I can experiment, record and judge but in this case the drums will be anyway closer to the walls (and the panels) and I don't think this is better for microphones (comb filtering...)!

some help? hope the questions are clear
sorry for my english
thank you
Marco

Hi Marco, and welcome!

1) is my room too small for improvement with diffusion (as I read frequently) ???

This is a live room or a rehearsal room, right? Not a control room? If so, then there's no problem with using diffusion if you want. Diffusion is only a problem in control rooms, for critical listening. As Ethan Winer shows in a video on his web site, you can use diffusers creatively in live rooms.

2) is it better to have the 4 panels at the wall (the 12 feet one) behind me (and I normally position the drums at 3 feet from that wall), or to have the 4 panels at the wall in front of me ?

I would try different positions, and see what sounds best. A live room is supposed to have "character" and "feeling", so just put them where gives you the "feeling" that you want for your room.

of course I can experiment, record and judge but in this case the drums will be anyway closer to the walls (and the panels) and I don't think this is better for microphones (comb filtering...)!

Exactly! But then again, it depends on how you mic your drums: If you close-mic everything then it doesn't matter that much, but if you prefer to use mics further away, more "ambient", then that could be an issue. And of course, the overheads are always a problem if they are close to walls or the ceiling.

But experimenting is what live rooms and instrument mic'ing is all about! I always learn a lot about how mics and instruments work together in rooms, just by playing around with positions, orientations, mic types, and even varying the acoustics, if possible.

sorry for my english

Your English is great! (And waaay better than my Italian!)


- Stuart -