John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

OK my new drum room is built. I will put up links to final 'pre accoustic / cosmetic' pictures soon.

The final pieces to the jigsaw are

1) fresh air i/o

2) internal accoustics

There is a modest amount of high mid 'trash' from the bare surfaces.. (some were already in place when I rented the building)

Glass
Plasterboard (sheetrock in the USA?)
Wood doors
Cheap wood effect flooing
Heavy concrete block

Anyhow - I built a canopy over the staircase up to preserve as much space as possible...

I am minded to cover the whole cheese wedge shape of it with thick carpet.

Anyone using carpet on a wall to lose high mid "zing" and look funky?

BTW - the above is now filled with glass fiber and 'double boarded' with plasterboard..

Dunno, Jules, most people stay AWAY from carpet cause it pulls out too much "shimmer" - if we're looking at the stairwell from where the drums will be in that pic, maybe you're getting some phase cancellations from the two different room depths - although, that should happen at lower than high mids...

If you have some old carpet (or heavy blankets, for that matter) you could do a temporary "lay over" and see what it does for you, that way if it doesn't work you're not out much in time or materials.

At this stage of the game, it gets kind of tricky to predict what will work where from pictures and words, you almost "gotta be there"... Steve

Hey Jules,

> I am minded to cover the whole cheese wedge shape of it with thick carpet. <

That would be a huge mistake. Carpet absorbs only the higher frequencies and does nothing for the low mids and lows. Rooms covered with carpet always sound dead and boomy at the same time. You need broadband absorption that works down to low frequencies, and you don't want to cover all the walls either. The best sounding rooms have a mix of reflection and absorption.

--Ethan