i moved my drum kit downstairs today and it sounds really bad now, what are the ideal place for drums to sound their bset and what can i do as far as acoustics tom make em sound a little better.

Sometimes the room is dead but more often the drums need to be tuned to the room they're in.








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Dr. Rodney McKay wrote:

Well, I only know one thing and that is that flying darkness that eats energy can only be very, very bad.

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its possible that its the acoustics of the room. but it also may very well be the temperature and humidity. its not uncommon for drums to need a complete retuning after being moved from one place ot another








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A different room is basically a "different drum set"....Retune for the room. Just like xdoseonex said... Temp and humidity is also a factor. There's only so much you can do depending on the room. My drums are always loud and wide open...and in my old practice room...they had no resonance at all...just completely dead thuds...no matter what I did with tuning. Good luck.








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It might do you justice to hang some blankets or sheets on the walls and see what that sounds like. Years ago I used to play my drums in a basement and it was way to "slap-echoey" I just hung a few blanket up and it sounded worlds better.








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Do what you can and do it well.

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you should definitely re-tune each head, and try different placements in the room.

carpeting, size, wall and floor types can all influence the sound of drums.








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Speak the rhythm with your hands.

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Pearls, Zildjians, Vics, Evans.

One way to find a "live" spot in a room is walk around clapping your hands. When you hear a fluttery kind of echo, you've found a live spot. There's also corners to consider. Any place where there's a 90* angle will create standing waves. You want to put a wedge, called "bass traps", into those areas. You don't even have to spend anything, just take the cushions off the couch and set them up so you have two 45*-ish angles instead of one 90* angle. Aside from drum tuning, room tuning is really important. If the room's dead, you'll need to set up some hard surfaces for sound to bounce off of.








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Dr. Rodney McKay wrote:

Well, I only know one thing and that is that flying darkness that eats energy can only be very, very bad.

http://www.MySpace.com/PageFive

Uh, unless you are recording your drums in that room I wouldn't suggest retuning them for that room unless your gigs are going to be in a room that is the same size.

You didn't describe in what way they sound bad. We have no idea whether muted sounds bad to you or if ringy sounds bad to you.








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Jeff Porcaro - Lord of Groove

yea i have the same problem from time to time. my drums always sound better live than they do in my practice spot. I set up on my deck once...they sounded amazing, so open and booming. I love to set up outside.








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cool i'll try some of these ideas thanks guys

SGarrett wrote:

One way to find a "live" spot in a room is walk around clapping your hands. When you hear a fluttery kind of echo, you've found a live spot. There's also corners to consider. Any place where there's a 90* angle will create standing waves. You want to put a wedge, called "bass traps", into those areas. You don't even have to spend anything, just take the cushions off the couch and set them up so you have two 45*-ish angles instead of one 90* angle. Aside from drum tuning, room tuning is really important. If the room's dead, you'll need to set up some hard surfaces for sound to bounce off of.

All this is good advise..Studios create their rooms on the same methods..it would be nice to not have to change the tuning on your drums to much, so if you can change the room I feel that it would be better based on that you said they sound worse..If you haven't played at other venues (live gigs) you'll find out that rooms have different sounds and this will be something to get used to also, that is tuning to the room...!!!








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Not into all that competetive who's better crap..Just love to have fun when I drum..!! <|:O)

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dave lynch wrote:

SGarrett wrote:

One way to find a "live" spot in a room is walk around clapping your hands. When you hear a fluttery kind of echo, you've found a live spot. There's also corners to consider. Any place where there's a 90* angle will create standing waves. You want to put a wedge, called "bass traps", into those areas. You don't even have to spend anything, just take the cushions off the couch and set them up so you have two 45*-ish angles instead of one 90* angle. Aside from drum tuning, room tuning is really important. If the room's dead, you'll need to set up some hard surfaces for sound to bounce off of.

All this is good advise..Studios create their rooms on the same methods..it would be nice to not have to change the tuning on your drums to much, so if you can change the room I feel that it would be better based on that you said they sound worse..If you haven't played at other venues (live gigs) you'll find out that rooms have different sounds and this will be something to get used to also, that is tuning to the room...!!!

I tune to the room whenever possible. I'll tune up before leaving the house and then it's just a matter of fine tuning at the gig. Sometimes you get there and the P.A.'s already cranking out music so loud that fine tuning is all-but impossible. From there you just run and go with it.

And thank you. I got that advice from reading about studios. Home Recording for Dummies is a pretty good over-all book with some room tuning ideas. I'm still tuning my own drum room right now. A little too much "spare" in the spare bedroom, if ya know what I mean. Hahaha.








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Dr. Rodney McKay wrote:

Well, I only know one thing and that is that flying darkness that eats energy can only be very, very bad.

http://www.MySpace.com/PageFive

lol, i re tuned it and it does sound better but not quite as good as the original room, i realize is has somthing to do with where it was before was a combination of 4 large rooms and a kitchen and the new room is own smaller room.

Yeah, you'll be hard pressed to get that boomy sound without completely re-doing the room.








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Dr. Rodney McKay wrote:

Well, I only know one thing and that is that flying darkness that eats energy can only be very, very bad.

http://www.MySpace.com/PageFive

drums sound thick in a small room and thin in a large room........ACOUSTICS.......retuning or altering the room acoustics with foam and bass traps (u haul blankets if your poor like me) will help out alot