Room Sound - What's Going On?

low frequencies tend to collect in corners. they are slow and don't reflect as well or as fast as higher frequencies. very difficult to deal with. parallel surfaces only exacerbate the problem because there is no diffusion occurring. (next time you're in a decent studio, notice how much room shaping and diffusers are used to 'tune' the environment).

i think konaboy nailed the primary culprit: your ceiling. those big, lazy bass frequencies just flow right thru styrofoam, hence, no reflection and no trapping of those delightfully boomy lows. putting more padding under your carpet will make it worse, not better. you need some reflection if you want those bass frequencies back.

Yes, thanks to both of ya. I prefer to leave the floor un-padded just because it feels nice under my kit. I hated how everything sank over time and sloshed around (like my 2-legged hi-hat stand) while playing on the padded floor.

I'm going to try and figure something out for the ceiling, it's a good place to start. I can't do much w/ the trusses as this house is rented. Also, the landlady just had a new roof put on the entire house and garage, so there's even more weight up there now.

Thanks guys!
 
still confused about corners...leave them bare for the most bass response?

Just to try and clarify (I'm an old audio dweeb).

Bass is always stronger near a room surface--against a wall for example (ca. 3dB), stronger than that where two surfaces meet--in a corner (ca. 6 dB) and strongest where three surfaces meet--like in the corner on the floor (ca. 9dB). That's why most loudspeakers not designed for corner placement have lumpy bass in the corner, and worst of all in the corner sitting on the floor.

It also happens that due to standing waves, some places in the room will have stronger bass response than others, and a variation of just a few inches can make a significant difference.

These variations in bass response typically happen right where bass drum sounds live, and is a feature/problem with almost all domestic-sized rooms. The only ways to get really smooth bass response in an average-size room is to design it with dimensions that produce staggered resonances, so they don't reinforce each other, or to use real bass traps, which are typically huge. And, with loudspeakers, to keep them away from the walls and especially corners.
 
Zambizzi -

Can you share what changes you make and the outcome to your sound? I am curious as to what helps and what you end up doing.

Thanks!
 
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