What I've Discovered So Far With My New Drum Studio Setup

[Ghostnote]

Yeah fiberglass is no substitute for Roxul mineral wool insulation. It's a night and day difference. I have that in my ceiling and walls in my drum room and it made a HUGE difference even before I put the 5/8 drywall and ceiling up.

Depends on the application. In some cases pink fluffy fiberglass works better. If you only have 6" or less and need lots of absorption though, then in those applications mineral wool batts, compressed mineral wool boards, or OC 703/705 rigid fiberglass are the way to go.

 

[Ghostnote]

If a vertical panel is constructed, how does one "suspend" the rock wool inside the frame to prevent it from slipping to the bottom of the frame?

I really want to make some but don't have the know-how to prevent the rock wool from sinking inside the frame.

If you size the frame so that the batt just fits snugly inside of it then sagging or compression of the batt over time will not be a factor. It's only when making traps like superchunks, which involve stacking a bunch of batts on top of one another that you have to design for compression.

Basically, just make a wood frame sized to the batt, wrap the batt in fabric, push it into the frame, and put some trim on the face of the frame to hold the batt in place an hide the folded corners of the fabric for a more pro look. You can also add strapping on the back to hold the batt in from the back and this also allows for pegs to be mounted to the back to stand the panel off the wall. An airgap behind the panel increases it's low frequency absorption performance- at least 2", 4" is better if you have the room to work with.

 

[JohnoWorld]

A few observations:

#1 An absolute need for the most isolating headphones I can find.

#2 Discovering my drum area is too bright and needs to be dampened.

#3 The overheads really like that snare drum.

#4 The kick drum needs a port to stick that damn mic into.

#5 Using mic clips, whereas the mics are over the 8" and 10" toms is too invasive. Need to get stands for those to make head room.

#6 What you hear might not be exactly what you get.

#7 When you think the EQ on a channel sounds good, try again.

#8 Clipping is not always obvious.

#9 Buy quality, heavy stands with counterweights for the overhead mics.

#10 Never trust how the result sounds when playing back through Studio One and then exporting the stems. There's a "VERY" fine line between far too quiet and clipping.

I'll post the other 200 or so as time passes. LOL!

I'll add some of my own:

#11 Having to trim all the dead parts of the tom tracks to eliminate bleed/-panning issues

#12 I have the same clip issues on my small drums

#13 Finding the right heads

#14 Trying to find where that annoying overtone comes from when I hit an open hi-hat

#15 Realising the majority of my stands are shit, even some of the new mic stands are really poorly built

#16 having to build a drum riser to isolate the kick

#17 being annoyed that I only seem to have big clangy/pingy rides

#18 having to replace my Shure 535's (for free, my friend works for Shure)

#19 not being able to get that punchy compressed sound through my Shures (even though I have a separate compressor for monitor mixes)

#20 Snares sounding completely different to what you hear when you recorded - either with headphones or not

#21 Getting the right sound for each song requires individual compression/eq etc and I just get bored

 

[MoreBeer]

#21 Getting the right sound for each song requires individual compression/eq etc and I just get bored

I've just been trying to get a decent overall setting for each channel and go with that as often as possible. I'm in this for the fun of it and getting decent sound is good enough. Sometimes I'll record all 10 channels into one stereo channel just to make things easy. At other times I'll split it up into several and decide which mics to send to each. I never jerk around with 10 separate channels, at least yet.

On another note, making labels for my XLR's has helped. At least it makes it easy to know what friggin knob or fader to use. I have a desktop Dymo shipping label printer, typed in all the names and cut. I'd rather do this than labeling the mixer. Keeps things clean.

 

[WallyY]

I go very low.
About -8db with the inputs to get -18 to -24db peaks on the tracks.
It's the only way I can get a good sound that will still be low enough if any processing is used.
I want my tracks peaking at @round -12db after I fuss with it, or if I have to give it to someone to fuss with.

Even if I don't see any clipping on the meters, I need the levels low enough or I can discern a harshness in the cymbals.

I spend most of my time moving mics and re-recording to see if it's an improvement. Whenever I use eq it feels like I'm goofing off.

 

[MoreBeer]

I go very low.
About -8db with the inputs to get -18 to -24db peaks on the tracks.
It's the only way I can get a good sound that will still be low enough if any processing is used.
I want my tracks peaking at @round -12db after I fuss with it, or if I have to give it to someone to fuss with.

Even if I don't see any clipping on the meters, I need the levels low enough or I can discern a harshness in the cymbals.

Good point. I was recently reading an article pertaining to your advice about leaving plenty of headroom for post processing. Makes sense.

 

[Larry]

FWIW, I'm really enjoying your journey. Nothing to add right now except keep it coming.

 

[JohnoWorld]

I've just been trying to get a decent overall setting for each channel and go with that as often as possible. I'm in this for the fun of it and getting decent sound is good enough. Sometimes I'll record all 10 channels into one stereo channel just to make things easy. At other times I'll split it up into several and decide which mics to send to each. I never jerk around with 10 separate channels, at least yet.

On another note, making labels for my XLR's has helped. At least it makes it easy to know what friggin knob or fader to use. I have a desktop Dymo shipping label printer, typed in all the names and cut. I'd rather do this than labeling the mixer. Keeps things clean.

I've got to start doing that.

Yeah I started like that too. Then as I get more and more experienced, I try different things.

For example, creating output busses for each instrument type which makes it easier to put a nice silky reverb over the whole kit.

I've also changed mic positions as I wasn't getting enough attack. My mics now point towards the centre of the head, looks a bit odd but really makes a difference.

I also need to hit normal hits rather than rimshots for some songs. I change snare all the time, but also change tuning and damping. I find when I rim shot all the time that my steel snare records best when there is an o-ring on the batter head.

So at the moment I'm trying to record drums according to the type of song I'm making (I make very different songs) rather than trying to make my ace rock sound work with more jazzy influences.

All fun and games, I just can't find much creativity at the mo as I am quite content. I can only write good songs when I am depressed, sad and/or angry