Drum Isolation

[blinkrocker3]

What are some ways to record a drum kit in a terrible sounding room. I've seen videos of bands recording with foam pillars around the kit. Anyone know anything about those or any other ways to isolate a drum kit?

[MetalDave]

If you have a terrible sounding room you need to treat it. Usually deadening and puting some traps in the corners will make it sound better. You can always add reverb later. This is only my opinion...... take it or leave it.

[blinkrocker3]

well i wouldn't call the room terrible, but in my situation i feel that isolating the drums will be the best fix. The only place with enough room for them is in my control room, and I want to be able to hear them through the mics, not live.

[MetalDave]

You may be surprised how much sound can be contained just by hanging a thick blanket or curtain around something.Maybe just put up some temporary walls. Another thing you may want to consider would be to DI everything else but the drums and then go back and add each instrument one at a time. this gives way better seperation if this is your intent. You may also want to include a click track if you do it this way.

[Ludwig]

Recording drums in a bad room seems like an oxymoron to me. By treating your corners you will achieve more control of your low end, but this effect will be largely determined on the room dimensions. Sometimes, diffusion will have a better effect, especially in a small room combined with bass trapping, as described in your "pillars"...cylinders stuffed with rigger fiberglass or a dense material to absorb low end.

I use a "hard floor, soft ceiling" approach. My floor is stone tile with three 8x4 foot frames, rigid fiberglass six inches deep, mounted six inches from the ceiling. This helps to create an open sound, but eliminates unwanted reflections.

The blanket idea is good, but be careful not to make the environment too dead.

[MetalDave]

Originally Posted by Ludwig

be careful not to make the environment too dead.

Yes keep this in mind. Dead isn't usually good. But as I said if it gets a little dead in your treatment, you can add reverb. Natural reverb is always best IMO.

[Ludwig]

agree with adding verb on post.

It may be wise to hang curtain/blanket at least three inches from the wall as well.

[blinkrocker3]

Originally Posted by MetalDave

You may be surprised how much sound can be contained just by hanging a thick blanket or curtain around something.Maybe just put up some temporary walls. Another thing you may want to consider would be to DI everything else but the drums and then go back and add each instrument one at a time. this gives way better seperation if this is your intent. You may also want to include a click track if you do it this way.

I'm not worried about sound from other instruments, because I don't record everything at the same time, I just need something that keeps the sound isolated from the rest of the room

[MetalDave]

I have commented on this in the past right here on this site. The blanket or blankets are good for getting rid of unwanted ambience also. The ideal setup would include bass traps and defusers but a nice round room made from curtains from the ceiling to the floor also work fairly well.

[brandondrury]

well i wouldn't call the room terrible, but in my situation i feel that isolating the drums will be the best fix.

What do you mean by "isolating"? You can isolate drums for a guitar amp or something like that but you can't really isolate drums from a room. You can deaden a room, but you have to be very careful of which frequencies you are deadening. You can make it worse.

In my opinion, super dead rooms sound horrible on drums. You can hear this sound on a lot of 70s pop records.

Brandon