[pantera]

We've recently finished our basement and I find the sound of my son's drums to be loud and rather harsh. The unfinished basement had the concrete floor and walls with open ceiling, and with an area rug under the kit, the sound was pretty good.

But now we have laminate flooring, the walls have drywall and insulation, and the ceiling is insulated with a drop ceiling (square tiles). The basement is not large, so we only closed off the furance/laundry area and the bathroom, so the room the drums sit in is an open L shape (with the drums at the 'top' of the L).

I've put an area rug under the kit, still sounds the same. Any ideas on how to improve the sound? It's a 4 piece black Pearl Ex kit with Sabien B8 hi-hat, crash and ride cymbals. The heads were replaced last summer with Remo coated 2 ply. I have a blanket in the bass drum, with the front head on.

[Tainojim]

Hang up some thick drapes to absorb the sound. This sounds like a tunnel echo.

If you stand in the middle and clap your hands, you'll probably here that echo effect usually coming from the upper corners of the room.

Hang the drapes around that area to stop the bouncing of the echo.

Another solution would be pricey, Like 2" foam insulation boards and 3/4" plywood. This method helped at my son's recording room. Sort of a small stage for the drum kit.

[skinslapper]

I think the floor would be the most reflective element here, solution carpet.

Also dry wall does tend to reflect more than brick so Jim's on the money too.

[Tainojim]

Originally Posted by Tainojim

Hang up some thick drapes to absorb the sound. This sounds like a tunnel echo.

If you stand in the middle and clap your hands, you'll probably here that echo effect usually coming from the upper corners of the room.

Hang the drapes around that area to stop the bouncing of the echo.

Another solution would be pricey, Like 2" foam insulation boards and 3/4" plywood. This method helped at my son's recording room. Sort of a small stage for the drum kit.

Oops, my bad.

I meant in reference that the 2'x4'x8' foam and the 3/4"x4'x8' plywood be used a a small stage for the drums. I wasn't specific, so it's my bad in not mentioning that.

But as skinslapper mentioned, a nice thick area rug definitely would help. Always try the cheapest way first.

[deanc54]

Hey Pantera!

I get a really good accoustic quality in a small 12 x 15 carpeted room by placing a couple of unused mattresses along the walls adjacent and in front of my kit. No matter how hard you try, it is always a challenge to get good accoustics on a concrete floor. The rug you use should be really dense.

[pantera]

Unfortunately I won't be putting anything up on the walls except paintings… And no stage setting either...

I already have a nice carpet under the kit, but it didn't do much. What I did yesterday was remove the bass drum's front head. I thought we had a blanket in there, but we had put a large, heavy, flexible pillow (the big ones you use on sofas for decoration). When we put it in last year I had it so the sides went up the left/right sides of the bass drum, not against the heads.

Once we removed it I had my son play the bass drum without it, and it sounded terrible (hollow with lots of vibration). Put the big pillow in and pushed it up against the heads and it was too muffled.

So we looked around and found his baby blanket from his crib (scary, that was only 10 years ago...!) made of some silk like material with probably foam in it. It’s big enough that we could cover both heads (to about the mid-way level). That sounded better, but still not fantastic, but not muffled or hollow either. I did tighten the front head a lot, but the batter side not as much. I had it looser but it didn't sound good, so I tightened it up a bit more.

We'll try that for now. But I'm open to suggestions on other things I could try inside the bass drum that might help with the sound.

[Der Trommler]

You might give the Evans EMAD (1ply), or EMAD2 (2ply) bass drum batter a try. They has two different sized muffling rings that attach to the batter side that control those overtones nicely.

Evans EMAD

Evans EMAD2

I also added an Evans pillow system to mine to get that really deep thud out of it.

Evans RGS Dampener

As for the acoustics, short of adding things with soft density like a couch, lazy boy style chair, carpets and so forth you might have to try to fix the sound of the drums using dampening (heads, moon gels or rings).

	Evans Drumheads Shop for Evans Drumheads at Musician's Friend

[deanc54]

Hey Pantera,

Der Trommler has some great advice. It's amazing what the Evans Emad, and the Aquarian Super Kick II will do to muffle the bass drum. The interchangeable muffle rings (while kind of a pain to experiment with), combined with a specialized muffling pillow available commercially will most likely get the job done for you. Manipulation of the bass drum legs to get the proper elevation off the surface of the floor may amke a difference as well. Good luck!

	Aquarian Drumheads Shop for Aquarian Drumheads at Musician's Friend

	Evans Drumheads Shop for Evans Drumheads at Musician's Friend

[chaser334]

im definitely with der trommler on this one. the Evans EMAD 2 is by far the best bass head i have ever used. soon i really wanna try the superkick 3, and the powerstroke 3.

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