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A good practice space isn’t just equipped well — here’s how to cheaply make it sound better too.
Show notes
What does sounding good mean? (And have you checked out the first episode on this topic?)
- Sometimes you can describe things by what they’re not
- Lots of echoes — try clapping your hands and listen for a ring and clatter right after the initial clap
- Very boomy corners
- Uneven sound depending where you are, frequencies peaking or dropping out
- What does sound good?
- More even frequency response
- Less room reverberation
How can you achieve a good sound (on the cheap)?
- Get rid of high frequency ringing and reverberation
- Cut down on flat surfaces, mainly ceiling and walls
- Bookcases full of books are a cheap fix for diffusing reverberation (not perfect, but can help)
- Floor isn’t as important, our ears and brain compensate for that
- But a rug doesn’t hurt
- Heavy sound absorbing foam, usually sawtooth shaped cross section
- Sound panels made of absorbent material, usually covered in fabric
- Hang from ceiling as well as walls
- Can also be used to span corners, sometimes in wedge shapes
- Heavy fabric draped on wall or ceiling cuts down on ring/reverb
- But not usually effective in corners — unless it’s so heavy you have a hard time hearing through it
Other tips
- Don’t shove the drummer in an untreated corner
- Accentuates the worst issues of that part of the room
- Forces the drummer to get the worst sound, too!
- This goes for your bass amp too — excessively boomy, mushy sound
- Use the right size amp for your room
What do you do in your practice space?
- Dave:
- Make it a place I want to hang out — chill space as well as working on music
- The furnishing and other casual stuff also cuts down on echoes
- Paul:
- I don’t keep it excessively tidy 🙂
- I’ve treated it with some sound absorbing foam wedges
- Lots of bookcases
- Not above stacking dense junk in the corner either
Photo by Paulette Wooten on Unsplash. Music: Jahzzar, Please Listen Carefully; spinningmerkaba, Urbana-Metronica (wooh-yeah mix).