Room's sound quality changed after remodeling.

[lostpro]

Hey guys,

I have a small (10 X 20) lockout room that my band rehearses at. In the past few weeks, I did several things and everything sounds different (for the worse) :

I recarpeted the entire area (with a thinner carpet)
I painted the walls (originally just a gross off white)
I removed a blanket that was hanging from one of the walls (previous tennants, and it was disgusting).


Now when I played with my "pop" band, everything sounded alot more live.. everything was less defined. I said , fine, this is because i took down the blanket from the side wall. My drums were all ringy, guitar was all over the place.

Now here's the kicker : With my metal band, the guitarist's amp (peavy head/marshall cab) sounded less distorted and didn't project at all. It use to fill up the whole room, now it sounds considerable weak. He says he has to turn up the volume alot more and pick harder to get the same sound. How could this be? The blanket is gone, and the carpet is a bit thinner.. what can I attribute this change to?

[Justin]

Get a new blanket and see if it goes back to being more like the sound you used to have. That's the first test.

If that's the case, I'd invest in some nice looking Auralex foam to take the blanket's place.

[lostpro]

I just ordered some industrial foam that is kinda like egg shelled.. it has a NRC equal to Auralex and is much cheaper.. I'll try it out and let you know.

I think the blanket would've *deadened* the sound if anything.. why does his amp sound not fill the room anymore?

[Justin]

Usually sounds from the floor aren't as obvious, but perhaps your old carpet didn't absorb the sound as well as the new stuff? That would explain it. I'm really not sure. I don't have near the sound-treatment experience some of our Sales Engineers have.

[TeeCee]

It's been said that the floor doesn't make too much difference to our ears. I don't know much about that, but did you re-pad under the carpet? Seems like that could trap a lot of stuff.

[Scott Gould]

Since you basically removed a lot of absorptive/diffusive material, you made the room a lot more "live" -which means more reflections. More reflections (and comb filtering) can often lead to phase cancellation of some frequencies = thin sound. Put another blanket and/or some foam up; add some throw rugs or carpet remnants on top of the carpeting. I'm surprised you aren't also getting some nasty standing waves and flutter echoes in an untreated 10 X 20 rectangle...

Scott

[MOFO Pro]

You can test the phase cancellation theory (which I agree with whole heartedly) by moving around the room while the guitarist is playing... If the tone and fullness of the guitar change considerably from place to place, you've definitely got some standing wave issues... bring back the blanket.

[tpbaker]

The phase cancellation theory is certainly more than plausible. Also, The room most likely has a new resonant frequency.

[DAS]

Originally posted by lostpro
.. it has a NRC equal to Auralex and is much cheaper..

In the category of "you get what you pay for" be careful here. NRC is not a definitive measure of the overall effectiveness of material. It is a general indicator, and one good clue, but don't make the mistake of letting that spec convince you two similarly rated materials are equal in practice (when deployed in your studio). The spec is generally applied in industrial settings (factories, etc.), not so much in studio spaces.

http://www.sweetwater.com/insync/word.php?find=NRC