Howdy everybody,
I've been doing a lot of reading on this forum and on Ethan's website. Great information all around! I already have some bass traps on the back burner and diffusers on the mind

I'm a pianist moving into a new loft space in a couple months. My roommate is a drummer, and we're both in a number of groups playing many different styles of music at many different volume levels. The space we're moving into has all cement walls and floors with probably 18 foot ceilings. Very live sounding.

I plan to practice, rehearse, and record demo-quality stuff in this new space, and I'm starting to wonder whether the high ceilings will actually be a problem. I suspect that I will have to come up with some Gobo-esque panels so that I can have some flexibility with room sound, but I'm wondering whether I should also build the equivalent of a ceiling gobo to limit the amount of ceiling reflection I'm getting. I'm especially worried about drum overheads here.

I know that clouds and the like are great for making a low ceiling sound higher and more even, but I wonder if having a cloud of some sort hanging maybe 12' above the floor would sound better than a big concrete ceiling 18' up and exactly parallel to the floor.

So I guess my questions are:

Do people commonly have problems with ceiling reflections in rooms of this size, or are they simply not a factor?

If so, would an absorbent panel be a good idea, particularly one where I can adjust how high above the floor it is?

Is it worthless to even ask these questions until I've really heard how drums sound in the room?

I'm suspect the answer to this last question is "yes" but I'm just trying to build up as much knowledge about acoustic treatment as I can before I move so that I can get started immediately on treatment. Maybe I can even plan my treatment so that it integrates with the bedrooms we're going to have to build. Thanks very much in advance for any thoughts you guys have.

Jon

Hi Jon,

Welcome to the forum.

> I wonder if having a cloud of some sort hanging maybe 12' above the floor would sound better than a big concrete ceiling 18' up and exactly parallel to the floor. <

All acoustic problems are caused by reflections, so the best place for absorption is on or near those reflecting surfaces. With a ceiling that high your main problem will probably just be too much reverb, and the expense of treating a lot of wall surface, as opposed to comb filtering due to proximity to the ceiling.

> would an absorbent panel be a good idea, particularly one where I can adjust how high above the floor it is? <

I don't see any advantage to being able to vary the height. Again, if it turns you you need absorption there just to tame excess reverb in the room, I'd put it about a foot below the ceiling. Absorption will work lower, and you could consider adding it lower because it might be easier than renting a big scaffold etc.

> Is it worthless to even ask these questions until I've really heard how drums sound in the room? <

Yeah, maybe.

--Ethan

Thanks for the quick reply. So comb filtering is not going to be a problem, but reverb might. Maybe I'll post again if I end up doing treatment of this kind, just to get some feedback. Thanks again!