Where do you place your drums in your room?

Duck Tape

Platinum Member
I'm jamming with some new guys tomorrow, and I thought I'd better turn my drums around.

They were in the corner, facing the corner, sounding great.

Now they're facing the centre of the room, sounding really different. I had an off night last night and tonight so I might have felt at odds anyway but it's like playing a completely different kit. I feel like a fish out of water.

I might turn them back around.

Where do you place yours?
 
Not facing a wall. Against a wall facing out, in the middle of the wall.
 
I would imagine they would sound very different facing a corner vs facing the room ...

Into a corner the sound is reflecting right back at you and a corner "loads" the bass response in effect amplifying it.

Mine are in a corner facing out ...

Pearlset100.jpg
 
I try to avoid angling a drum kit in a corner.
I find that generally a kit sounds best when it is in the center of a wall facing out with fabric behind it on the wall to stop reflected sound waves.
I also like a room with high ceilings.
 
They might sound very different to you, different than what you are used to but you don't know what they will sound like to your band.

This has always been the biggest surprise to me playing on a stage. You sit in the audience the amps and PA are incredibly loud, you sit behind the kit and its almost hard to hear.
 
Every week I setup in a studio with a band and If I sit near the wall, facing into the room, I find that my double bass playing is very hard to hear, so I need to be at seated at least a meter from the wall behind me.
 
Mine are facing straight at a wall as there's not much space in my practice room, but I do agree with you, I used to have them facing out into the room and they just sounded so much.....bigger I guess!

If I was practising in that space with a band I'd probably have them facing into the room rather than the wall, unless it was going to be a really quiet practice. I think facing the wall would absorb the sound just a bit too much possibly
 
I don't know why people put drums into a corner. It's doesn't fit that well unless you push the hat and floor tom way forward.

There is some bass reinforcement from being in a corner that may make them sound deeper and bigger to someone stuck in the corner with them.

Ideally, straight along a wall and a bit out from the wall. For sound purposes try to avoid having your back right up against the wall, although for space reasons that may be unavoidable.

I'm also not a fan of having soft materials directly behind me like carpet or heavy drapes. It eats the sound of the snare and you end up bashing away more than you need to. There was one place I played in a few times that had the stage in a corner with a drum riser and the back wall was carpeted. You couldn't hear anything back there. The bass was just an indistinct rumble that you couldn't lock into and the snare sounded like it was dead. A lot of folks would be cranking up their top heads trying to get some brightness back and then bashing the snot out of them. The place was large enough that the kits were partially mic'd but drummers would be banging the snares so hard just to hear them that the FOH didn't need to mix them in.

My small project studio has a hard wall behind the drums (straight out from the short wall) with bass traps in the corners to either side, an RPG diffusor from about snare height up, and a hanging cloud overhead. It gets a fairly balanced and neutral sound.
 
Well mine's facing a wall by 45 degree to the right. The bass drum ain't facing the wall directly.
 
Not facing a wall. Against a wall facing out, in the middle of the wall.

Likewise here....my mancave is only about 10 x 10 and I have my computer and tool bench in there, so there aren't a lot of options.
 
Our rehearsal room has a drum riser at one end of the room. When recording I have to set up at the other end (loosely) in a corner because it works better with isolation. At home I'm set up in the middle of the lounge room.
 
If the jam is at someone elses place, I arrive early to setup and get in a corner, but with back against a sidewall, not angled out of the corner (out of the
way for the rest to setup) because it takes me longer to tear down too.

When we jam at my house my drums are where I can get to the door if someone shows up
without having to walk through the band.
 
Makes a big difference if you have a room full of people. In a small bar or pub you can get a wall to wall audience on the same level as you. It just sucks up the sound and makes it completely different.
 
Never facing directly into a wall or a corner. It's like hearing yourself in an 8' x 8' plastic iso booth. But again, maybe you like that sort of sound, lol.

Dennis
 
I'm resurrecting this thread. Placement I think is relative to what you're doing. If you're just practicing, put the drums where they fit. Move them around to find the best sounding spot if possible. As long as you can play, it works.myoure just practicing

If you're rehearsing with a band, space is the ruler. Put your drums where they fit. Away from a wall a bit if possible, but you may not have options. I like having the amps on either side of me just behind my kick or just behind my hi hat/floor tom if space allows it.

If you're recording, definitely away from the walls is best, but not a rule. Look at this pic from sabbath recording paranoid. Bill Ward is in the corner right up against the wall.
 

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