Hardwood Floors in your practice space???

[willbrett]

Any of you guys ever installed/have installed hardwood floors in the room that you've deemed "YOUR PRACTICE ROOM"?

My wife (who plays the string bass) recently talked me into installing bamboo floors in my entire downstairs... First of all, I don't recommend doing this yourself unless you are extremely mechanically inclined... Even then, if you're on a concrete foundation, I'd still pay someone to do it for you. I ruined 3 pairs of jeans, and went through 4 pairs of knee pads just to lay the approx. 1,000 sqft of our downstairs. Anyway, I digress...

Since my wife and I are both "musicians" we designated our homes' "formal dining room" as our 'music room'. We have several instruments in the room, including her bass, my tuba, a trombone, a piano, a violin, a bass drum, several kazoos, a wind chime, 2 guitars, and such...

Anyway, before I pulled the carpet out, this 12X16 room was the perfect room for me to practice in. Now that the carpet is gone, everything sounds like crap! Any note that I play (between a 2nd ledger line C, and a middle C, anyway) reverbs between the bass drum and piano like crazy! I'm actually getting so much reverb out of the bass drum that I sometime feel like I'm double buzzing when I'm not!

Will a normal sized rug (6X8, or so) help anything? Or should I just lug my lazy ***, my tuba and all it's paraphernalia up the stairs when I want to practice (we still have carpet upstairs).

-Brett

[Todd S. Malicoate]

I doubt the area rug idea will change the acoustics of the room much, but I do have an alternate plan...

Hide your wife's rock stop, rubber tip, or whatever else she has for the end pin of her bass. Wait until she pokes enough holes in the new bamboo floor with her end pin to warrant a new floor material...depending on her practice habits, this could take between six months and thirty years, give or take. Then re-floor with that great garage-floor stuff that's available now...the kind with a base layer, some ice cream sprinkles, then a sealer.

Or, you could just go upstairs to practice.

[willbrett]

I doubt the area rug idea will change the acoustics of the room much, but I do have an alternate plan...

Hide your wife's rock stop, rubber tip, or whatever else she has for the end pin of her bass. Wait until she pokes enough holes in the new bamboo floor with her end pin to warrant a new floor material...depending on her practice habits, this could take between six months and thirty years, give or take. Then re-floor with that great garage-floor stuff that's available now...the kind with a base layer, some ice cream sprinkles, then a sealer.

Or, you could just go upstairs to practice.

Man, It's 3:00 in the morning, and you've got me laughing out loud... Shame on you!

If she practiced more than 1 hour every 4 months, stealing her rubber tip would be a great idea!

I guess I'll schlep all my gear upstairs.......... although, I'm hoping to score a silent brass mute soon, and I'm thinking that the acoustics of the room wont' matter so much anymore. We've got our first baby due to arrive in October, and I'm thinking that muted practice time will probably become the norm.

[royjohn]

Hi All,
I tend to like a reverberant space for practice. We have linoleum in the rec room where I practice and hardwood in the living room, and occasionally I'll practice in the living room for a little more reverb. Part of your problem seems to be the other instruments and their insufficient damping. You need to find a way to cut out their sympathetic vibration. Easy enough with the drum, just prevent the membrane from vibrating [pillows?]. More difficult with the piano, which might need something placed against the longer strings when you practice.

A rug would definitely help cut down the reverb, as would drapes. You can even have a little adjustability by opening and closing the drapes. Many modern concert halls feature moveable drapes that do this. If you have any allergies, over time carpet becomes a distinct liability. it is amazing how horribly ratty and dusty it gets, as you can see when you pull it up. A hard surface that you can damp mop, plus an area rug that can be better cleaned or replaced seems a much better option, but that is one person's opinion.

As far as installing it, I actually enjoyed doing the living room and am looking forward to having the time to add hardwood to the family room. I did have a pneumatic nailer-installer and that was a great help. Next time I plan to get better material that is straight and uniform, the last installation got to be a jigsaw puzzle because of warped boards. And I do have better knees than most people, so that wasn't a big problem.
royjohn

[tubatooter1940]

My music room is an old workshop off the garage. It had a ratty carpet that I threw out. The remaining cement floor reverberates like hard wood. The snares on the Slingerland trap set in the room, have to be disengaged or they will drive me nuts. I think an area rug will help - plus some fabric hung anywhere in the room.
A great way to stop a room from ringing too much is to pack it with people.

[MaryAnn]

Well if you decide you don't want that bamboo flooring any more you can come re-install it at my house!

Maybe a real nice well-padded Indian rug of sorts would look nice under the dining room table?

You're SOL, it sounds like....be a tuba-totin'-up-the-stairs guy from now on! Maybe find a fast-n-portable way to insulate the offending vibrating devices?

MA

[imperialbari]

..... your problem seems to be the other instruments and their insufficient damping. You need to find a way to cut out their sympathetic vibration. Easy enough with the drum, just prevent the membrane from vibrating [pillows?]. More difficult with the piano, which might need something placed against the longer strings when you practice.

This is the core of the problem. You may do whatever you want to dampen the room, but if there are free resonators in form of strings and membranes, then reverb will stay uncontrollable.

If you have a sleeping bag, you may store it against the bass and midrange strings of the piano. Make sure it is dry and clean.

You may also want to put an acid-free sponge between the strings and the lower fingerboard of the bass. The same goes for guitars, especially acoustic ones.

Klaus