I think I'm going to have to go with either straddles or superchunks in each corner, including the wall to ceiling corners. I'm leaning towards superchunks. I know they are more costly than a straddle type corner trap, but I have a lot of the mineral wool already, and the stuff I am using is easily available to me, so I don't mind the expense.
Yeah those soffit traps eat space for breakfast. Glad you considered it tho.
The straddle traps are cheaper, but, the big consideration is they are more effective at absorbing bass. This is because standard fluffy insulation is better at bass absorption than rigid, due to a more optimal GFR. (Gas Flow Resistivity)
Did you order rigid or limp mineral wool batts?
Either way both trap styles are good and it wont make or break your build, especially since your adding so many. But if LF absorbsion is to be maxxed, straddeled is the way to go. Ive seen super chunk style where they cut fluffy batts into triangles and incorporated them in the bottom and top quarters of the trap, since bass builds up most in trihedral, 3 way corner junctions.
Considering my 8' ceilings (which are still considered 'too low' for good drum sounds) should I cover the entire ceiling with mineral wool? If so, should I then cover that with plastic sheeting to recover some of the mids and highs?
Floor is going to remain reflective of course.
.
8' ceilings in a drum booth can sound good.
Id cover the area over the kit without question, and probably no plastic.
Id most likely cover the entire ceiling as well, probably no plastic.
It might make sense asthetically to leave the perimeter of the ceiling untreated or not, depending on how it meets up with your ceiling bass traps.
Off the top if my head, i tend to default to completely covered ceiling or 85% covered. No plastic (unless fiber dust concerns you. For me personally id cover in thin plastic for that reason. You can get like .3 mil (3 mil?) Plastic sheathing in a roll for cheap. Its in a big box like aluminum foil or wax paper. The effect of plastic is IMHO, much exaggerated as far as the real world. Cover your speaker in with some plastic wrap or a shopping bag, stand a few feet away and see how little it matters. Ive done this alot.
That said your cymbals probably dont need any HF reflections back into the mics.
Either way i think the difference is negligible. Even spaced slats dont liven things up as much as it looks like they would, ftom my experiences at least.
For ceiling id use 2" rigid with a 2" airspace. 4" rigid with a 2" airspace if youve got the headroom. Or use a 1" airspace. The 4" rigid gets you alot of absorbsion in the low mids. Your ceiling approaches becoming a huge bass trap with 4" and a 2" airspace. 6-8" rigid makes a true bass trap, but 4 with space is damn good considering its the entire ceiling.
That said, even 2" with no airspace will give you good broadband absorbersion. Low ceiling reflections generally arent useful. They are acceptable tho, just not directkt over the kit.
The cave's drum room has 10' ceilings and 3- 2'x4' panels (2" rigid) with i forget how much air space behind them, maybe 6".
My concern is that as a drummer I don't want the room TOO dead. But I also wonder if "totally dead" is the best option for a room as small as mine.
You can add as you go. I like totally dead around the kit, then less as you move away from it.
Totally dead can be cool. But i was surprised at how decent the drums sounded in the cave booth, which was only like 8x10 and 8 ft tall. It had 2x4' panels along the walls and an almost bare ceiling. I tacked a couple small scrap foam peices to the ceiling, but it was mostly bare. Each wall and ceiling was splayed tho. We started tracking vocals and amps before i installed ceiling treatment, and it sounded good so i never finished it.
Perhaps i could have improved it more? Cant say, but the splayed ceiling is what i attribute to not 'needing' ceiling treatment.
would spending time creating REW files be worthwhile in a live room? or is that more useful for control rooms?
It could be interesting. Id say its most useful if youve got some funny rings your trying to pinpoint. Other than that its more for general interest.
With tracking rooms you can move the mics and kit around to optimize the sound. And your shooting for flattering, not flat. This is why measurement is more 'mandatory' in control rooms, where listening position and speakers have less wiggle room.
I'll attach some screenshots from the triad site. I have much better photos in the chaos of my drives and cloud, but youll get the point.
Drums are in the main room, booths are the booths. The control room window gives perspective of the layout.