Playing in a steel building

TommyVercetti

Anyone do this?

I'm in the process of building a barn/garage/workshop/office thing. It's 12m long, 7m wide and 4.5m to the ridge, 3.5m to the eaves. 

Wondering about moving my amps over there from the house (it's about 100m away) so i can play a bit louder with upsetting The Boss.

1. Is it going to be a nasty tinny sounding mess?
2. How will a cab react to living in a cold (but dry) shed? I'll be making a small office in one corner which will be heated - can store guitars/heads in there...

ecc83

There is MANY an old valve radio that worked for decades in cowsheds and garages. No worries.

Dave.

Sassafras

The reverb should be impressive.

uncledick

I've tried playing in an industrial unit which is 16m x 12m.  Sounded bloody awful (worse than usual!)  There will be people on here who can advise about drapes etc. but I definitely wouldn't envisage being able to get away with doing nothing.

thermionic

You won't have to screen your pickup cavities with copper tape.

TommyVercetti

Reverb is good. Tinny clanging is bad. The walls will be box profile but with a couple of courses of blockwork, i could maybe take the blocks up to the eave height which might help. Or line it with kingspan. 

Phil_aka_Pip

IMO you will need drapes or acoustic tiles to deaden the reverb. Even egg boxes can split up sound waves cheaply enough. You'll probably want carpet on the floor too.

ESBlonde

Phil_aka_Pip said:

IMO you will need drapes or acoustic tiles to deaden the reverb. Even egg boxes can split up sound waves cheaply enough. You'll probably want carpet on the floor too.

This /\
 Either make the office bigger for the purpose of playing, or have an old carpet in the playing area and ensure some of the stored goods around are soft like cardboard box piles, etc. to absorbe the ring. One old trick for naff venues used to be ballons in a net in the ceiling, of course they let them out later in the evening but by then most people were drunk/happy. A similar idea might work for you. I've seen old parachutes suspeneded in big spaces to help deaden the reverb too.

Phil_aka_Pip

You could also angle the walls slightly so that they are not parallel to each other - this also reduces standing waves at resonant frequencies