drum booth design

Here is a drum booth that I designed for a client once. The importance was to make it simple so that the average carpenter could wrap his head around it. Also, the panels were standardized.

My pet peeve for most drum booths is that that they don't make it easy to get into front of the kit. So my plan calls for the front wood panel fronts to be on hinges or removable so that if you need to readjust the kick mic (which you usually have to fairly often), you simply address the kick from outside the front through the removable/hinged panel.

I made this one on a rather large scale to minimize the reflections inside the booth. Also the carpenter added some cross support on the ceiling which actually made a great place to mount one of those mic studs and remove overhead stands. The other reason for having wood on the bottom 1/4 is to visually remove the clutter of stand bases, mic cables, mic stands, etc.

Ventilation is important. Most booths forget this. The client actually left some space in the ceiling for heat to rise out of the booth. The plan asked for a vent low where some sort of fan could push air towards the drummer. But some sort of vent on top will keep the heat from building up inside.

The back wall is standard fiberglass filled wall with a cloth cover that creates better acoustical environment.

This plan, I feel, looks better than those commercial ones, especially since you can choose your own color scheme. It is also cheaper, and at worse, the same cost.

OT - my idea to improve the internet experience

I know that everyone has an opinion, but this is my space and I will voice mine.

I have stated for years that I see a simple solution to the cleaning up of the internet experience. I see it as a similar issue that cities today have when trying to control the adult industry. We live in the USA and there are freedoms that can't be trampled on, but we can corral or steer them. Most cities in these United States, have in already in place, laws that limit where an adult oriented establishment can set up shop. More importantly, they limit where they can't be. Usually it goes something along the lines of being at least X amount of feet away from places that are known haunts of underage children (schools, parks, etc.) These laws have been in effect for years and have stood the test of our freedoms.

So I ask, why not do something similar in the world wide web (or within the US borders, more specifically).

I remember reading a couple things a few years back. First, there are only a handful of locations that all internet traffic comes through when entering the US proper. Second, by far the majority of adult entertainment internet sites are hosted outside of the US borders. I want to say that the figure is somewhere above 90%. Most adult entertainment is there for monetary purposes.

Here's my logic. If most of these sites that mom's find offensive are coming from outside of our borders, and there are pinch points at our borders, why not use that to our advantage. We can't stop the traffic because of the "freedoms" allotted in our country. But, we can direct the traffic, just like our cities already do.

My plan is simple.

First, make it a federal law that internet browsers only show material that contains a simple 2 bit header code that delineates the content being sent. 2 bits gives us 4 levels and the powers that be can determine what those are, but basically you will have a code deeming it good for all and a code deeming it only good for those above the age of 18. Also, the browser comes preset to only show the G rated stuff by default. So you don't try to go after the criminals who are outside of the US jurisdiction, you limit the browser companies (there are only a few out there, you know).

Second, you make it a federal law that any content coming through the major internet hubs (again only a few exist) must contain that header information, or it will be blocked.

So, if you are in the adult industry (gambling fall under this as well), then you will comply in order to keep your customers and profits. If you make a browser that doesn't comply, you will be fined, or jail or something.

Finally, there is a creation of an enforcement division somewhere that reacts to consumers reporting any unwanted content finding them. The enforcement folks issue a command to block that IP address at the pinch points until the offending organization complies.

There it is. I find this to be simple and it doesn't step on anyone's freedoms than before. If you want the content, then you tell the browser to show it. Just like the adult industry in the physical world, people will find their way to it if they want, but it isn't found accidentally by little kids. I am sure people will find a hack to the browsers but again, those will be the people that want to get that content. By far the majority will not go those lengths, and the conservatives will remain happy.

The only downside that I see to this will be a temporary slowdown in the internet due to those extra bits, but things will speed back up again just like in the past when streaming video/audio hit the net by force.