Maybe I should build in the basement...

Since I haven't got started on my "above the garage" studio, I'm thinking I should build in the basement, instead. Rod's book warns about issues with elevated wooden decks, which is what I have above the garage. I have the same or more square footage in the basement, and I could get better soundproofing (just less daylight). Here's my layout in the basement... I write and record my own songs with fellow musicians. It is rock music with electric guitars and drums (briancottrill.com). My three daughters (14, 11, 9) also play music. My neighbors are just far enough away that I don't really bother them now, even before I do any soundproofing. Any soundproofing would be done for others in the house. I want to make rooms useful for recording music, but not something so bizarre, that it could cause a problem if I would need to sell my house. So I may keep the room shapes rectangular, unless someone convinces me that I could soffit mount the spreakers by just adding a couple small extra walls that could be torn down quickly, if needed. I thought I bounce this off of the folks here to see what you think before I start ordering materials. Any advice appreciated...

i dunno, that ceiling looks awfully organized and we like to see pain and suffering when people build out in their basement :wink: :D i think your layout probably works but i'd just look to make sure the overhead ducting - if its off center in the control room and you build out soffits, make sure the soffits are symmetrical so you don't get odd behaviors on either side of it.

I've decided to build in the basement. I can just have the entire control room ceiling at the same height to avoid any symmetry issues. I've gotten extremely busy at work the last few years. Working very long hours. So if a contractor shows up in a couple weeks, as promised, and starts on the bathroom, then soon after, the studio portion will begin. I'm thinking of attaching the bathroom ceiling to the joists above with no de-coupling, since I wouldn't be making music in there. And maybe just using a regular solid core exterior door with a gasket, to the bathroom. I'm not sure where the control room door and drum room door should go exactly. I'd appreciate any advice anyone can offer on that. The approximate location of doors are labeled on the drawing below.

Your house EXT looks like a fairy tale :shock: too perfect. I'd move ya loo away from the studio as water and pipe noise is hard to contain. And the "porch"/storage area- Wouldn't you perfer to access that without going through the studio?

Good point. But, the bathroom pipes were poured into the concrete three years ago when the house was built. They can't be moved. The bathroom walls cannot be changed at this point. I should be OK with the water noise, since all walls and ceilings will not be touching. There will be several inches between adjacent stud walls. Only the control room ceiling will touch the floor above. But I'll decouple it with iso clips and hat track. I also plan to use two layers of drywall everywhere with Green Glue in between.

It looks like the construction crew should start on the bathroom Monday. I'll need to decide where the doors will go in the control room and drum room before too long. Any thoughts?

The contractors are progressing well on the bathroom. They should be done in about a week or so. That will enable me to start on the studio. I measured exactly the space I am starting with. In the Control Room, there is 19' max by 13'. If I subtract for a studwall with 2 sheets of 5/8 drywall (~4.75") and an air gap (2") by the block outer wall and then subtract the second stud wall with 2 sheets of 5/8 drywall (~4.75"), then I'm left with about 18'x12' for the control room floor. I have 7'8" to work with from floor to the bottom of the HVAC main ducts. For the ceiling, I'll extend the joists down about 2" below the ducts, to make a level ceiling in the control room to have symmetry (as recommended by Glenn-Gullfo). Then add Iso clips and drywall, adding Green Glue and another sheet of drywall. The final ceiling would be about 7'3". So I have a 18'x12'x7'3" room inside the drywall. If I check this with ModeCalc (from realtraps.com), it looks OK. There is one doubling of 188Hz. I could shorten the 18' length by up to 2', if it could help with modes. I could change the dimensions to 16'11"x11'7"x7'3" to get a 1:1.60:2.33 (which is one of the much preferred ratios to have). Is it worth losing the space in the room to have this preferred ratio? The drum room is 13'6" max by 13' before studs and drywall, with 8'6" height from concrete basement floor to ceiling joist above. If I subtract for studs and drywall again, like above, there is 12'6" by 12' for the floor area. If I use independant 8" ceiling joists to hang two sheets of drywall on with a 1.75" air gap (~11" total), there is about 7'7" left for the ceiling. So my drum room is 12'6"x12'x7'7" inside the drywall. Obviously the 12' and 12'6" dimensions are close, so the resonant frequencies are close. I won't get any golden ratios out of this room. But I could down size to a 12'6"x11'8"x7.2" to have them spread a little more. Once again, is it worth it?

a studwall with 2 sheets of 5/8 drywall (~4.75") and an air gap (2") by the block outer wall

It sounds like you are planning to build your wall inside out, correct?

an air gap (2")

2 inches is not enough. The minimum recommended air gap is 4": Less than that and your MSM resonant frequency gets too high. You'd need a lot of extra mass to compensate. Also, from the rough sketch it looks like your mix position is almost exactly in the middle of your room. Not good! It would be a good idea to do your design in SketchUp, in full detail and accurately, then post it here for comments. That simple sketch does not provide any useful information. - Stuart -

Stuart- Thanks for the info about the air gap! I appreciate the help. The drawing is not intended to show exact mix position, but only an approximate placement of room layout. I am aware of the middle of the room being a bad mix position. I thought optimal was about 38% or so. I have spent hours with sketchup, but I still have only tragic, crude drawings. They don't help much. Maybe I'm not good at using it. The walls will not be "inside out". The drywall will be on the inside. I attached my preliminary plan for wall layers below.

The contractors have finished the bathroom. They have offered to help me start on the studio build. So I'm gonna move over to the Construction Forum. I still need to set my door locations and set my exact room dimensions.