DURDEN PRODUCTIONS STUDIO BUILD

Hello all! The name is Milo and I'm from the Seattle Washington USA area. I've been a huge fan of the site ever since i discovered it about a year ago. About a year ago my band, father, and i embarked on a journey to create our own home studio for my band and I. I am currently in school for audio engineering and music production so I've been super excited about this whole process. A lot of the studios on this site's forum have been the inspiration for ours. Now, down to the specs. Because i am only 21 we don't have a huge budget ($20,000 USA) for this project. Our studio's location is in the basement of my house (a decent size area). Because it is in a basement right off the bat we had two main issues, One being the cement floor being slanted, and two the ceiling height. But before we could address those issues we first had to create the layout and room for the studio. Thanks for checking it out and I will keep you all updated!

UPDATE! So here is some pictures and specs of the framing and insulation process. We did have a professional come in and do the framing but we did all the insulation our selves. Because it is in a basement we needed this as sound proof as possible. All the walls have two layers of insulation, the standard pink R-19 and the green roxul acoustic insulation. The ceiling has these two layers and a layer of sound board (a dampening wood). Sheet rock is next!!

Please read the forum RULES (stickies) that can be found at this link: viewforum.php?f=17 Please correct your initial post to conform with these rules and guidelines. Many here will not only NOT help while waiting in respect for owners and other better qualified persons to proceed, but will simply ignore these type of posts completely. You may want to immediately ask "what is it that I have missed". Most often it is as simple as including your geographical location in your profile. It might be that you have not included your budget! Trust me in that the more you know the better others can help you and that the answer to that question is in the forum rules linked page. Until then, good luck, Brien

The sheet rock stage finally began this week. We decided to use QuietRock sheet rock around the entire studio, ceiling and walls. It is the same thickness as normal 1/2" sheets but with a dead space in between. We also used spacers on the wall separating the live room and control room for an added 1/4" of dead space. We had rounded corners put on all the edges for a classier look as well as helping with acoustics a little bit. The walls are up and the cracks are filled, we are just waiting for everything to dry so we can begin spraying the texture and prepare for paint!

When I see builds like this, that move faster than information can be given if it were asked for, I always wonder is it just more money then brains or is age a factor? We know it looks good, but the monies you spent on Quietrock...I dunno..I guess to quote Nick Saban, "If you want to drink the Kool-Aid". That means you can believe what they tell you, but until it is a proven fact, it's just water and sugar :)

congrats miles.. let us know how well your soundproofing works.

xSpace wrote:

When I see builds like this, that move faster than information can be given if it were asked for, I always wonder is it just more money then brains or is age a factor? We know it looks good, but the monies you spent on Quietrock...I dunno..I guess to quote Nick Saban, "If you want to drink the Kool-Aid". That means you can believe what they tell you, but until it is a proven fact, it's just water and sugar :)

The entire build up until this point has been ongoing for 9 months. The research and studying before the original design was even thought up was about 2 years worth, as well, so hopefully all of that will give as good of a turn out as we can ask for. Money is absolutely a factor, limiting us to many of the things we would like to do but simply can not afford, not in the sense you're implying. With each purchase and step forward we take we use money saved between steps before-hand, also extending the time it will take to get to the finished product. With the Quietrock, we completely knew it could be a waste of money and with almost everyone telling us it would be, we almost didn't. But having a little extra money to put towards getting the walls up we didn't want to have to look back and wonder "what if?" so we decided to go with it, and hopefully it turns out to be a wise decision. Please let me know if you have any positive input for us or questions and I will be glad to answer them. Sorry I haven't gone in to much detail with the thread but I haven't really had the chance, I will make sure to post all the details as soon as possible.

It is the same thickness as normal 1/2" sheets but with a dead space in between. We also used spacers on the wall separating the live room and control room for an added 1/4" of dead space.

I guess I don't understand that part about the "dead space in between". Dead space between what and what? Maybe you have a photo or sketch to show what that looks like, and maybe also a photo of the "spacers on the wall ... for an added 1/4" of dead space". I'm confused about that.

Soundman2020 wrote:

It is the same thickness as normal 1/2" sheets but with a dead space in between. We also used spacers on the wall separating the live room and control room for an added 1/4" of dead space.

I guess I don't understand that part about the "dead space in between". Dead space between what and what? Maybe you have a photo or sketch to show what that looks like, and maybe also a photo of the "spacers on the wall ... for an added 1/4" of dead space". I'm confused about that.

Here are a few pictures to show what i was talking about, i hope these might help explain a little better. The spacers are on the framing like a grid, and around the window. We were quite aware that this might be a complete waist of time and money but we didn't want to look back and wonder if we had done it would we have better results. so we decided to go ahead with trying the quiet rock and spacers. as soon as we are done with the sheet rocking process i'll let you know what the results are as far as isolating any sound.

"we would like to do but simply can not afford, not in the sense you're implying." What I am implying is this. After-the-fact, you are showing these pictures. Nice looking, great use of the area, for the most part. Some things are not what you think they are, but by and large, it is what it is. But had you asked questions rather than simply posting pictures of what you guys have already built someone would have questioned many things that could have stopped this type of thinking "..We were quite aware that this might be a complete waist of time and money but we didn't want to look back and wonder if we had done it would we have better results." I guess my thinking is why are you involving us now when you have all but completed the build? Just seems backwards to me.

so hopefully all of that will give as good of a turn out as we can ask for.

I don't want to appear harsh here, but the word "hopefully" doesn't belong in studio construction, and there several details in your construction (apparent both from the photos and from your descriptions) that point to things actually NOT turning out "as good as we can ask for". It might turn out OK (maybe), but it certainly could have been much better, and probably cheaper too, if only you would have been lucky enough to find this forum BEFORE you actually started building, and post your plans for the experts to look at and comment on. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, so you have several issues in your design and build (so far) that are not optimal. It might be too late already, but if you were to post a detailed and accurate SketchUp model of what you had originally, what you have right now, and what you plan to have at the end, I'm sure that folks here could offer some constructive suggestions on how you could improve things, and probably improve them greatly. - Stuart -

Soundman2020 wrote:

there several details in your construction (apparent both from the photos and from your descriptions) that point to things actually NOT turning out "as good as we can ask for". It might turn out OK (maybe), but it certainly could have been much better

Examples please