Key posts: Basement studio in West Virginia: build diary

Substantial posts by britune, who started the thread, and by the forum’s most active contributors. 71 of 144 posts are listed.

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britune, 28 February 2010I live a rural West Virginia, USA. Since I'm not in a city, there is no code inspection or enforcement. I have been reading this site for a few years. I have learned a…
John Sayers, 1 March 2010why don't you get away from the box rooms? britune_3.jpg File not preserved: britune_1.skp
britune, 1 March 2010John- Thanks for the sketchup! I have spent many hours with sketchup, only to come away with very crude drawings that were not accurate. My wife and I had agreed that we…
britune, 5 March 2010It's an exciting day when the soundproofing materials arrive. I ordered them from the Sound Isolation Store . Their prices seem decent. They give you a discount based on…
britune, 15 March 2010The drum room was framed. It has independant, isolated ceiling joists. corner.jpg wall.jpg
britune, 17 March 2010I built the first HVAC silencer and put it in place to see if it fits. It looks like it will work well. I still need to get some duct liner or 1" OC 703 to deaden the…
britune, 17 March 2010I didn't call it unistrut, because the unistrut I'm used to seeing is like the picture below. This stuff may be unistrut, but it is "L" shaped, instead of "U" shaped,…
britune, 18 March 2010I saw the firestop detail below in the past on greengluecompany.com. They used to have a diagram similar to this on their website. But I can't find it now. I left a gap…
britune, 19 March 2010The final two stud walls were put around the control room. Can anyone please comment which gives better isolation... 1. Putty pads over electrical outlet boxes, OR 2.…
John Sayers, 19 March 2010I'd build it like this: detail.jpg and between both rooms detail_1.jpg
britune, 19 March 2010John, Brien, and Lilith- Thanks for your help. I bought putty pads, but i could easily build the boxes with 2x4s and not use the putty pads. I could re-sell them, if I…
britune, 19 March 2010I started mounting the outlets and light switches and building the boxes around them. I about destroyed the first 2x4, and then realized I couldn't use 12 penny nails.…
britune, 22 March 2010John- I'm changing my build to the design you posted in your picture. If I'm using 2 sheets of 5/8" drywall with green glue in between, should I spend the money to put…
britune, 23 March 2010That ethic will cost me a lotta $$$ in insulation! :( I have small 2x4 blocks on the back of the outlet boxes. I put acoustic caulk around the openings. I finished the…
Soundman2020, 23 March 2010It will cost you an awful lot more in isolation if you don't! Failing to put insulation in your wall cavity will cost you in the region of 10 to 15 dB of transmission…

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britune, 23 March 2010I noticed that the folks who make the flex duct with fiberglass insulation have that enclosed in plastic. I thought I'd copy that so that small fiberglass particles…
Soundman2020, 23 March 2010If you are concerned about that, then a filter at the ends of the ducts would take care of all of that. Air filters are a good idea anyway. In any event, according to…
Soundman2020, 24 March 2010Actually, it seems to be about a an issue with the poor design of a plenum, not really a filter. What Rod said there about back pressure is: "Then there is this issue…
britune, 25 March 2010Here are the latest pictures. I will have to rebuild my HVAC silencers without the plastic on the rigid fiberglass. I did finish the electrical wiring and electrical…
Soundman2020, 25 March 2010Two comments: 1) Light boxes: So your lights are coming through your drywall? Don't forget to make up for the lost mass all around the box, and caulk everything very…
britune, 27 March 2010I spent most of the last two days building new silencers that are made out of 19/32" OSB, instead of the 7/16" OSB I was using. I also made the chambers longer and added…
britune, 29 March 2010I worked on the studio Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I built new HVAC silencers and did some electrical wiring work. I'll post pictures Monday. But more…
britune, 29 March 2010As I was rebuilding the new HVAC silencers this weekend, I realized that I didn't have enough 1" OC 703 rigid fiberglass. The closest place to get more was a 2 hour…
britune, 29 March 2010John and Butch put the silencers in the ceiling and connected the ductwork. In the drum room, I cut shims to use between the joist and silencer, so the silencers could…
britune, 30 March 2010John- Check out the pictures on page 3. They are lined with 1" OC 703. Thanks. I ran out to Radio Shack last night and bought some headphone extension cables to run to…
bassman, 30 March 2010Before you insulate, go over the wires with a fine tooth comb to make sure you've got everything. I have Cat5, BNC and multi-core stuff going everywhere and it comes in…

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britune, 31 March 2010The Drywall arrives! Butch and John started hanging it. They already put up the 1/2" drywall in the hall outside the recording area. Today the 5/8" drywall was…
britune, 31 March 2010The 1/2" drywall went in the other (non-studio) parts of the basement. My MAM is: M(basement studio 5/8" drywall-green glue-5/8" drywall) A(air gap between the studio…
britune, 1 April 2010The first layer of drywall is still going up... cntldry.jpg drumdry.jpg
britune, 3 April 2010John and Butch started putting up the 2nd layer of drywall, after applying 2 tubes of Green Glue per sheet. They have hung the ceiling drywall in the control room and…
britune, 6 April 2010I ordered glass window setting blocks and glazing tape from a website I found... http://www.technologylk.com/ I'll post later how that works out. They seem to have the…
britune, 19 April 2010The drywall is done. The rooms are painted. We decided to pain an accent wall in each room. The control room is blue with a silver accent wall. The drum room is red with…
britune, 3 May 2010The electrical wiring is done in the control room and drum room. The HVAC registers are in place. I still have electrical work to be done in the hallway. I had some…
britune, 4 May 2010The floor tile has been started in the control room by John and Butch. tile1.jpg
britune, 18 May 2010John and Butch have finished the floor tile. The trim is done, except around the windows. I still have to order the laminated glass and install the interior windows.…
britune, 13 June 2010Thanks Roman. Congratulations on your new son! It's hard to get a lot done when you have little babies to take care of. I remember remodeling the basement from my last…
britune, 16 June 2010Butch- Great to see you posting here... I just got my laminated glass and I will install soon. Butch came up with a great idea in constucting my door openings to the…
britune, 18 June 2010Butch and John- Thanks for your help and great work and ideas in building my studio. I got my glass in... 7/16" and 9/16" thick. It's a good feeling when you find out…
britune, 19 June 2010With my temporary desk in the room, I have noticed that I don't have much space for two sets of speakers. My KRK Rockit RP5's will sit on the desk OK. But there is no…
britune, 17 July 2010I have had all of my window materials for a while and finally got the time to install them. I bougt glass window setting blocks and glazing tape from a website I…

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britune, 17 July 2010I found out my rubber setting blocks were not as thick as I needed. So I glued two of them together. I peeled off the first side of the glazing tape and stuck it to the…
britune, 17 July 2010With my temporary desk in the room, I noticed that I don't have space for two sets of speakers. I did not build soffit structures as part of the wall, because one of my…
britune, 29 July 2010Hi Butch! I still need to come up with a plan for the exterior window. When I have someone play drums in the drum room, it makes a very quiet sound in the control room.…
britune, 1 August 2010I finally got a Radio Shack spl meter to make some measurements of my isolation. There is still an open hole at the back of my control room in front of the outside…
britune, 6 September 2010My daughters, my nephew Todd, and I recently played a few songs at my daughters vocal recital in a high school auditorium. Hannah is playing drums and just turned 12.…
britune, 12 November 2010After spending almost all of my time working on our new hospital ( thenewuhc.com ), I am finally ready to work more on my studio. We moved our patients into the new…
britune, 25 November 2010I have an outside window to my studio control room pictured below. The outside layer has an window that I wanted to match with the inside window. My house was built 4…
britune, 20 December 2010I bought two desks on eBay and put them together. There is the main 6' desk for my mixer and monitors. I also bought a 4' desk for my keyboard. I'm not much of a…
britune, 3 January 2011A bought a (loveseat) couch for the back of the studio. I didn't want to get too long of a couch and have it block the bathroom door. I also got an SE Electronics…
britune, 22 January 2011I built my portable gobos (bass traps). I wanted to make two that I could stack in the corner as bass traps, although by putting a small gap between the two sheets of…
britune, 22 January 2011By the way, I think I spent about $120 to make these. I think Primacoustic's (GoTrap Studio Gobo) professionally made version is about $450 each or $900 for two. Here is…

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britune, 1 February 2011Maybe I don't understand the definition of "gobo"... But on the Real Traps website , it looks like they have peices of framed OC703 4-6" thick that make their gobo…
britune, 23 July 2011I started work on my daughter's album recording before the bass traps are built. You can see drummer Bob Workman in the drum room with bare OC 703 rigid fiberglass piled…
britune, 25 July 2011I finally got around to start building my bass traps. As per Ethan Winer's recommendations, I'm starting in the corners with 4" thick Owens corning 703 panels, so they…
britune, 25 July 2011I made traps in four colors for the drum room: blue, red, purple, and green. Part 1 is here. trap16.JPG trap15.JPG trap14.JPG Image not preserved: trap13.JPG trap12.JPG…
britune, 25 July 2011I have taken most of my pictures with my iphone. I decided to take a couple with a decent camera. Here's the drum room shot through a wide angle lens... drum room 1.jpg…
britune, 30 July 2011Glenn- I finally got around to testing the noise reduction from the second exterior window in my control room. With both windows open, the noise from the outside air…
gullfo, 31 July 2011you could also set up your DAW with a mic and calibrate it (crudely) to your sound meter and then see if you can get a decent estimate on the very lowest levels. run the…
britune, 2 August 2011I made four more tall corner bass traps. These are in the control room. I used the same technique as the other ones . bass traps front.jpg bass traps back.jpg bass traps…
britune, 5 September 2011Hi Fender Bender! Always nice to hear from a fellow Mountaineer! I built the 2' x 4' bass traps for the flat wall surfaces. I made the frames the same way as the earlier…
britune, 5 September 2011Here are the rest of the traps. My studio is mostly done now. I think I will hang my guitars and artwork. Then I'll be done. BT20.jpg BT19.jpg BT18.jpg BT17.jpg BT16.jpg…
britune, 1 October 2011JabbaJaw and Gavin- Thanks for posting and the kind comments. Please follow the forum rules and completely update your profiles. I will eventually use the free REW…
britune, 13 December 2011sandlefoot and lowemae- thanks for the compliments! I'd like to put up my guitars on wall hangers in the studio. To use the drywall anchors that I'd like to use, I'd…

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britune, 14 December 2011David- I don't have a running total, but I would guess about $20K. That includes a full bathroom. The control room ceiling is 7' 3". The drum room ceiling is 7' 8".…
BriHar, 14 December 2011Not familiar with that particular anchor bolt. Is there a hinged part in the middle to hold the bolt while you poke it through? I am more accustomed to the butterfly…
RJHollins, 14 December 2011those are similar 'toggle' mounts that I used to hang my 80+lb clouds off my ceiling ... 4 bolts/ cloud. I did force a bit of caulking in the hole before inserting the…
BriHar, 15 December 2011Good advice RJ. I used exactly that on my balcony ceiling edge (nothing to do with acoustics here though) I needed to put up hooks for Xmas lights but the ceiling is…
britune, 26 April 2012My 13 year old daughter has been playing drums (kit) in the middle school steel drum band Pandemonium. They came over Sunday for a 2 hour recording session and cut 10…
britune, 22 July 2012I finally got around to putting up the hallway ceiling. As you go down the steps from my house, in the basement there are two closet doors, then the drum room, then the…
britune, 26 August 2012I finally installed my guitar hangers using the wall anchors I had a picture of previously in this diary. The Swing String hangers are very solid and they rotate to…
britune, 6 April 2014I tapped into the main HVAC sends and returns in the basement. I used insulated flex duct to connect my boxes to the trunks. Update on acoustic panels: They tops were…