New Project - Looking for Advice Before Starting Work

Hi, I'm a multi-instrumentalist working on producing a solo album. I have been working out of my home studio located in a commercial building. I just signed a lease on a new place with a large basement and the owner has agreed to build it out into a music studio for me. The basement is mostly underground, about 30' x 18.5', with a concrete floor and about 6" of concrete walls. The floor joists are currently exposed, and there are 4 vents high on the walls (above the concrete) that lead to outside. I do environmental consulting by day, so I need to be able to work on music at night without having problems with the neighbors. We had a brief discussion with the contractor who remodeled the house and talked about doing RC channel on the ceiling, putting tile on the floor and something waterproof like stucco on the walls, building a cabinet around the furnace and water heater, adding a heat register to the basement, and sealing the outside vents with some kind of removable seal. I also think the door will probably need to be replaced. The owner seems comfortable spending around $10k on the buildout, and I want to keep it close to that and make sure the money is spent wisely and effectively. I have attached some pictures of my current studio to give an idea of my setup and the basement to give an idea of what we're working with. I would really appreciate any advice about how to approach this project. I'd like to start creating a plan soon, because I don't want the project to move forward and miss any critical steps. Thanks! I'm looking forward to your suggestions. David

Start by following forum rules: Put your location in your profile. Re-size you pictures to no more than 700 pixels in any direction, so folks don't have to scroll to read you text. You should make a drawing showing the walls, floors, ceilings, and dimensions, with the materials they are made of... and show where your neighbors are on the drawings. Or better yet, do it in the free 3D sketchup program used on this site. If you do those things, other can help you. If you read the threads on this site, you'll start to see how others have done their builds.

My apologies. I didn't mean to ignore any protocols of the community. It has been a whirlwind recently as we signed the lease yesterday and are moving this weekend and trying to accomplish everything before I head to NYC early next week. Location added to my profile. I had resized all of the images to 640 x 480 after I originally posted them and realized how big they were. They show up fine for me now so it appeared that the problem was fixed. If they are still showing up too big for everyone, I'll try to figure something else out. (Maybe I need to delete them from imgur and repost them with new links.) Anyway, I would love the chance to sketch out a drawing, but I don't have the time right now, which is why I included pictures and verbally described all those things you mentioned. The dimensions are about 30' x 18.5' x about 6.5' high to the bottom of the floor joists. The closest neighbors are maybe 50 feet away. I will definitely include a drawing when I get moved and have a chance. At this point, I'm simply looking for some very broad advice, such as: - Is it important to fill any air gaps / plumbing penetrations with a particular product (expanding spray foam? something else?) before putting up the ceiling? - Consider using a product like ___?___ at the seam between the foundation and the framing - How to deal with the vents - cap them from outside and fiberglass on the inside above the ceiling? - RC channel __is?__ __is not?__ a good idea in this instance (I'd like to be sure as I need to spare as much vertical height as possible with such low ceilings. This type of info will allow me to at least get started, do some more research, and move the conversation forward with the contractor who is going to be working on the project. Thanks so much for any suggestions.

Do you want one big room? Two or three rooms? You can look at my basement build and do a search on this site for "basement" that will show many others. I wanted to record drums and amps and not bother my family above me or the neighbors. I built independant wall structures that did not touch my basement walls. If you read this site and books like Rod Gervais book, you will see that most folks wanting sound isolation use a Mass Air Mass design. So you have an interior wall, air, and an exterior wall. Each wall must be sealed. I used green glue isolation clips with hat channel for my low ceiling areas. I used two layers of 5/8" drywall with green glue in between for my walls. I boxed in and sealed my electrical outlets. I built HVAC silencers to my heating sends and returns. I used laminated glass for my windows. I used solid core exterior doors with weather seals on them. It sounds like you're in a hurry. But be careful and think every detail through before you build. A lot of folks have had to tear down their construction and build it twice because they didn't build it right the first time. For sound isolation, every component of the build must be done correctly, or your work and money will be wasted. It only takes one weak link in your build to let all the noise out. Many contractors think they know how to do this type of work and almost none of them do.

about 6.5' high to the bottom of the floor joists.

:shock: Ouch! Given that datum, I'd say your floor will absolutely have to stay as plain concrete, sine you do not have enough head room to put anything at all on it (except maybe a coat of paint, and even that much extra height is cutting it fine! :) ), and your ceiling will practically have to be done using Rod's technique of inserting the joists for the new inner-leaf inside the gaps between the floor joists above you. Even so, you are going to be left with less than 6 feet by the time you are done with treatment... I sure hope you are not very tall, and don't need to track drums in there!

- Is it important to fill any air gaps / plumbing penetrations with a particular product (expanding spray foam? something else?) before putting up the ceiling?

Simple answer: Yes it is very important to seal up everything. Use caulk, not spray foam. depending on your isolation needs, you light also need to beef up the floor above you.

- How to deal with the vents - cap them from outside and fiberglass on the inside above the ceiling?

Those vents are there for a purpose: before you do anything to seal them up, you should get advice from your contractor / inspector on what to do about them. Are you permitted to seal them, by your local building code?

- RC channel __is?__ __is not?__ a good idea in this instance (I'd like to be sure as I need to spare as much vertical height as possible with such low ceilings.

It is an option, and would work, but you didn't say how much isolation you need, so it may or may not be right for you. And like Britune said: Slow down, spend LOTS of time researching and designing it right, and only then think about building. - Stuart -