SMALL Basement Project Studio Build Project

slot resonators can add a good amount of broadband absorption and preserve a lot of HF energy while being diffusive. they also take more work that just building up porous absorbers hung on the walls. so if you're willing make the investment and to put in the work, and like the aesthetics, then slat resonators are quite nice. in this case, since you're going to need a bunch of porous absorbers regardless, start there and if the room needs adjustments - adding angles and more focused frequency treatments, then consider slats.

-Like the asthetics, yes -Willing to do the work, probably -Make the investment . . . unfortunately no. Glad to hear you say to start with the absorbers first, as that is my plan at this point. Please check out my updated drawing (sorry it isn't in sketchup, I don't have access at the moment). The light gray translucent rectangles are proposed ceiling absorbers. The darker rectangles are wall mounted absorbers (not sure how I'm going to get the angles in the CR yet . . . ), the green triangles are super chunks. The organge circle and touching rectangle is a soffit for an I beam/support pole. Please ignore the fact that I didn't flesh out all the stud positions. Door on the bottom left is an exisiting door to another part of the basement. Not sure what to do about ceiling treatment around the soffit. If I were to rotate the desk in front the window that would make the soffit more symetrical with the room, however, the desk would be close to the door and the speakers would be firing down the short length of the room. Thoughts on treatment placement?

is there an option to switch the rooms from the CR and live room (size also)? this would put the soffit in the live room.

Option would be there I suppose, however I have a few concerns with that: 1) with the soffit there, sticking a good 6-8'' below my 7' ceiling, I feel like it would have the possibility of getting in the way during an overhead type mic set up. 2) the furnace is in the next room over to the left, and though I will be doing my best to isolate these new rooms, I am somewhat weary that furnace noise will still leak in. My thinking was to keep the LR farther away and hopefully minimize that chance. 3) if I was unable to get the support pole/i beam/soffit sufficiently isolated, again despite efforts to do so, having the LR in the room with it would mean potentially more transmission to the floor above Maybe I'm wrong though . . .

any option to put the door more on the side of the soffit and then turn the desk to face the window? leaving enough to trap the corner but a bit more out of the way from the desk.

Glenn, I think I know what you're saying, I'm pretty sure I'm going to switch the control room to the right side though - as after looking at it I think I should still be able to get the drums into the room with the soffit. On to a question about beef up: I've taken down the existing drop ceiling. There is an HVAC pipe I wasn't counting on in there, about half way through the room from front to back and spanning the whole two rooms from left to right. I was planning on two levels of 5/8'' beef up on the existing upper floor. What do I do about this pipe? I'm pretty sure it would be impossible to get any drywall up above it without taking it down. So does that mean any beef up I do in the other joist cavities is going to be pointless because of this pipe? Thanks!

It can't hurt to beef up everything you can and the potential isolation difference in that spot may be unavoidable or perhaps you can add some layers of drywall under the duct in a way which avoids creating a triple leaf - layer it so it effectively becomes part of the new isolation ceiling?

Construction is coming along slowly but surely (will post some pics soon). Question: Any practical uses for wood paneling in a studio environment? I have about three sheets of 4x8 that I took off the existing wall. Thanks

depending on the type, it could be useful.

Care to elaborate on what types there are, how I can tell what I have, what their uses may be? This stuff is an 1/8'' thick at best, splinters when broken, but is somewhat flexible. Thanks Glenn!

it sounds like a luan or other type of thin veneer panels which might be useful as a low radius poly (to avoid cracking) or perhaps as a panel on a panel trap. it could also be useful when you have enough absorption for the frequency response but it's too dead so you could add some panels/strips of panels over absorbers to reinforce some HF in the room.

Back to ventilation for a bit: I've been looking all over the site and in some other places trying to figure out the best course of action. Here's what I'm thinking. My budget is pretty much blown and I'm going to try and accomplish this with as little cash as I can. I need to have a way to remove "stale" air from my spaces, and let "fresh" air in. I know I should be concerned with heat/cooling, but I'm more concerned with just making the space breathable. The temp. in my basement is normally pretty consistent throughout the seasons. I don't want to tap into the exisiting HVAC, as it seems like any sort of duct work would fall out of DIY and fall into expensive contractor territory - since I dont' have experience with HVAC work. I'm thinking that if I can make two "vents" in each room (CR and LR), one for exhaust and one for intake that I should be good. I'm also thinking that I'll build a silencer for each "vent" - with the 90 degree turns, insulation lined, offset openings, double size of duct (if possible) etc. that I've seen on the site. I will also try to keep these vents (intake and exhaust) as far apart as possible. My thought is to place these silencers in the wall cavities, between the studs. All four vents would be on the front side of both rooms and need to go between two walls - the inner wall and outer wall (as I'm in a room in room/double wall situation). I'm thinking that I need a fan on the end of the silencer/small duct/vent on the outter wall. On the exhaust vent, the fan will suck air from the recording rooms into the remaining basement room. On the intake vents the fan will blow air into the recording rooms. Where I'm stuck is what type of fans to use. I researched "quiet" bathroom type exhaust fans (.5 sones) and thought that would be good, but then saw somewhere in another forum someone saying that was entirely too loud. I've also seen "inline duct fans" but haven't been able to find any info on noise level or effectiveness. Does this all sound like an appropriate plan? Keeping in mind my desire to go DIY, my limited budget, etc. Main questions: - Overall approach? - What fans to use? - Do I need a silencer in both the inner and outer walls, or just one? Thanks

(Not to derail my questions above) Would something like this have any merit? http://www.rewci.com/ultra-register-booster-fan.html

build the silencer boxes and put a Fantech inline fan into the return so it draws out warm air and a passive supply box, or put one in both the supply and the return if desired. (http://residential.fantech.net/resident ... duct-fans/) put the fans outside the room to keep noise down. make the silencer box oversize compared to the fan duct to reduce flow rate and thereby help keep noise levels in the room down. make sure you keep the fan accessible for maintenance (panel on the silencer box etc) and put the on/off switch where you'll remember to turn it on or off (usually by your light switch for the room is good).

Glenn, Thanks as always for holding my hand through this process!!! I've seen the fantech's listed a few times on the site. Any alternative brands, or is that the best way to go? On that note, if I was ranking fans from poor, ok, better, best, I would probably shoot for buying an ok or better because of cost. Thanks,

Here's my calculation: My TOTAL studio space (both CR and LR) is 2240 cubic feet. I think I saw that I need 6 ACH (correct?). So, 2240 x 6 = 13440. So, 13440 / 60 (minutes) is 224 CFM. Is that right? Is 6 ACH high? Is my math way off? EDIT: I think I did that all wrong, my total cubic feet is 1120 (I accidently did the height twice, since there are two rooms . . whoops) SO, 1120 x 6 = 6720 So, 6720 / 60 is 112 cfm. Think that might be better . . . ? So, I should be able to get by with ONE 150 cfm or so fan for both rooms. Any drawback in trying to tie the two exhausts together?

the latter sounds more correct. tying the two rooms vents together can result in sound being transferred so the same principles of using a bafflebox or soffit for the room penetration still applies.

Glenn, Understand on the bafflebox/soffit - I was mostly trying to get away with only one fan (cost). Does the 6 ACH sound correct to you? And, if 112 CFM is my requirement, do you think the 150 CFM "overspec" is enough to compensate for all the twists and turns the baffles introduce into the mix? Or is it too much? A Fantech FG4 is 135 CFM, w/ 4'' duct (~$100). So my baffles should be twice that size - 8''. Is that 8'' depth and width, and length would be 24'' long (three 8'' sections - two dividers)? Does that make sense? Also, forgot to ask - what sort of isolation can I expect from these baffles? As in, if the fan is rated in 3 sones, my understanding is that is close to 45 dB, so what can the expected dB (or sones) be on the other side of the baffle?

i think more like 8-10 ACH minimum. most fans make noise in a higher frequency which is readily absorbed in a large enough baffle box. besides CFM you need to consider the FPM velocity - what the doubling of size does is to decrease the air rate to nearly half so the vent noise is reduced and air turbulence in the room is lower. for quiet operation, getting down to say 100FPM would be nice although sometimes it is hard for a home studio to get that low without large ducts and large baffles and soffits. if necessary consider the larger size FanTech unit 6" (200CFM) and going with the larger ducts and bafflebox or consider 2 of the smaller fans - one per room (probably better overall).

Glenn, Noted on the fan/duct/baffle sizes. The price of two fans is really turning me off of that idea, but I think you are right about it being the better way to go. As for the 8 - 10 ACH, is there somewhere that is documented? I found this chart: http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/air-c ... d_867.html If I go by my space being a "office, private" it is 4, "office, public" it is 3. Of note, school classrooms 4 - 10, all spaces in general 4. So, seems to me that 6 is actually a bit aggressive, but maybe I'm looking at it wrong, or maybe it isn't a good source? At any rate, I'll need to do a little more digging I suppose. Time for some pictures . . .

More pics . . .

And some more pics

AND more

Windows - framed by routing 2x4's and using grabber caulk. One 3/8'' and one 1/2''. Both are 2'x2', pretty small, but $$$ has been dictating a lot of my purchasing.

and some framing - these pics are taken WITHOUT the frames squared up and secured to the floor.