Basement Studio Design - New Construction

Starting to plan my studio build. Hopefully I can put enough info into this first post. I am building a home and have dedicated most of the basement as my studio/mixing room and theater room. The entire upstairs is living space for my family, there are 2 floors - the main and second floor. The main floor has our kitchen, great room, computer room and master suite. The second floor belongs to the kids, bedrooms, bathrooms and their bonus/living room. The basement is pretty much open (see attached). I will post picture soon. I am just looking for design suggestions and recommendations to avoid unforeseen pitfalls. I have been reading this forum for a while now and I also have a copy of Rod's Book and have leaned lots from both. PRIMARY SPACE USE: 5.1 and stereo mixing and edit of films and videos. Additional rooms for foleying and ADR/VO work. Theater room for previewing mixes in a real world enviroment. SECONDARY SPACE USE: Recording and mixing music. (See background below) BACKGROUND: In the past I have recorded music/bands and what ever came my way, now my focus has shifted to mixing/editing sound for features. However, I would like to have a space that I can record music if I would like. LOCATION: Findlay, Ohio. House is in a residential neighborhood. The flooring in the upstairs is going down now and I will be testing what kind of isolation I am getting once flooring is done. I will post the results. I would like to do the best with in the budget to isolate the studio from the rest of the house. Sometime I like to work once the family goes to bed. I typically mix at 85dB. I have neighbors roughly 50-60 feet behind me; and one neighbor beside of me about 20 feet. BASEMENT STRUCTURE: The basement is a concrete foundation walls with 1 window to the outside. The basement is completely under ground. The floor is a concrete slab. The available square footage in the basement set aside for the studio/ theater room is 1069 square feet. (See attached image) The Basement walls are 7'-9" tall to the bottom of the engineered floor joists with T&G Subfloor, ¼ under wood underlayment, 5/8 hardwood floor or tile on the finished floor above the basement. There is a main beam that runs down the center of the basement (see image), the floor to beam height here is 6’10”. There is also a duct that runs the length of the basement causing the ceiling height to be 6'-11" at this point. BUDGET: I have about $5,000 - 10,000 set aside for the studio construction. I plan on doing most of the work myself. I have a general contractor but he has never work on this kind of project. I already have a lot of corner bass traps and studio foam that I had previously purchased. CONSTRUCTION: (At this Point) Walls: I plan on doing double walls (MAM) with 2 layers of drywall where needed. Ceiling: Since headroom is an issue I plan on using isolation clips and hat-channel per Rob’s book on page 72. Floor: I plan on staining the concrete as my finished flooring in the studio, control room and iso room. In the theater room I plan on installing carpet. Ventilation: Using the same unit that feeds the rest of the house. There is a HVAC and Plumbing Run that runs the length of the basement on overhead under the joist. There is are also room vents that go in between the joist to the rooms above as well as the vents that will be feeding the basement. (see attached image) Layout: (see attached) I have gone through various layouts and have attached my latest and greatest. Any comment will be appreciated. I am not sure if my design is on track or not! I have researched many plans on this site and other but I haven't been able to find a floor plan that would fit into my existing footprint. I'm just hoping someone can give me some suggestions as far as my layout. I hope I have gave enough detail, but if I overlooked anything please let me know. Thanks in advance. Greg

welcome! overall - a very nice design! probably the only changes would be to alter the VO room and use smaller but multiple angled walls to preserve as much space there as possible. also double up on the wall between the HT and VO and main and VO rooms. maybe also double up the wall on the CR - store room side. on the HT side, presumably a door at the top of the stairs? keep in mind you want to leave some space for trapping in the HT room and leverage some of the other areas as bass trapping via low isolation.

Thanks. I probably should have mentioned that I don't foresee that I will be using the Theater room and VO/Studio at the same time. Do you think I should still double up the walls? My biggest concern is making sure to limit the sounding entering the upstairs more than between theater room and studio. My biggest problem is since there is already plumbing and vent runs in between the joist, I am not sure if I will be able to attach two layers of drywall in between the joist under the subfloor. I am going to be meeting with the contractor to see what can be done if anything. I hate to rip anything out at this point. Any ideas what the side effects will be if I was to leave these 2 layer of drywall off? Will the 2 layers on the studio ceiling with the Iso Clips & Furring strips and insulation be enough to give me decent isolation upstairs? I will take some pictures next time I am out at the site. I wasn't sure if I will need to double up the wall between the Control Room and Storage. However this could help improve the STC since there is a window on the storage side to the outside. I will see once I have a chance to set up a test. I plan on using a SPL Meter from Radio Shack any advice on getting good & accurate readings? I am not sure what you mean by altering the VO room and use small but multiple angled walls? Yes, there is a door at the top of the stairs leading from the HT. Regarding the HT, I not looking to make it prefect acoustically, I want to be more of a mid level HT. Don't get me wrong I want it to sound really good, I just want to have a more "real world environment". My thought process is this will give me another (different) source to listen to my mixes. I may be re-living my days of taking the bands CD's out to the car. :D I do plan on isolating the HT from the upstairs as well as doing some room treatment.

on the ducting - it may be possible to use some flexible joints to decouple the sections and / or insert silencers. on the HT wall - it looks like one large angled wall - replace that with several smaller less deep angled walls - it will serve the same purpose and leave more space. on the ceiling - if you can add mass to the upper floor and then the lower ceiling on isolation clips, you should get a pretty decent level of isolation there.

Is this what you mean by adding a few more smaller angled walls?

Here's some photos of the space.

gregkraus wrote:

Is this what you mean by adding a few more smaller angled walls?

yes

ah, the joys of new construction! looks like everything is neatly tucked away in the joists and the ducting us nicely organized so soffiting those off should be reasonable. i would say definitely get some drywall up under the upper floor and then use the isolation clips and hat channel to create the isolation ceiling. does the HVAC have a fresh air exchange? is there any considerations for the rest of the house in terms of say the studio needing to be cooled but the rest of the house heated? if you can use the house HVAC, soffit off the ducts and build the baffle boxes as extensions of the soffit to silence the supply / return vents. otherwise you might consider a separate split unit heat pump and a separate air exchange system.

Unfortunately I was out of town for the past 10 weeks and could not get the strips of drywall between the joist in before the HVAC & plumbing went in. So I may have to do some deconstruction! :cry: I'm hoping when I get a chance to test the STC it's low enough that I can get by with the iso clips insulation and 2 layers of drywall on the ceiling. Not sure if the difference between 58 without and 60 with the strips will be worth the additional time and money. Yes, the HVAC has fresh air exchange. At this point we will be sharing the HVAC for the house and basement. I am hoping since the basement is underground it will stay cooler than the upstairs. Does anyone else here have a similar set up and can comment on the results? If it becomes an problem I will look at set up a separate unit down the road. I'm going to do some exploring on the forum to see if it is possible to build an effective baffle box between the joist to feed the studio. I am meeting with my contractor tomorrow night to discuss the rest of the construction details. :cen: Time to open the wallet!

this may be the case where green glue will be useful - adding a layer of GG on the ceiling and walls may help alleviate some of the missing mass on the upper floor.

Met with my contractor...he kind of looked at me like a deer in the headlights! Gave him a bunch of drawings on how the construction needs to come together. I think he should be able do get it right but I plan on monitoring it along the way. I am considering adding the Green Glue to the ceiling since it's too late to add additional mass in between the joist. Would it do any good to add the mass between the joist where I can or is it an all or nothing thing? I have found some Resilient channel at my local Menard's. I am considering using it on the ceiling instead of Iso Clips and Hat channel. I am a little concerned after reading there are different kinds of RC and they are not all created equal. Can anyone comment on this. I will try to get a photo of it uploaded.

adding the mass where you can won't hurt but spots missing it will become the weak point - but if the weak points are under closets or etc then they are effectively not interesting.

Here are some photos of the RC1 (the yard said it was Dietrich or Unimast) and RC2 (Dietrich) Resilient Channel I am thinking of using on my ceiling. I've read that the RC2 has a lower STC than the RC1. Has anyone ever used either of the products or have any opinions of them?

if you're using the clips, you use hat channel/furring strips, not RC... the RC would only be used without the clips. also, either RC will be less isolation than the clips. for ceilings, you need to use RC-2 and on the walls RC-1. the real problem is RC is that it's really easy to "short out" if you use the wrong screws and drill through into the frame or collapse the RC by laying out wrong.

I am thinking of using the RC instead of the iso clips since I can find them locally and also to save some cost. I realize I may be losing some isolation, I will know more once I run my tests.

I am a little confused with my construction regarding the Ceiling and walls. 1. Do I install all my clips and channel & install my drywall layers on my ceiling across the whole basement ceiling first and then build my walls up to that? This would give me complete isolation from the upstairs. 2. If so, How do decouple and attach my walls from my ceiling and the floor above? - Greg

gregkraus wrote:

1. Do I install all my clips and channel & install my drywall layers on my ceiling across the whole basement ceiling first and then build my walls up to that? This would give me complete isolation from the upstairs. 2. If so, How do decouple and attach my walls from my ceiling and the floor above?

build out the decoupled walls then add the ceiling inside that and stagger the drywall layers (wall and ceiling) with bead and caulk. here's the idea on the walls - neoprene, etc under the bottom plate and over the top plate. isolation anchors to hold in place. see this link as an example and product: http://www.kineticsnoise.com/arch/wallmat.aspx if you just do the entire ceiling first, then you're going to be coupling between rooms via the ceiling layers and your air space is also separated. one of the advantages of not closing that space between rooms and ceiling is the air can flow all around the isolated space which reduces the compression of air and in turn improves your TL.

I am starting to plan the wall construction for my build and have been looking at the inside out wall design. I have a few questions regarding the specifics of the design. 1. Is the isolation in this design the same as the standard wall design? 2. Regarding insulation. See attached image a.) What is the type of insulation between the concrete wall and inside out wall? b.) Is the insulation between the 2x4 framing - standard pink insulation? What R value do you use?

the isolation of the inside-out wall can be quite good but it depends on a number of factors such as the outside wall construction etc. for a framed and sheathed exterior wall, it's probably lower than a normal wall because the air gap is more critical due to the (relatively low) mass of the exterior sheathing. for an exterior wall of block or concrete wall, then it should perform as well. use the rigid insulation on the inside. use pink (light) insulation in the air space - do not compress it or you'll introduce coupling and have a lower TL.

I think I am finally set in my room design, I will post details soon. On the inside out wall; What is the purpose of the rigid foam? Can you leave this off? If you do how will it effect the walls performance?

the rigid insulation on the inside is for absorption and in the slats, damping the cavity. the insulation between the drywall and the exterior wall dampens that space.

gullfo wrote:

gregkraus wrote:

1. Do I install all my clips and channel & install my drywall layers on my ceiling across the whole basement ceiling first and then build my walls up to that? This would give me complete isolation from the upstairs. 2. If so, How do decouple and attach my walls from my ceiling and the floor above?

build out the decoupled walls then add the ceiling inside that and stagger the drywall layers (wall and ceiling) with bead and caulk. here's the idea on the walls - neoprene, etc under the bottom plate and over the top plate. isolation anchors to hold in place. see this link as an example and product: http://www.kineticsnoise.com/arch/wallmat.aspx if you just do the entire ceiling first, then you're going to be coupling between rooms via the ceiling layers and your air space is also separated. one of the advantages of not closing that space between rooms and ceiling is the air can flow all around the isolated space which reduces the compression of air and in turn improves your TL.

If I build out the decoupled walls then add the ceiling inside each room, what do I do in between the double walls in the air gap space to keep sound from escaping the basement and leaking into the upstairs? (see attached image) I am more concerned with isolating the upstairs from the sounds in the basement.

Anybody have any thoughts on my previous post - what to do in between walls if I decouple the rooms?

The most beneficial thing would be to install additional mass to the upper joist area if the load can be supported...

I am starting to second guess my initial design. I am not sure if splayed walls are the best for my giving space. I would appreciate any new suggestions for my space since at this point I can't seem to figure out the best division of the space. Just as a recap I am looking to use the space for 5.1 and stereo mixing and edit of films. Additional room(s) for foleying and ADR/VO work. Space on the left is reserved for a theater room for previewing mixes in a real world environment.