Basement Studio Design - New Construction

Is it possible by using a room with a good ratio (1:1.6:2.33) that you can arrange your control room across the width instead of the length? Or is this a very bad thing? I have seen some control rooms that look like the are orientated this way.

the ratios can be applied in any of the 3 directions but typically is H:W:L. the reason for going along the length for the largest dimension is simply return time for the sound from the back wall. the shorter this is, the more you need to dampen that response to get it right. i saw the GS conversation and understand JHB's point on straight walls versus angled walls but i think some of the confusion on this topic is due to designs where the hard boundaries don't accommodate the necessary treatments. see the attached image as a reference in this regard. note that the side wall boundaries can be inside-out as desired.

Thanks for the confirmation, I was starting to rethink my design based on the other posts. Your drawing is very similar to the one I based mine off from this site. It seems that your boundary walls angle in a little more, Can you tell me the benefits if any to this? It seems like it takes away some of the precious floor space in the control room. Also, I had clipped the trapping off in the speaker soffit. Will this have any negative effects or should I try to work it back in to my design? I was going to soffit mount my speakers (Mackie 824) but I have since found out that they can not be soffit mounted. So my plan was to use this are now for trapping. Does this seem like a good plan? One other thing that had me rethinking my design is the HVAC/plumbing soffit that is over my front wall & speakers in the control room. Is this a reason to reconsider the room orientation? The ceiling height under the soffit is the lowest point (6'11") in the basement. Thanks again for taking time to comment. Greg

the angles shown are 15° but you could reduce it keeping in mind that the concept is to reduce or eliminate direct reflections into the mix position. yes, some floor space is lost it really depends on your needs to determine if you can use that model or should go with more absorption instead of more angles. you want trapping up front if you can. you can soffit mount 824's - do a search on this site. putting the AC return over the front of the CR is a good choice and that ceiling space can serve that purpose.

If I went with less angles, do I just create a rectangle boundary and then create fabric covered false walls that contain the absorption material? Similar to this: Or will going with the inside out walls and corner trapping give me the absorption that I will need?

yes, creating a proper rectangular boundary and then using angled treatments inside is a fine option. they don't have to be all soft walls - slat resonators, perforated metal panels, etc are options for treatments. in such a low space, the overhead treatments will be more critical.

I think I have settled on this design. I think it is the best use of the space. Let me know if anyone has any final thoughts on the design. I feel pretty good with the Control Room and Vocal Booth, the live room is still a bit of a question. I am not completely sure about the shape and how to treat. The control room will be about 1700 cubic feet. The live room will be 1450 cubic feet. Vocal Booth is 270 cubic feet and is based on John's booth. Theater Room is 2400 cubic feet.

On the CR, I would put the doors further towards the back. This way you can use that front part for treatments easier. Also, the front traps, I'd make those the same size or closer to it for symmetry.

Modified my design and did a rough layout to get a feel for the space. It's a little tight I had hoped to get a couch on the back wall, but I also want to make sure I have enough trapping.Getting closer to start the construction. Found a great deal on R-19 Fiberglass Insulation for in between the ceiling joist, so I pick up 30 bags. Greg

nice! think about using a smaller couch on the back wall :)

Starting construction today on the outer perimeter walls. Here is the basic construction details. Walls: Double walls design (MAM) with 2 layers of 5/8s drywall on each side. R-13 insulation in each wall. Walls will be decoupled using RSIC DC-04 clips attached to the tip plate and ceiling joists. Ceiling: RSIC-1 clips and hat-channel, 2 layers of 5/8s drywall, the cavity will be filled with R-19 Insulation. Where possible I will add Dry mass in between the joists below the subfloor. Make sure to hit all the area in between the double walls. Ducts: Supply lines into the rooms that are in the ceiling joist they will be wrapped with insulated and then wrapped with Silentwrap (MVL) to help cut down on the transfer of sound through the ducts. Fresh Air returns: Have not nailed this down yet??? Seems to be my biggest area of confusion!!! :oops: Option A: Make baffles that fit in between the ceiling joist. or Option B: Flexible duct snaked in the joist cavity. (Any suggestions???) Floor: I have stained the concrete as my finished flooring in the studio, control room and iso room. In the theater room I plan on installing carpet. Doors: I will be using a standard solid metal exterior door. Between Studio/Control room and Studio / Iso Booth. I will be using a full glass metal exterior doors. Floor Plans:

on the hvac - baffle boxes for the penetrations, flex duct to connect things. on the live room - CR - a pair of doors back to back. same on the live room - iso booth. on the storage side you can probably use a single door accepting some isolation loss into that space.

The build is ramping up to speed... I've made a few changes to incorporate some of the design advice from Glenn (Thank You!) as well as extending the control room rear wall bass trap to include space for surround speakers soffits. Photos to come soon.

The build is going good I am just about done with framing. I have found a good deal on 703 for my speaker soffits, trapping, bass hangers and clouds. I am going tomorrow to pick up some, t's a long trip so I only want to make it once. How do you estimate how much your are going to need? Based on my design what kind of quantities (1" 2" and 4") should I get??

get all 4" insulation for your in-room absorbers, clouds etc. for filling into corners and deep traps, use the pink stuff - R-30 or R-38 batts are handy as is plenty of R-19 for all of the inter-wall air spaces and inside the slat resonators.

You seem to have a breach here (see picture with big pointing arrow). I wouldn't have brought it up since it may not be a disaster...but it is a leak from the hvac part of the build...so noise is being allowed a path into every air part of the assembly.

Thanks for pointing it out... I also found this as we were building the walls, Here is what we did to fix it. it.

Here is what I am planning on doing in the control room for treatment. Still not sure what to do on the rear wall. The plan doesn't reflect it at this time but I will be building soffits for the surround speakers, I am planning on partitioning off the speakers from the hangers. Should these be built like the front soffits? Here is the plan I am using for the speaker soffits.

very good on the treatments. on the back wall you can make that a layer of 4" rigid insulation and fill any gap behind it with pink insulation. cover with plastic and cloth and consider some widely spaced slats to preserve some HF back into the room.

HVAC silencer Boxes design: (see drawing below). Box material: outer shell is 5/8 drywall, inner shell is 1/4" osb with 1" OC703 on all faces Duct coming in to the box is metal 6" round, path through the box is 6" square with 3 baffles also covered with 1" OC703 on both sides, exits out a 8" round metal duct register vent into the room. My questions: 1. Does this seem like a good plan? 2. I have heard some people wrap the 703... Do you wrap it? ...and if so, what is the best way?

i prefer duct liner instead of 703 as its designed for the this purpose. if i use insulation, i wrap it in plastic. as a general approach, making the box 2x the area of the inlet (or the return) will reduce the air flow velocity which can reduce air movement noise - usually more critical in places where you use microphones. you also want the flow to be balanced in the CR so any noise is evenly dispersed.

A few questions: Considering my 6" metal duct currently installed into my space - should my design have 12" path through them instead of a 6"? Or does just the register opening that needs to be 2X greater (12")? Why do you prefer duct liner over Fiberglass? My biggest concern is damping the sound transfer through the ducts to the rest of the house not necessarily air flow noise. Here are some other options I have considered: 1. Wrapping the current 6" metal duct with the duct liner or MLV & fiberglass only at the register end to dampen/reduce the sound from filter in to the remaining duct? 2. Using insulated/flexible ducts.

the duct liner has binder built into it to prevent particle release. the entire path would be larger. another option if you don't want to (or cannot) go with the larger path, is to work on the fans driving the air flow to get them to push as slow as possible.

Well, I have finally finished up construction (all be finishing trim) and need to address some problems with the room. The room is extremely bright. I think it has to do with the low ceiling from the soffit over the speakers (6'8 1/2" *See photos) - It kind of sounds like it is creating a bullhorn effect. I also have some serious slap back - maybe between the floor and the ceiling. The rest of the ceiling ended up being 7'6". Here is the front false wall before they were filled with OC703 and covered with plastic and black felt. Front wall cavity: Back Wall Cavity. Notice the 3 Baffles in place on each side of the back wall. the rest of the wall was filled with OC703 and covered with plastic and black felt. I have downloaded REW and took a measurement to see what is going on. Not really sure how to read or what measurement to make in REW. Here is the first attempt. Any thoughts on where to go from here would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Greg