First-time homeowner seeks once-over of studio plans

Hey everyone, I've been reading this forum practically daily--so much to absorb! I'm putting together a project studio on the first floor of a split-level house, and wondered if you guys could apply your brilliance and see if I've made any horrible mistakes or oversights. I tried to pack as much as I could into the picture. The red walls are potential construction, and the focus of my questions. A few other thoughts: Purpose of room. I'm going to be using the room mainly to track singer-songwriter type stuff. I'll be doing a lot of tracking in the control room for my artists' comfort, but the vocal room will be available for isolation, etc. I won't be tracking any drums here. I may well be doing rough mixes as well as some real mixes in the room, but the main purpose of the room will be production/tracking. I really want the room to feel comfortable and creative. Priorities. I want to get the control room going first. I have six 2'x4' pieces of ugly "MaxWall" Auralex foam that I can use in the vocal room to deal with mid/high reflections in there for the time being. Constraints.

Time. I have an artist coming down from New York on 6/2 and about 7 or 8 days to work on this between now and then. Ease (as a corollary to Time). I'm a musician and a new homeowner that hasn't really done any sort of construction before. While I've learned a lot just reading this forum, am willing to learn more, and have friends that can help, the solution needs to not be too complicated. (for instance, building the slot resonator looks a bit daunting to me; throwing 703 in a corner does not. I'm willing to put up studs and build a wall, though.) Money. I have about $500-$600 to spend (with some flexibility). Saving the floor. I would like to not do any real damage to the tile floor (we're probably moving in about 4-5 years), so I was planning to have the new red walls just rest on the floor (with maybe some neoprene in between).

Known issues. (I may be off base here--I tried to take what I read here and apply it to my room. Feel free to tell me I missed the mark.)

Symmetry. The HVAC duct that drops 11" from the ceiling on the south side (the grey line) screws with the symmetry of the room. My idea is to put the gobos there (with absorbent side in for an RFZ). When I'm tracking, I could use the gobos to isolate the players, etc. The other thing screwing with symmetry is the big window to the left of the monitors; I thought hanging a heavy curtain there with the absorbent gobos on the other side might solve it. Isolation. Just outside the control room window lives a very loud dog.

--- Here's a more verbose explanation of what's going on in the picture. The red walls are potential construction. My thinking is that they can act in three ways: as isolation from the dog outside, bass trapping, and help to create an RFZ. I'm trying to figure out what material(s) I should use for/within the walls, as well as what configuration they should be in. The portion of the red wall that's parallel to and nearest to the east wall (north being at the left of the sketch) will be built at about 8" from the rough outside wall - leaf-airspace-leaf. Keeping in mind that I'd like for this to be bass trapping and contribute to the RFZ, should I build the 8"-in wall across the width of the room (i.e. the dotted red line)? Also: is 45 degrees a good angle there? Smaller would give me more room, but might not be sufficient for bass trapping. I'd rather do the easiest bass trapping I can--such as straddling a corner with 703. I could angle the desk 90 degrees, but I really like not feeling cramped. 2 more things: - I've attached a picture of the space as it stands (i.e. without any of my ideas), so if I'm totally off the mark you can see what the place is like empty. I've also attached the SmartDraw file, if that's any help. - I apologize if the pictures are too big/require scrolling--I'll figure this all out before my next post. Thanks in advance for your help and patience--You guys rock!! -Will

Hmm...maybe information overload? :shock: Sorry for throwing all that stuff out there...maybe I've overthought this whole thing. Basically, I'm just looking for a way I can make this space usable quickly and easily for less than $600 without damaging the floor. I'll be recording folk/pop stuff. There's paneling on the walls now I want to take down, but I'm wondering if I should replace it with drywall or something else. Besides the big rectangular rooms, the only other real problem is that there's a loud dog outside the east wall/window. Thanks in advance, everyone-- -Will

Excellent Post. I wish everyone was as detailed. :D Not to discourage you, however, $600 for achieving both isolation and room acoustics make building walls, permanent bass trap and a decoupled room etc impracticable, not to mention you don't want to hurt the floor. PLus your considering re-doing the pannelled walls with gypsum....hmmm...Let's trim the dinner plate down a bit. You need some priorities. As for the barking Dog, I don't know what to say other than record when he's not barking. The isolation you would need to make it a non-issue is well beyond the budget of $600 IMO. So what can you do? I would buy about $200-400 of OC 703 and make modular 2'x4"6" deep 703/burlap panels, using 1/4" plywood, 2x2 corner braces, and burlap. Braced in the back with cabinet style hangers. Hang them where they are needed, basically in picture fashion around the room. They will help tame many issues , and you can vary the acoustics in both rooms by adding or removing them. Best of all you can take them with you. Also why not build some portable polycylindrical diffusers? Both solutions and project descriptions can be found here --courtesy of the late Malcom Chisholm: http://pages.ripco.net/~chisholm/rsdp/INDEX.HTM specifically Here: http://pages.ripco.net/~chisholm/rsdp/FUZPOLY.TXT The poly's are easy to make as well; they don't have to be a full 4x8 feet; they can be built into a mobile frame and placed in corners; and in Malcolms' words they do two things - absorb low end and disperse highs which sounds nice; and finally nobody believes they work; I know better. :lol: Best, Dave

Hey Dave, Thanks for the great advice and the links! I checked them out...there's not a link for the polycylindrical diffusor/absorbers with pics, is there? Not being so adept at building stuff, I need all the help I can get. :D I like the idea behind the 703 panels, especially the portability. Got any plans/links for those? I've seen several designs around this general idea, I'm just curious which one you're thinking of. Again, blame my inexperience/lack of intuition in this stuff. As far as the dog: I wish it was as easy as recording when the he's not barking. Unfortunately, he tends to go off pretty randomly throughout the day and night. In fact, I think that's probably a higher priority than treating the room, since it would render a recording totally unusable. The drywalling can wait, too, I suppose, since it's mostly cosmetic (though I understand that it will likely change the low-end response of the room). So I guess my priorities are: - isolation from the dog - adjusting response of the room (absorption/diffusion, bass trapping, etc.) - other stuff (drywalling, cosmetics, etc) And as I mentioned, I do have some flexibility with the budget. I could probably go as high as $1,000 or even a little more. So possibly throwing my plans out the window, what would you (any of you) do? I would love to be able to get started on this this weekend. Thanks for your help and patience-- Will

What is the construction of the outer walls? Materials, thicknesses, etc. Assuming for the moment that the sound of the dog is coming through the window, make a plug to fit over the window and seal it.

I'll check when I get home, but I'm 99% sure the outside walls are standard-issue brick. Window plug sounds like a good idea--I don't want to lose the window, though; when we sell in a few years, it would be great to just be able to pull off/unscrew whatever I put up. Plus, it would be cool to keep the drapes up so it looks like a normal window from the outside (vs that boarded-up/abandoned building feel). I like this idea from LaptopPop's studio - wondering how much isolation it'll give me, and what materials were used? It's probably around here somewhere. I'll do a search. -Will

Shoot yonder dog and chuh-ching you saved money. Just kidding.

don't think it hasn't crossed my mind. He's a rotweiler and scares my wife to death. The owner swears he won't bite. (I wouldn't think of it, of course--wouldn't hurt a fly) Ok, so solution as it stands: build a bunch of 703 panels and move them around to taste (probably putting a couple in corners for bass trapping). Put a removable gasketed MDF (or similar) box over the window. Maybe I'll draw a new diagram when I get home. Any other ideas? 703 cloud overhead? Am I missing anything here? I'm glad not to have to build the wall, though I was sort of looking forward to it... -W

Picture says a thousand words........ stuff was confusing to me at first as well... As for the 703 boxes -- notice I simply made a frame from plywood and 2x2's -- no hardware cloth as Malcolm reccomended -- this was my innovation, seeing as you really dont need the boxes any stronger than what is needed for hanging them on the wall, plus the burlap looks sharp stretched over it and it's easy! Which I like. Then I put the burlap down(burlap is dirt cheap - there are other alternatives), layed the frame upon it, layed the 703 inside (in this case I was making a couple of boxes 3' wide), stapled the burlap to the frame, and added two slats of 1x4's for support and hanging the box on the wall cabinet style --lthe top 1x4 cut at a 45 to coupled with it's mate mounted on the wall. Maybe you'll want some gobos too. In the first picture you can see I used 2x4's for them, hardware cloth and R19. Hardware cloth for stabilty and frame rigidness -- cause they roll on the floor. :lol: Ceiling cloud? sure why not -- make it even lighter than the wall panels...maybe a light grid system with just 2" of 2x4 703 dropped in, spaced from the ceiling. You have to innovate for that one. See the bowed masonite in the corners? That's the polycylindrical diffuser ala Chisholm -- you could bow them into a plywood frame per Malcolm's directions, and hang the frame in the corners. Look Mom --a portable bass trap that disperse highs -- all for the price of a little wood and a sheet of Masonite! 8) Best, Dave

Looking from rear to front wall of the control room you see the 703 wall boxes, polys in the corners, a burlap fiberglass grid ceiling, and plywood floor (unsealed & floated on house sheathing). The control room wall now has doors and glass; I need to shoot some final pics eventually. That wall is kept "lively" --musicians play to that wall for a little Live end - cases or other items can be placed below window for diffusion. Dave

Brilliant, Dave--the pics are super helpful. Question on the polys - are you framing them with 2x4s "log-cabin" style? i.e. two 2x4s laid horizontally 2' apart (like a giant equal sign), with two more laid on top of those (like || ) 46.5" apart to hold and bow the Masonite? It's not totally clear from either Malcolm's description or the pictures. Busy at work, but I've got more questions that I'll ask later. I may have to brighten up that last pic--hard to make out the stuff, but I think I get the idea. You are my hero-- W

I drew this today -- maybe this will help inspire a few more basement DIYers! :lol: I hope this clarifies some of Malcolm's descriptions; I found them originally difficult to grasp, as well. This design is all standard lumber and minimal cutting. Hang them in corners from the joists; touching both walls --- I suggested perhaps some sticky Velcro on the bottom corners to hold them steady, or you could angle brace them as well. I think the elegence, simplicity of Malcom's design is inspiring! Plus they reflect mid/highs back in a nice way, while killing excess bass -- a twofer! Best, Dave

Dave: Thanks for making the drawing of Malcolm's poly. It does make it much easier to understand for people. I have a a feeling that the Heaven's acoustics,already excellenct, are being raised to a new level of excellence. God bless Malcolm for everything he shared with us, both the music and his knowledge.

alright, here's the new sketch. 2 polys in corners behind monitors, 703 to either side. Also shifted the center line of the room over 16", since I'm not building the wall anymore. Questions: 1) seems bad to have diffusers right behind my monitors. Is it? Don't know where else I'd put 'em...I need the bass trapping. 2) The HVAC duct will now be a part of my "room," and I may not put the cloud in there until after the June project. Will those two together make a difference in the symmetry? Or am I making too big a deal out of it? 3) the MDF box for the window--it doesn't matter how much bigger than the window it is, does it? I.e., with the gasketing, it won't couple with the drywall/paneling, right? And I'm assuming that the symmetry doesn't matter here either... That's all I can think of right now. Been working 12-hour days, and it's day job work, not the good kind. :( Thanks, all-- W

Here's one approach. I think that the nice depth of your room, as well as backing the mix position a little south (away from dog) will keep you far enough from the room's boundries, to let some treaments aid the room's response -- to your benefit. I wouldn't over think the ducts (can't do much about it anyway). A cloud over your mix position should help, when you get around to it. I would look into placing a ceiling tile grid in a wooden frame, perhaps? Put 703 in and hang from ceiling joists. Best, Dave

The other thing I should mention, is that all these things are portable -- so if you don't like the polys in the corners, or something else -- you can remove them. The good thing is that you would have some acoustic treatments to take with you! Dave

awesome, awesome, awesome. And I forgot to mention it because I was trying to do this stuff on the sly at work, but thanks a ton for those pictures--really clears things up. You don't think that will be too absorptive with all that 703 everywhere? I guess I'll still have the tile floor and a lot of the ceiling (*and* a lot of the walls...) I'll get started this weekend. Thanks for all your help! -Will

You don't think that will be too absorptive with all that 703 everywhere? I guess I'll still have the tile floor and a lot of the ceiling (*and* a lot of the walls...)

Naaaaah......... :lol: Do as many as you like...experiment....build as your budget permits.....it will work as your understanding/experience confirms what sounds right... Best of Luck, Dave

alright, I'm getting ready to jump in. Dave, I made a sketch of what I gleaned from your posts and from Malcolm's article. I plan to take Malcolm's advice of actually getting the 703 first and then building the box to measure, but assuming 2'x4'x1.5" 703 panels (which is what I'll likely be getting), these boxes would be a snug fit at 2'x4'x2". This isn't drawn to scale, of course. It's about 2:30 am, and my faculties have deserted me. How far off am I? What did I miss? Thanks, Will

This isn't drawn to scale, of course. It's about 2:30 am, and my faculties have deserted me. How far off am I? What did I miss?

Looks like your spot on. :D By the way I made mine from (3) panels of 2" 703 for a box roughly 6" deep. But there have been plenty of posts suggesting that 2" is quite useful as well, particularily when spaced off the wall. In either case Owens' Cornings' specs show that 4" of 703 absorbs quite uniformly down to 125Hz. 4"703 Board on wall: 125 250 500 1k 2k 4k Sabins 0.84 1.24 1.24 1.08 1.00 0.97 Malcolm apparently talked with Owens and estimated that 6" would yield: Sabins 1.19 1.21 1.13 1.05 1.04 1.04 for the same frquencies. I would perhaps start with a couple 2" panels? - then build deeper boxes later perhaps. the specs for 2" 703 on the wall are: 0.22 0.82 1.21 1.10 1.02 1.05 for the above freqs. You can see that 4" has marked improvement in absorption torwards the low end; and 6" makes a pretty darn good broad band absorber. Tech specs aside, Malcolm said they work - so I went with 6". :lol: The only other diffrence I saw is minor - I used 1x4's for the back hangers - but 2x4's would space the panel a little farther off the wall - dealers choice. :lol: Best, Dave