Full Basement Studio Design Ideas?

Hi! My wife and I just bought a house right outside of St. Louis, MO. The basement is about 1200 sq. feet, and I'm turning pretty well all of it into a recording/mixing studio. The issues: -Neighbors...I have them on both sides, in the back (though further away back there) and across the street in the front. -Noise to and from the upstairs. I want to minimize it a bit. -Low Ceilings: 7'4" ceilings from concrete to finished drywall ceiling. -No insulation in the ceiling, or in the already finished walls around the perimeter of the basement. -Duct Work. Having a hard time dealing with it, so that it does not create further isolation issues from upstairs. The goal: I want to build a studio consisting of at least a control room and separate live/tracking room, and would also really like a lounge area that could also be used as a 2nd tracking room or booth. I will be recording full bands, songwriters, myself, etc. in many styles including rock, pop, country, Christian, folk, hard rock and occasionally metal. I'm not looking to do extensive construction. The goal is to have ONE of the tracking rooms as isolated as possible from both upstairs and the neighbors for drums and loud sources...and then my control room and the lounge/live room B don't have to be quite as isolated. Isolation Questions: 1. I'm wondering first, would I be best to remove all of the drywall surrounding the perimeter of the basement, fill the studs with insulation, then build new walls inside of the existing perimeter to create a two leaf system? Example: (From inside the basement) Dry wall-->studs/insulation-->air gap-->studs/insulation-->concrete. Or...would I be better to leave the existing perimeter walls as they are already finished? How much better isolation would I get by doing what I mentioned above? Is it worth the cost/time? 2. What would be the best way to treat the ceiling sacrificing the LEAST amount of height (as I don't have much to work with at all). Would I benefit much from ripping out the drywall on the ceiling, stuffing it with insulation, mounting RC across the studs, then fastening a layer or two of drywall to the RC? Design Ideas: In my drawing/image below, the top right corner is the part of the basement that is almost completely underground, and also has a garage off to the side of it for more help with isolation. If I can, I'd like this to be my drum room/most isolated room. The problem, is the duct work and it's kinda small. The french doors in the bottom left lead out to the back yard, and I believe will be the area that will leak the most sound right now. Maybe this is a good lounge area? The storage space in the top left of the drawing, is unfinished now, but we thought about ripping out the wall and finishing it off to have more living space. Along the bottom wall of the drawing is the only "window" in the basement. For isolation reasons, I figured my control room could go here, since I don't monitor loud. I'm VERY open to design ideas to help me tackle this if anyone cares to take a stab. The Google Sketchup file is below. For information on the gear I use, visit my website listed in my signature. No huge consoles (just a Command 8 and a Midas Venice F16) to accommodate with some hardware and computer. Overall things to consider: -I want at least ONE tracking room (for drums/loud stuff) to be as isolated as possible from neighbors AND upstairs. The rest of the studio isn't AS MUCH of a concern. -In my image below, the top right corner is already the most underground (and probably most isolated) if that makes things easier. -We are open to knocking out the wall between the french doors and the storage space, and making it all open space. -Will be tracking full bands, sometimes metal, which can be very loud. My neighbors on the side of me are less that 20 yards away. Budget: This may be an ongoing project, so no real set budget for the final thing. But, to get started, I'm wanting to keep it under $2000 to at least get the place in shape to start mixing and recording a few things (I have two bands waiting on me). I'll be doing all the work myself. Attached below is the Sketchup file, and an image of the basement as it is now. Thanks!

you are definitely better off taking the existing drywall off in the high isolation rooms and ceiling so you can properly add a second inner wall and perhaps in the drum booth room, nesting joists to sit just below the existing ones and apply drywall or use isolation clips and furring strips (skip RC for this room). before doing anything though, set yourself up to test the existing isolation - with REW and a PA rig do sine sweeps, white noise, and drums & bass music in different rooms to get a sense of how much more you need to do. use hammers (rubber and metal) to find out how much structure transfer you have in the floors and walls. use a sound meter outside to measure the sound levels out of the PA.

Thanks for the reply! What would be the best option for isolating the ceiling from upstairs (over the drum room/live room A) while sacrificing the least amount of height? Also, if you have a recommendation on where I can get isolation clips, please let me know. Still looking for design ideas too if someone wants to play around with it. Thanks!

Ok, here is the latest design idea I've come up with. This past weekend, we knocked out a wall opening things up a lot more, and giving me more ideas and space to play with. This design leaves the basement nice and open, and gives me a big 2 room operation. After about 6 different ideas, I'm starting to think that 2 bigger rooms will be better than 3 or more small rooms (for a lounge, booth, etc.) My plan is to lay out studs against the concrete around the live room, fill it with insulation (no drywall) then build another wall inside of that around the perimeter (with an air gap in between) and also fill it with insulation and at least one layer of drywall on the outside. Also, I will stuff insulation in between all the floor joist in the ceiling, then build a completely separate ceiling as described in Rod's book staggering the boards with the existing floor joists so I don't loose too much height. He mentioned in the book that you should only loose (I think) 3 5/8" or something right around there. Fill that with more insulation, and drywall and be done. I'm hoping that even though that side of the basement is completely above ground (it's a walk out) that the isolation will be kept to a minimum with complete double walls and ceiling. Thoughts? Am I on the right track?

gullfo wrote:

you are definitely better off taking the existing drywall off in the high isolation rooms and ceiling so you can properly add a second inner wall and perhaps in the drum booth room, nesting joists to sit just below the existing ones and apply drywall or use isolation clips and furring strips (skip RC for this room). before doing anything though, set yourself up to test the existing isolation - with REW and a PA rig do sine sweeps, white noise, and drums & bass music in different rooms to get a sense of how much more you need to do. use hammers (rubber and metal) to find out how much structure transfer you have in the floors and walls. use a sound meter outside to measure the sound levels out of the PA.

I have a very similar question so I would just like to ask you to clarify something that I am not 100% sure on. I have an outer wall that has double 5/8s drywall on both side in warehouse space and I want maximum sound isolation. Would I be better off to remove the inner double 5/8's layer of drywall on the inside of my outer walls (landlord will not like this idea) and leave an air gap and then add a stud w/ isolation and double 5/8's (properly adding an inner wall as suggested.) Or would it be better to add the entire an double wall structure on the inside of those outer warehouse walls. So the entire layout would be as follows: Outside Hallway || Double 5/8s drywall || Stud w/ Insulation || Double 5/8s drywall || Air || Double 5/8s Drywall || Stud w/ insulation || Air || Stud w/ insulation || Double 5/8s drywall. Sorry if I appear to be highjacking the thread it just appears to be close to my question so I am just looking for some clarification.

I think you got a very good planning for your basement and it is always beneficial to have a proper planing for your home. I like the idea of breaking the wall of that laundary portion. [SPAM SIGNATURE DELETED BY MODERATOR]