Recording space in small basement area

Hello, my name is Luke, this is my first post to the forum. I am in the process of designing a studio/recording room for my basement. I currently use a regular untreated bedroom to track acoustic and electric guitars. The results are ok, but I feel with a better room I can do a lot better. The only free space I have is a ~12' x 12' area in my basement. This is directly below our living room, so TV and foot traffic from upstairs could provide a little noise. I am not too concerned to keeping my guitar noise down, as I really don’t play very loud (mostly acoustic guitar). I also have the noisiest basement in America, the furnace or HVAC is always running, the water heater makes noise and you can hear water in the pipes. I want to avoid recording all these noises. On other issue with this space is the relatively short ceiling (7.5') and an "I" beam running almost directly in the center of the area. I am currently in the process of designing a room I can build here, I've been reading for a few weeks now and I am at a loss of what to do. I tried to consider room ratio's but I don’t think they matter in an area this small. I've read on ceiling designs for such a short ceiling. I think I will just seal and stain the concrete floor for now. The only other dimension that I need to consider is my desk, which is 72" wide. I have put together a sketchup file showing the space, I did some preliminary framing and "insulation" before realizing I am not sure what to do. Can someone provide advice on the best way to approach this space? I am assuming it is best to totally utilize this space, should I make the room smaller? From what I have read, normally a square room like this is not ideal, but does it matter at this size? Attached is also an image of the current space. The orange/brown box is the "I" beam and a dryer duct hosing that I will need to reroute. This box is about 52" from the wall, and 82" in height. The actualy sketchup file has all the measurements. Thanks for taking the time to read this and assist if you can. Please let me know if I am missing any critical information here, it has been a long day and I have gotten good at forgetting things...

Hey guys, I've made a little more progress. I am new to sketchup, so its slow going. I have narrowed the width on my room and redid just about everything. I have updated the new sketchup file. I have attached 3 images here. The first being a drawing of the existing space. The next shows my framing plan of the area. The length of the room is 11' 11", the width of the room is 9' 5.5", and the height 7' 6" (the beam section is only 6' 9") The last shows the framing with insulation and the framing of the corner traps. I plan on soffit mounting my monitors in these corner traps; I need to work on that section a bit more. I am reaching out again for some advice here. I'd like some input on what I have so far, am I totally wasting my time with such a small space? Am I on the right track? I need some advice on what I should I do here for the ceiling as well? The beam is making things a little tricky for me. I wonder if I should drop the height of the room below the beam or frame around the beam. My other question was with the wall covering behind the traps. Is is best to cover the insulation with plastic or cloth in this case or should i be drywalling/calking this layer too? Thanks again Luke

Hi Luke, and welcome! :)

The only free space I have is a ~12' x 12' area in my basement.

If that's what you have, then that's what you have! Just plan to do the best that can be done with it. It is certainly way better than having no place at all!

I also have the noisiest basement in America, the furnace or HVAC is always running, the water heater makes noise and you can hear water in the pipes.

:shock: OK, so isolation is definitely what you need. No doubt about that. It would be good if you could actually measure how loud it is in there, with a sound level meter, to help determine what type of isolation you need.

other issue with this space is the relatively short ceiling (7.5') and an "I" beam running almost directly in the center of the area

That does, indeed, complicate things.

I tried to consider room ratio's but I don’t think they matter in an area this small.

They still matter. In fact, they are even more important for small rooms than large rooms. But you also don't need to go crazy here: as long as you stay away from the bad ratios and get close to a good one, that's fine.

From what I have read, normally a square room like this is not ideal, but does it matter at this size?

Yes, it does matter, and yes you should use as much of the space as you can, and yes you should stay away from square shapes, or any shape where one of the dimensions is within 5% of another dimension, or where one of the dimensions is directly related (mathematically) to another dimension (such as twice, three times, half, a quarter, a third, etc.).

The orange/brown box is the "I" beam and a dryer duct hosing that I will need to reroute. This box is about 52" from the wall, and 82" in height.

Probably your best bet is to "soffit" that; build a box around it as part of your inner-leaf ceiling. If you lower the entire ceiling to get underneath it, it would be too low for comfort, and way too low for good acoustics. I would try to keep most of the ceiling as high as possible, and just do a soffit around that beam.

I am reaching out again for some advice here. I'd like some input on what I have so far, am I totally wasting my time with such a small space? Am I on the right track?

Definitely on the right track! I think you are doing the best you can with that space. So far, your plans are looking fine.

I need some advice on what I should I do here for the ceiling as well? The beam is making things a little tricky for me. I wonder if I should drop the height of the room below the beam or frame around the beam

Frame around it, without touching it.

My other question was with the wall covering behind the traps. Is is best to cover the insulation with plastic or cloth in this case or should i be drywalling/calking this layer too?

I'm not sure which part of the room you are referring to: I don't see any traps in there. I only see your speaker soffits. - Stuart -