which room would YOU choose?

I am torn between two ideas for my new control room: constructing a new room in my basement ($$$$$) or converting an existing bedroom ($). Here are the specs for the two rooms. The bedroom spec is "hard," the basement room spec is "soft" (since it doesn't exist yet, there's slight flexibility in the X and Y dimensions and wall angles, if not ceiling height). Ceiling height is my main concern. That's the last of the three specs: bedroom = 10' x 10' x 8.5' basement = 13' x 15' x 6.5' Thoughts? Thanks! Lazlo

Lazlo - the 10 x 10 is very small - I'd go with the basement - I assume your ceiling height is variable?? if you can get more height in the basement then it's definitely the way to go. cheers john

OK... I was a bit off on the bedroom... it's 10' x 11', but I'm assuming that is still considered too small. And actually, it's looking smaller to me everytime I look at it (tho the ceiling height is nice). In the basement, ceiling height on the east side of the basement is 6'8" at the best, sloping to 6'5" at the worst. The west side of the basement is a mess of water and heating pipes... I'm not sure how much of that part of the basement I can use, altho I can see extending the room over there and just having it be where the monitors sit... then no one will ever have to stand in that part of the basement. Here's the drawing I've done of the proposed 13' x 15' room in the basement: The other room is a storage/computer room. In this image, the black squares are posts. The ceiling to the left of the posts would have to be 6' or less, due to pipes. The ceiling to the right of the posts is where it's a nice 6'5" - 6'8" (exposed joists). So... does this ceiling height seem do-able? I don't see myself affording the $30K likely required to dig out the basement floor for more headroom. Thanks for all of the input!

New drawing. This one uses shading to indicate average ceiling height in the basement. The parts that are shallower are so because of water and heating pipes. The pink shading indicates the beam that runs through the center of the house. The beam reduces height to 6' along it's length.

How much isolation do you need? I assume your ceiling is made up of floor joists (10"??) so your actual ceiling height to the upper floor is 6'4" + 10". If you fill the space between the joists with 703 and add a cloth finish you'll wipe out the ceiling completely acoustically. Otherwise you are going to have to add drywall on RC which is goping to make your ceiling even lower. cheers john

Don't need much if any isolation. Only doing mixing and mastering. The ceiling is exposed joists, so I can certainly try the 703+cloth approach. What cloth would you recommend? Do you have pictures of such a ceiling? Thanks for these tips!

Any cloth really - I'd cover it with thin garden plastic after the 703 is in which will stop the constant shower of fiberglass dust you get otherwise. If you want to increase your isolation to upstairs you can always put in a couple of layers of OSB attached to the upper floor between the joists before you fill with 703. as per drawing cheers john

Great idea John -- thanks for that. I've reoriented the room a bit to account for the fact that the cloth ceiling will probably only be possible in the 6'8" part of the basement, and I'll want the speakers (and me) to reside in that part of the room. The lower ceiling part of the room (green shading) will almost certainly have to be a lower (sloped?) drywall ceiling, since there are pipes in that part of the basement ceiling that cannot be moved. Clients can sit in this part of the room, since it's too short for standing, anyway. Regarding the wall angles -- not at all scientific in this drawing. How would I determine the best angle for those walls? Thanks again for all the help! Lazlo

yeah - that's a better orientation - just reverse the shape with the side walls at 12 degrees or greater. cheers john

Thanks once more, John! I consider my plans 90% complete (remaining 10% is primarily getting the drawing into something more appropriate than Illustrator!). This forum is a wonderful service -- thanks again.

John -- Looks like construction on my new space will begin this coming weekend! I'm excited. One quick question that the contractor working on the job had for me: doesn't the plastic layer between the insulation and the fabric on the ceiling reflect sound? Is there a particular type of plastic I should use? Thanks again, Lazlo

One other question... construction has begun on my room, but we are questioning the ability of a cloth ceiling to retain tension over time. I really don't want it to sag, as repairing could be difficult. We're wondering if we might be able to use black window screen instead of cloth. Of course, the problen with that idea is that then the plastic would be somewhat visible. I'm wondering if there is any other material that might be ideal for trapping fiberglass particles other than garden plastic. If it's a little more expensive, that's not that big a deal. Alternatively, is there another material that could work in place of cloth or window screen that is rigid, but would retain acoustic transparency? Again, a little more cost would be OK by me, if we could create a ceiling that would go up more easily and remain tight longer. Thanks again for the help!