Home Studio Project
Our names are Dave and Eric and our goal is to complete construction of a quality home studio -- another basement studio, of course. The studio will be used for recording predominantly acoustic music that includes guitar, violin, harmonica, electric bass (direct without amplification) and light percussion (all probably less than 90 dB at the source).
Dave is a college physics and astronomy professor who is also a singer/songwriter; he performs original music which would be considered contemporary folk (similar to Iron and Wine, acoustic Jack Johnson, and Greg Brown) and has recorded his music in the past in his basement (not a studio at all). Eric has a Masters in Electrical Engineering and a Recording Arts Degree. Eric has a passion for music and music production; our joint venture is a result of our dedication to all facets of music and a shared dream to design and build our own studio, and then to pursue achieving high quality recordings. Our ultimate objective is to produce albums of original music.
We are working with a restricted space in the finished basement of Dave’s home in Michigan; we have removed a couple existing walls and the ceiling in the area which is to become the studio. We have preliminary plans and sketches for the studio (isolation booth and control room). Also, we have done some online research and have about three books on home studio construction, but we’re now at a point where we need some specific and significant questions answered. After much time we decided the books and the online help have not answered those questions; it appears your expertise is exactly what we need. We appreciate beyond words any assistance or ideas we get from everyone, so, in advance, thanks a million.
There are a few things we have determined along the way; a description of each follows.
First, we are much more concerned with the acoustics of the spaces (isolation booth and control room) than we are with sound isolation of the entire space. We are not concerned with keeping the noise out of the rest of the house, and we won’t have a problem with noise coming from people outside the studio area. Sound transmission into the isolation booth from the control room, live room (the rest of the basement) and upstairs should not be a large factor. We do have the one problem everyone seems to have: there’s a room adjacent to the isolation booth (let’s call it the machine room) that contains a furnace and will house our UPS and PC for Protools. (It’s worth noting the furnace (and AC) will be shut down for two or three hours during recording, and the PC and UPS will live inside a home made acoustic enclosure.)
Second, we would like the isolation booth to be large enough to accommodate two musicians (with guitars and multiple mic stands), which is reflected in our plans.
Third, we are limited to a construction budget of approximately $2500 of which $850 has been spent on some, but not all, of the studding, gypsum board, plywood, electrical, lighting, etc. (visible in several photos). The construction budget is above and beyond the musical and recording equipment costs (mostly taken care of).
The following is our preliminary blueprint/sketch of the studio space. (We have SmartDraw 7 available for future communications, once we figure it out.) The drawing was done to scale (1/2 in = 1 ft) on graph paper (scanned graph paper grid may be unclear).
External image, not preserved — original: http://www.bdprofilms.com/Studiopics/Sketch1_750_small.jpg
Legend:
IB = Isolation Booth
CR = Control Room
MR = Machine Room (includes furnace)
SC = Storage Closet (for guitar cases, cables, etc.)
LR = Live Room (the rest of the basement)
EW1 = Existing Wall – 17’ 6” (outside, cement behind studs and insulation)
EW2 = Existing Wall – 7’ 2” (outside, contains electrical service box)
EW3 = Existing Wall – 11’ 0” (inside, hallway beyond and contains CR entrance)
EW4 = Existing Wall – 12’ 1” (inside, separates CR from LR)
NW5 = New Wall (between CR and IB to include window and door)
NW6 = New Wall (between IB and MR)
NW7 = New Wall (between IB and SC)
NW8 = New Wall (between CR and MR)
NW9 = New Wall (between CR and EW1; trapped space used for storage)
As you can see, we designed the CR to be symmetrical with no parallel walls, and attempted to use the available space to maximize both IB and CR floor spaces. We are planning a gypsum board ceiling in the IB and a drop ceiling in the CR.
Below are some actual pictures of the studio space. In the following images, the walls have been labeled according to the above legend and the ceiling height was also labeled on View1 as 7’ 8”. The existing light fixtures are going to be removed so please ignore them; we have already purchased what we plan to use. Any blue tape you see on the floor is our initial layout taped out just to get a feel for its actual size.
You can see the existing duct work in the above images which we plan to use as our height for the CR, approximately 6’10”.
A few last bits of information:
-We are not planning to construct a floating floor.
-The MR is accessible from another room (not shown on the drawing), so there is no need for a door from within the studio.
-For NW5, NW6, &NW8 we are planning a double 5/8” gypsum board (glued) on one side, 2x4 wood studs, and single layer 5/8” gypsum board on the other side with standard home insulation between for an approximate 43 STC rating.
-We plan to install a wall mounted keyboard, mouse, and LCD in the IB so Dave can control Protools from inside the booth when he’s recording on his own, which will be the majority of the time.
-We plan to use a pair of near-field monitors which can be seen in the sketch posted with furniture.
External image, not preserved — original: http://www.bdprofilms.com/Studiopics/View1_750_small.jpg
External image, not preserved — original: http://www.bdprofilms.com/Studiopics/View2_750_small.jpg
External image, not preserved — original: http://www.bdprofilms.com/Studiopics/View3_750_small.jpg
External image, not preserved — original: http://www.bdprofilms.com/Studiopics/Entrance_750_small.jpg
Also, here is a quick sketch of the CR with some chairs and the desk we plan to build.
External image, not preserved — original: http://www.bdprofilms.com/Studiopics/Sketch2_750_small.jpg
So, here are our questions:
1. Any suggestions regarding the drop ceiling in the control room with regard to mixing? (We plan to place acoustic foam directly above the mixing position.)
2. If we keep the existing wall design, does the back corner directly behind the mixing position (formed by walls EW3 and EW4) pose acoustic problems? Do you suggest any special acoustic treatments in the corner? (We have researched your site extensively and found no designs with a corner like ours.)
3. What do you recommend for the walls between the IB and MR (NW6) and CR and MR (NW8)?
4. We have researched doors and windows extensively, but haven’t come up with the most cost effective and audio isolating design. What do you recommend for the door and window between the CR and IB to try and maintain our goal of an approximate 43 STC? We are planning on using a 24” door and would like the window to be approximately 2’ high by 3’ wide, but we’ll use smaller dimensions if recommended.
5. Given our current design plans, what do you suggest in terms of acoustic treatments and wall/ceiling construction in the IB so we achieve optimal recording quality?
6. Given our current design plans, what do you suggest in terms of acoustic treatments (et cetera) in the CR for optimal mixing quality?
7. Given the size of our IB, should we be concerned with things like wood floors and removable carpet, or is it small enough that we should attempt to construct an acoustically dead room? What do you recommend for the floor in the IB?
8. Currently we have a tile on cement floor in both the IB and CR. Our research indicates carpeting absorbs minimal higher frequencies; what do you suggest for the floor in the CR? Is carpeting a good idea for the CR? If so, what type of carpet do you recommend?
9. Do you have any general recommendations with regard to our plans at this point that we haven’t expressed concern with in the above questions? Are there things we’ve missed? Do you have any issues with our current design?
Again, thank you all for your time and knowledge,
Eric & Dave (a.k.a. SOLOW & BOSS)