My yet-to-be-build studio

Hi, Within a couple of weeks I hope to make the foundation of my studio. But I need some measures etc. before that time can come. I read the rules and they say that I need to tell them to you, but that's kinda hard, cause there ain't any yet. I'm a sixteen year old boy who want's to create his own (home) recording studio. My parents and I agreed that I may build a basement (my dad's a construction worker -or who do you call that in English?-) and my new room will be build up on it. But they need to know the measurements for the basement. I asked for some help at a Dutch forum but they said I'd better check this forum. The basement will only be used as a live room (or what is it called in English). It will be one room and a small hall for the stairs. The actual recording and mixing will be done in my new bedroom (were a special "corner" will be created for this). I heard some things and knew some things already, but after some stuff that I read I don't really know what is best. The walls will be parallel (I read somewhere not to do this because of reflections, but on another site they said that every room has reflections and it is not really necessary), but I don't know what size would be recommended for this room. There must fit a complete band in it (let's say a drummer with al his gear, couple of 2 to 3 guitarist, bassguitarist, some vocals etcetera). :arrow: What do you think that's best, reckon with absorbtion, sound isolation etcetera? The sound I want to record is just clean; so the less reverb/acoustics from the room, the better. At least I think that's best, because with a dry signal you can a lot more I guess than with a "wet" one. For "isolation" between the instruments/sound sources I was thinking of "sound absorbing screens". I saw this in several other studios and the results sounded good. But on the other hand, perhaps a drumbooth would be fine to and a "vocal" booth. :arrow: I really want to know what you think about this. The budget I want to spent on this will be maximum like 400 euro's (the less the better, but if more is really needed... well I'll work something out :P ), excluding the costs of the "basic" things like bricks, wood, cement and that kinda stuff. So thats the budget for the isolation/absortion and stuff. I have some other questions, but they will follow later on. First I want to know something more about the above. Thanks in advance! Excuse me for my English, but it's pretty hard cause my native language is Dutch and some words are a bit ackward to me.

I am very sorry to tell you this - but even if you do all of the work yourself - I do not see any way you can do anything close to what you want for 500 euros - that's roughly 640 US dollars - - you would be lucky to be able to frame a room within a room and insulate it for that amount of money - not to mention multiple layers of drywall - sound doors - sound windows - special hardware - electrical wiring - lighting - hundreds of tubes of caulk - and then you have to do the room treatments - which (even if you build them yourself) could easily cost you 500 euro. A realistic budget for a small room (if you can do it all yourself) would probably be more in line with 7or 8 thousand euros if you really need isolation. You would be better off just trying to treat the basement - and forget about isolation until you can really afford to do the job right. Sincerely, Rod

Perhaps I misformed my sentence... 500 euro's is the max. that I want to spend on sound isolation/absorbing material. And on the Dutch forum I also read something about glasswool and well you don't really have to count that within the budget like several other things, because my dad has a lot of that stuff. I want it "low-cost" with minimal reflections and if it's really needed to go over the budget, well so be it. And you said "if you really need isolation", but in fact isolation isn't needed on every wall I guess... Because it's a basement, I guess isolation would only be needed at the ceiling (because my bedroom will be above it) and the wall that between the hall with the stairs and the 'live room'. And perhaps the booths, if I make them. Hmm, perhaps this post belongs at Studio Design instead of Studio Construction?

Arno, Info : Rod, I sent Arno here from a Dutch forum, where 95 % is pro busy with environmental acoustics (rules/regulations/laws). Arno: you didn't told there that budget, and here you don't make clear that you still have to dig that cellar, hence what you need is anything starting some kind of garden. And in the Netherlands the ground water levels are high (close to surface). You didn't told you were 16. Now I get the feeling that your father is going to pay everything and just wants a minor contribution of you. Rod, Andy starts from a piece of land, where even the hole isn't present yet. Andy, if your father is in construction, I better should have a deep talk with him, what he will take for him and what he expect as contribution from you. The budget you're speaking about, covers only minor fraction of your current plans (more pocket money). In the Dutch group you said you should dig the cellar out yourself ?????? I more start wondering if your father isn't testing you now. Edited: Arno: After rereading your Dutch post. This looks as some extension of, or freestanding part from the house your parents are willing to build specifically for you. You must have nice parents and a very good relation which is very nice. That bedroom should come whole or partly on top of your studio. You want to have seperate stairs to your studio (from the outside?, or from within that bedroom?) Summarised you can say the larger and higher your studio can be build the better. Hence you better check with your parents first how far they are willing to go here. Which space you can count on, within there plans. I think this is the first part to start with. The >"excluding the costs of the "basic" things like bricks, wood, cement and that kinda stuff."< Rod and others can tell you what that means .... Your 400 to 500 Euro (I learned here) are peanuts here in this project. Your parents are willing to build this specially for you and just want you to commit yourself to some personal contribution. You have nice parents.

Hi, I wasn't all that clear I guess... The budget, we'll I heard today that I will work some more days this vacation, so I suppose a couple of hundred EUR will come upon the 500. And I think if it's really necessary my parents will pay some stuff. But things like glass wool, we just have a lot of that at home. We got a lot of things at home (my dad "collects" a lot :P my mom doesn't like that, but He! I think it's quite handy!). There is a small hole present at the time, because I started digging... (See the picture :P ) My dad will make the "standard" room and will help me when necessary when I go and isolate / make the room absorbing etcetera. The stairs will be in a seperate hall. The space isn't a real problem, I talked to me mom and I said it really needs to be bigger than a basic "storage basement". She just said, well just dig what you think you need. And my father said this wouldn't be a problem, not even when there will be some rooms up on it. He already had some plans to consolidate the whole construction when the basements must be bigger.

Arno, Where's the picture you refer to? Can you handle 20 m² and 3 m high? That makes 60 m3 of digging + hall for stairs. Or can you handle 30 m²? 90 m3 digging + hall? That are a LOT of wheelbarrows. You speak about 6 to 7 musicians and recording them?

Whoops, forget to add the picture... Retry :-P After some thinking of what best todo, I decided that I will build a vocal booth and a drum booth too. (I'm also going to check another studio out - Rich Road Recors, Will Theus' studio at Valkenswaard - it's a small studio, but the recordings sound good). There must be space for like say a drummer (drum booth), lead vocals (vocal booth), lead guitarist, rhytm guitarist, bassist and for some additional musicians. So the total would be around 5 excluding the two booths. How many space do you think there is needed for that? And what sizes would be okay for a drumbooth (4m * 3m?), and what sizes for a vocal booth (2m * 2m?)?

Arno, Make that picture smaller please. You can edit that message and replace that picture (should be ca 660 to 680 pixels wide) Look at the sticky topic at the top of the forum. http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3231 Eric I hope other jump in to give you minimum sizes for those rooms.

BedroomBeats.nl wrote:

I decided that I will build a vocal booth and a drum booth too.

Arno, I am too tired to do the conversions - but basics are that you always want everything as large as you can make it - that having been said - my drum set is almost 8' wide when it's all set up - so leaving enough room for me to get around one side of it I would need 10 1/2 feet. and then I would want it to be at least 8' deep. If you make a vocal booth pplenty dead you can have a decent one with roughly 5' x 6'. The tracking room really wants to be as large as you can possibly make it. I wouldn't want to put 4 musicians in a room any smaller than maybe 16' x 21' Your picture looks like you are digging inside of an existing basement - that's a lot of work - how big is that space you're in? Rod

So the "main tought" is: Use as much space as you can get. By the way; I'm not digging in an existing basement. This is our former pigsty (it has been empty for like ages) and the entire floor has been demolished for like 4 years ago. The only thing left are the "outer walls" and the "stale pit" (-or how do you call that in English!?- but it was emptied when the last pigs left). Perhaps the tought is a bit strange, but it doesn't smell or even look like a pigsty anymore... :P And after reading your post, the measurements I suggested for a drumbooth would be okay? (4m * 3m, that's aprox 13ft * 10ft

Arno, I gently asked to make that picture smaller. Read the rules here. I gave you the link.

In case you don't know how, here's a compressed version. Now delete your one and either copy this and upload to your message (and I'll delete this one) or keep this one here. :wink:

Thanks, Ro! Sorry, Eric, didn't see your post...

There are some plans that have been changed... Because the live room and booths need a certain height, it was also unpossible to make a basement for that. So my mam came with another idea... As I told you before, we had pigs... and we still have the pigsty. It is quite a long building, and even when the new bedrooms are in it, there's still a lot of space left. Especially in the back (also further away from a lot of neighbours -however that will not cause any problems-). The pigsty has a width of aprox. 8 meters, my mam told. So I figured it was time to install Google's SketchUp and make a crappy sketch. But I still don't know who it really works! :P I included the skp-file and a JPEG (screenshot of the skp, with some comments). Perhaps someone could help me (as you can see, help is really needed) with this. Download the SketchUp file here: http://www.itavero.nl/filedump/simplesketch.skp Note: You might be wondering where the control room went, well it is going to be in a special corner of my new bedroom. Another note: the line on the outerleft isn't straight, messed that up some how :? Oh, I was also wondering if the proportion are alright (I still think the drum kit I downloaded is smaller than in real life). Kind Regards, Arno