Studiof-construction from scratch

Hi! I am about to buy a house in an area where there are neighbours, not too close but there are neighbours. I plan to build a small studio in the basement (made of concrete) or in two ordinary rooms in the house. I think I'm going to go for the basement because logically it would be better. The main thing I worry about right now before buying the house is the neighbours and the noise that may come from the studio. For that reason the concrete basement must be much better, don't you think? The first thing I have to decide on is the location of the studio: the basement or a normal livingroom-type room. I plan to bulid the studio in two rooms. One studio/rehearsal-room and one control-room. I think I'm going to concentrate on the noise fron the studio-room at first. The instruments that will be used in the studio-room are basic rock settings. Drums, keyboards, piano, bass, guitars, vocals and so on. The ting I worry about most are the drums and the bass. Those low-frequences tend to spread beyond walls pretty good. There will be a door with a glass-window between the control room and the studio-room and I will not concentrate on damping the controlroom for now...that can come later because it will not be as noisy. The dream would be to make the studioroom so that there will be no noise at all outside the house but that maybe impossible...I don't know. The former experince I have on studios are simple homestudios and rehearsal-rooms and not much more than that. The main thing is to make it work so a band can play and the noise will not disturb the neighbours much when they're outside and none at all when the neighbours are inside. I have a quite limited budget but I maybe can stretch to beyond 1000 dollars (I live in sweden so that makes it about 10 000 swedish kronor). I haven't thought so much about the amount of money I have to spend but I really have to make it work. The distance between the house and the neighbours will be about, oh I don't know, 30 meters. Now the studioroom. The studioroom in the basement is about 3x4 meters wide and 2,20 meters high. The "living-room" upstairs (the other alternative if I'm not gonna use the basement) is a bit larger. The basement-room has concrete walls and a plastic-mat. The livingroom has got wood-panel-walls. I have come to understand that a good way to start is to build a room within the room. But I really don't want to build a new floor. I figured out, I don't know if I right or wrong, that the most important things to damp are walls and ceiling? So I thought I could make new walls and a new inner ceiling. But here's where I get stuck in my plans. What is the best way to go from here? I was going to fix the door with some more isolation and a noise-reduction-glass-window for now. I have heard several things I can do with the walls and ceiling. I don't know what works best and how thick walls I have to make. 1. Just Build new inner Walls with isolation and plaster (I don't know if it's called that in english..often used to make walls). And then on the plaster put some absorbent things, like perhaps JJlabs A-Absorb (not so expensive). 2. Make new walls with isolation and then some cloth-material (less expensive than no.1 Any tips and ideas will be appreciated.

Hej och Välkommen!! I only have a couple of seconds on this; but you should start reading a lot more at this site and you'll find out what you need to know about building a studio. In general it'll make sense to build a studio in a basement opposed to a living-space room (preferrably underground). You could search for tips on a flotating room and also you can track back a couple of articles in Swedish Magazine "Studio" where thay had some critical info about building a studio and where to get the material for it. 1000 dollar would be 7130 Swedish Kronor not 10000 (that's the 90's). And I'm pretty sure you wont get the amount of isolation for that money. Where in Sweden are you? best andreas

In swedish! Tjenixen och tack för svaret! Jag bor i Norberg, ca 18mil från sthlm. Nej dollarn var inte exakt översatt där men det beror på att jag inte tänkt igenom budgeten ordentligt. Men mellan 5000-15000:- har jag tänkt beroende på lösning. Jag ska kolla lite med polarn som har tidningen studio. Men mitt problem i det stora är att jag ska göra en studio i en källare och grannens hus är (mer noggrant räknat) ca 25m bort. Jag vill inte störa grannen om det tex trummas i studiorummet. Det är ok om det låter lite ut ur studion men det får inte vara så att grannarna störs och absolut inte när de är inomhus i sina hus. Jag har läst lite om detta med "floating room" och vill helst komma undan att lägga golv. Jag är glad om jag kan fixa oljuds-problemet genom att bara bygga upp nya väggar och inner-tak. Har fått en del tips om material mm som varierar. Men det generella verkar vara trästomme med isolering och sedan ev gipsplattor och kanske nån sån där skum-gummi-aktig dämpning (JJ Labs har nån sån för överkomligt pris...vet ej hur bra det är dock) utanpå det hela och ev heltäckningsmatta på golvet. Sedan kan man även göra skärmar till trumsetet av träramar med isolering och tyg utanpå. Är det någon läsare som tror att jag genom detta kan fixa så grannarna inte störs? Det är liksom det första som ska övervinnas innan resten av studion ska tänkas igenom. Studion ska även användas lite som replokal. Kan man även få det att funka i ett vanligt rum, typ vardagsrum? Givetvis måste fönster täppas igen då också. Är detta genomförbart? Någon som har erfarenhet av detta?

Guys, if you want to SEVERELY limit the help you get, keep posting in Swedish; I, and most members, don't seem to be multi-lingual (few words of Spanish, few of German, few of Fijiian, few of Italian, that's about it) - however, I do speak "Construction", and that's what you're wanting help with... :wink: Steve

I only posted in swedish beacuse I got an answer from a guy from sweden. The question above still is the main question. Is it possible for me to make that studio with limited budget without disturbing the neighbours?

It may be; part of that depends on what type of concrete walls your basement has, how much of those walls is above the ground outside, and how your upper floor framing is done; the more info you can post about what is already there, the more we can figure out about expense and methods and materials. For example, if your concrete walls are made of hollow blocks mortared together, this already makes a 2-leaf wall so about all you should do is add more mass directly to one or both surfaces. If you can get access to the tops of these blocks, it's possible you could add sand to all the cavities; this would turn the wall into a SINGLE leaf of mass with EXCELLENT damping; then you could build a new frame inside (not touching the outer wall), insulate that, and get some decent (drum level) isolation. If your ceiling joists (the frame you might see from below if it's not covered up) are heavy enough, you can add more mass to that in the form of gypsum wallboard (also known as plaster board, gyp-rock, sheet-rock, etc) and get better isolation to the upstairs; this is important because without it your sound will continue out the upper walls and STILL get to the neighbors. The distance to your neighbors is a good thing; sound decreases proportional to the square of the distance. You should review the "don't even think about..." thread for ideas of what kinds of details we need, research as many as possible, and if possible post a rough sketch of what is already there; if I understand correctly, you have about 10,000 kroner to spend; in order for us to know how far that will go, you'd need to check pricing on 15mm plasterboard, 2x4 framing lumber (35 x 90mm), and any other materials you see mentioned here for isolation construction; but given the distance to neighbors and your concrete basement, it's possible at this point... Steve

Many thanks. I have no idea what type of concrete walls the house has. It's a pretty old basement...from the 60's. The basement has got concrete ceiling that is jointed to the walls and the floor (so it seems anyway). But maybe I can find out more about this... Anyway it's nice to find out that there's a possibility to make it work. To build a small studio without disturbing the neighbours...everyone is on me about that I should give up the idea and just make a "music-room"...piano, guitarr and so on. But my dream was to have my own studio where I can make my noise in peace. I mesured the distance to the neighbours house and its 27 meters. Regarding the budget, if it costs 10.000 or 15.000 (swedish kronor....I think 1 dollar is about 7,5 sek) is not a very big deal...I have a limited budget but if it costs more to really make it work the so be it. I mean I want it to work. When it comes to the noise level that will be in the studioroom then I think I will have to go by the noise a smaller rock band makes without amplifiing the drums...a kind of rehearsal studio-room. At that level it's ok if some sound comes out but not "into" the neightbours house. The basement must be MUCH better to use as a studio-room, mustn't it? Can I make this work if I concentrate on the ceiling and the walls and just put maybe a heavy mat on the floor? How do I build the walls? How thick should they be? What material? How do I build the walls without them touching the concrete wall. One of the rooms has in the basement has got wooden walls (panel) , maybe this room would work better? I think there is one ventilation-hole leading outside. What should I put in this hole to just minimize the noise out. Regarding the innerwalls and ceiling. Should I just (oh this is hard in english) make new frames with the lumber and fill it with isolation and the put plaster boards. I thought of putting more isolation on the plasterboards. The stores sell (for example JJ Labs has got one model) rubber-foam-kind (I don't think it's rubber-foam but some other material) of blocks that the say absorb low frequencies. Any thought on this? Will is be sufficient with a really heavy mat on the floor? Is the ceiling and the walls the most important thing? By the way...I never thought there was a forum for these kind of questions...always amazed! Many thanks!

The basement is mostly under ground but a little bit is over the ground...about 50cm

I have been intouch with some people who are positive that I can make this studio work without disturbing the neighbours...which is the very first thing I need to know before I even start. Anyone that has got any more thoughts about that? I think I'm going to focus on building new walls and ceiling in the studioroom and the place a really thick mat on the floor. Now I need to know exatcly how to build the walls and ceiling...I need to get some idea of measurements and such...how many layers of gypsum and how thick walls and so on. What kind of isolation should I use between the gypsum. I have understood that the walls preferably shouldn't be in touch with the concrete walls. How do I make this work? Perhaps there is some good pictures in this forum that someone can direct me to. Then I plan to focus on digital drums and a lower volume when rehearsing but also to make it possible to record live acoustic drums. I was thinking about making a separate drum-floor with hard rubber feet and some damping-screens that I can put around the drums. I should be able to make this work without the crabky neighbours calling the cops or throwing apples at me?

I need to get some idea of measurements and such..

Yes, we need to know the measures of your room in order to help you.

h...how many layers of gypsum and how thick walls and so on. What kind of isolation should I use between the gypsum. I have understood that the walls preferably shouldn't be in touch with the concrete walls. How do I make this work? Perhaps there is some good pictures in this forum that someone can direct me to.

Well, this is THE forum for finding out about that, there's several links, topics, images and sketches for you, just search with the search function and you'll find some and please read all the stickies!! best andreas

The room will be about 4x5 meters and 2,2m to the ceiling.

oh, 2,2 meter ceiling is very low, you can't drop the ceiling more than a couple of cm and still I'd think it's too low. err, dunno what to say, you mentioned you had a living space that you could rebuild as a studio? does that room have a higher ceiling? best a

Also, about your concrete walls - do they have any sort of "pattern" showing, specifically grooves or ridges in a repeating pattern that's about 200mm by 400mm? If you can post some pix of the area showing walls, ceiling frames, and any other construction details, it would make this a LOT easier... Steve

Thanks! Yeah, the ceiling is very low indeed...or at least will be. Maybe it will work if I skip the floating floor and just drop the ceiling a couple of cm. 2m would work (I will have to ban tall people from the studio). It shold damp a bit if I just drop it a little bit. The livingroom is 2,40 but I've heard that I must make a floating floor if I was to use the livingroom. The concrete walls are rather flat. No repeating patterns at all there. Would it be better with patterns?

No, patterns are NOT a good thing usually. Any chance of some pix?? Steve

Hi, been away.... I haven't got any photos yet With patterns, do you mean patternt caused by damp (water) There are no patterns or anything strange about the walls at all. They're really smooth.

No, although no water marks is a good thing; I meant patterns showing that the wall was made of separate blocks; if so, it should look something like this... Steve

Hi! No, no patterns at all that shows the blocks and how the wall is built