basement studio in dc?

piginzen · Post by **piginzen** » Sun Apr 11, 2004 11:01 pm

I just bought a house and plan to move in in late July.

I have two rooms in the basement and plan to take it over for my studio.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to design it?

Attached it the floor plan we designed.

ps. the garage is not going to be part of the studio, that will be used for storage and a car

Post by **John Sayers** » Mon Apr 12, 2004 9:37 am

you don't get much real space in your layout - is it possible to move the laundry items to the bottom left of your drawing?? BTW are there any support beams we should consider??

cheers
john

piginzen · Post by **piginzen** » Mon Apr 12, 2004 11:30 am

it's doubfully possible as we'd have to run new water lines

i do not believe there are any support beams to worry about at all...

8.5" ceilings... built in 1937...

would the control room be best in the lower left and the studio in the large room?

Post by **Aaronw** » Tue Apr 13, 2004 1:44 am

Piginzen,

Just my 2 cents worth, but water lines are fairly easy if you have the patience. Would probably cost under a $100 for the parts and tools. But then again, the drainage would be a little more of a challenge. Especially if this is a basement w/ concrete floor.

I just replaced half the house w/ new copper plumbing. Never done before in my life, but well worth the trouble. I had water lines in my way too.

Aaron

dbluefield · Post by **dbluefield** » Tue Apr 13, 2004 3:34 am

Zen Piggy,

I would be petioning for use of that garage!

Can you tell us a little more of what you hope to do with your studio?

Man that's a tight space as it is, but if you can only use that, methinks that your back will be to the garage wall perhaps - to let the bass freqs pass through.

Best,

Dave

piginzen · Post by **piginzen** » Tue Apr 13, 2004 5:20 am

it will be used to track bands and to record projects...
fyi: my studio site right now is here: http://www.olympusmonsstudios.com

And the space i have there is tighter and it seemed to work out ok.

i'd love to have the big room as the studio and the smaller one as the control room...

there are already so many expenses with moving, that my budget is going to be very small and set primarily with sound reinforcement (sound proofing) and drywall and auralex padding.

dbluefield · Post by **dbluefield** » Tue Apr 13, 2004 9:07 am

Maybe you can borrow a little garage space like this for your rear wall?

Best,

Dave

piginzen · Post by **piginzen** » Tue Apr 13, 2004 9:27 am

this is excellent!

i cant believe how quickly you came up with this.

just quickly, what are these 6" 7032x4, hangers (in garage) and the 2" 703? are those the auralex?

also what is the slotted wall made of? are there any pictures?

again, thanks so much for your help!

mat

dbluefield · Post by **dbluefield** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 4:42 am

what are these 6" 7032x4, hangers (in garage) and the 2" 703? are those the auralex?

also what is the slotted wall made of? are there any pictures?

703 is an Owens Corning semi-rigid fiberboard, that does wonders for sound absorption. According th OC's specs 6 inches of it will absorb pretty unifom down to 60Hz. Spacing it off the wall several inches increases it's absorption as well.Burlap on top helps with the extreme highs. They come as 2x4 foot sheets and are far cheaper and more suitable for studio use than foam. There's a picture of some lying around Travis' studio here:

http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... 0952#10952

You can construct relativeley lighweight boxes to hold the 703 in place and cover with burlap or fabric. You can hang them cabinet style on the wall, remove them or arrange them as desired.

Search on this site for slotted absorbers and on the SAE link to see John's plans.

Read up on Ethan Winner's bass traps article here:

http://www.ethanwiner.com/basstrap.html

Check out ethan's professional mini trap company here:
http://www.realtraps.com/

Also read up here and at SAE for making acoustic hangers. You can use different materials to make these - from fiberboard with 703 attached that hang from strings - to limp mass loaded vinyl that Phillip Newell reccomends in his book "project studios - a more professional approach." Also Jeff Coopers book - Building a recording studio" has useful diagrams for constructing bass traps as well.

If you do your homework, you will find that the exact acoustic treatmens that you need for your recording space and CR is not an exact science, but allot of practical approaches can be gleened here -- and they can be done relatively cheaply if you DIY. If time/skills do not allow for building, I would look into Ethans' product line and advice with small room expertise.

As for using my suggested layout - keep bouncing it around here - try to get John to comment - so we can all learn together. From the tone of what you wanted and budget constraints, I thought a very absorptive rear CR wall that steals space from the garage might work. Remember there is the ceilings to consider too, and floors ..and on..and on....

Post some pics if you get a chance.

Best,

Dave

Post by **Aaronw** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 5:07 am

The 703 is an Owens Corning semi-rigid (or rigid?) fiberglass batt that you cover w/ cloth.

Do a search on slat walls/slot walls. There are several pix. You can click here too: http://www.saecollege.de/reference_material/index.html

Click on Absorbers and Construction.

Aaron

piginzen · Post by **piginzen** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 5:08 am

thanks so much dave

i am planning on putting in hardwood floors myself too!

and arualex will be all over the ceiling...

if my studio gets going even more than it is now, perhaps it would be more obvious to open up to the garage and finish that area as a studio B

i cant thank you enough for all your help...

ps. i am not moving until july 30... but that is the first project once we move in to this new space... and i will have tons of pictures for everyone!

dbluefield · Post by **dbluefield** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 5:30 am

Hey Mat,

and arualex will be all over the ceiling...

hmmm......pssst...703 is your friend here as well.

ps. i am not moving until july 30... but that is the first project once we move in to this new space... and i will have tons of pictures for everyone!

That's good, you can start your reading now and try to figure out how much broadband absortion you will need, layout refinements, wiring plans, patchbay? etc. My plan is only a preliminary suggestion, you will probably need more bass absortption in the live room than I drew. I suggest posting more ideas and drawings as you start to get a feel for the space and needs.

Best of Luck,

Dave

piginzen · Post by **piginzen** » Thu Apr 15, 2004 1:47 am

the article on the hangers is great...

so you think it will help absorb bass freq. coming from the control room?

i am a little more concerned with the sounds coming from the live room as i dont mix in the studio at high volumes...

are there any resources available in building slotted walls?

thanks so much,
mat

dbluefield · Post by **dbluefield** » Thu Apr 15, 2004 7:14 am

http://www.saecollege.de/reference_material/index.html

so you think it will help absorb bass freq. coming from the control room?

i am a little more concerned with the sounds coming from the live room as i dont mix in the studio at high volumes...

are there any resources available in building slotted walls?

see above

there are different ways to handle the bass freqs WITHIN the CR. Hangers are one method. The thicker your rear CR wall treatment the more broadband absorption you can achieve. The idea is to not have allot of sound bouncing back from the rear wall muddying up your mix position. You may not want to build the slotted wall in the CR I suggested because you cannot match the same thing on your stair well side. The idea is to establish a RFZ, and minimize detrimental phase cancellations and acoustic oddities cased by the rooms boundries and material..

As for sounds coming from the "live room" -- do you mean you are concerned about hearing the live room outside the house or in other parts of the house? That is a sound isolation concern and not a room acoustics concern.

If some of this confuses you, read up on the SAE site first to get the concepts of RFZ/Slots/bass Traps/Isolation etc. Then post some more questions when you get a handle on the basics.

Dave

piginzen · Post by **piginzen** » Thu Apr 15, 2004 9:01 am

No this is very helpful.

I did scour thru that website (every inch) and there was a ton of great information.

I was planning on putting Velora Foam behind the drywall to aid in keeping the sound from going outside the room and from annoying the neighbors.

Has anyone has any good experience with this material?

Thanks,
mat