New to this forum and construction

dans · Post by **dans** » Wed Aug 04, 2004 2:44 am

Hi everyone, I just discovered this forum from a reference in the Digidesign User Conference. I have been clicking around for a few days now and am very glad I happened upon John's site.

I am hoping to close on a new home in about three weeks (pending inspection...fingers crossed!) and would like to build a very modest studio in the basement. I'll be reading old posts on here for the next few weeks and will probably have a few thousand questions. But for now, I have a very general question for you. I am planning to convert the 155 year-old basement of my hopefully-soon-to-be house into a studio as mentioned. But really this will just be a place for me to practice and cut some demo tracks. I have invested a fair amount of money on equipment and have played since I was four years old. I'm very serious about writing and playing. But I've also been a little skeptical that I need to spend a ton of cash to write my songs. In other words, it's the talent that counts, not the equipment. That said, to make this small dungeon a worthy place to play and record music, what kind of investment am I looking at?

Here's the specs of the room, from memory. The area in which i would like to make the studio is about 10x12 with a VERY low ceiling, probably 6 feet 5 inches. The ground is concrete the walls are original stone. The ceiling is not finished. The entire basement is about 20x26 and I will use a corner of it. There are two windows, one of which leaks, so I'll be replacing them both. There is also a bulkhead where I'd like to add a door as well.

So if I am on a very limited budget and would simply like to make things a little more soundproof, what's my best options and roughly how much must I spend? Honestly, I think I have to keep it to less than $1,000, not including the windows.

Thanks for any and all opinions!

-Dan

Post by **Aaronw** » Wed Aug 04, 2004 5:06 am

How much isolation do you require? Are you basically just building a practice room or do you need a control room, etc.?

The cost will depend on how much isolation you really need. Do you have close neighbors? Do you plan on playing drums at 2am?

Is the basement completely under ground, or is it a daylight basement. Is the window in the area where you will be building your space?

Aaron

dans · Post by **dans** » Wed Aug 04, 2004 1:26 pm

Aaronw wrote:How much isolation do you require? Are you basically just building a practice room or do you need a control room, etc.?

I don't require much isolation. The room will only be for practicing and recording demos of my own music. No control room necessary anytime soon.

Aaronw wrote:The cost will depend on how much isolation you really need. Do you have close neighbors? Do you plan on playing drums at 2am?

No plans for drums at 2am, but i would like to be able to sing and play the piano at 2am. I do Ben Folds kind of stuff, not too heavy, but not too light either. Unfortunately my neighbors are very close. One is only about 8 feet away and the other is about 16 feet. Boston's Green Line "T" street car system passes just 8 feet from the back of the place, so the entire neighborhood is used to noise. At the same time, I don't want the psychological baggage of worrying about whether the neighbors can hear me as I practice and write. When I lived in NYC in a small apt. with nasty neighbors, it was a constant battle to practice and I never felt like I could let loose with my singing. I do NOT want that to be the case with this house.

Aaronw wrote:Is the basement completely under ground, or is it a daylight basement. Is the window in the area where you will be building your space?

The basement is basically underground, with holes dug out for two windows that are essentially below ground level. The windows are in the same corner in which I plan to set up shop. Light does come through, but not much. One window leaks so I'll certainly be replacing both.

I think my biggest issues are the windows and the bulkhead. The bulkhead is not in any way sealed off from the outside. I think I must add a door in front of it. I was hoping that I could solve the window problem with some decent prefab multi-paned windows from Home Depot or such.

Post by **Aaronw** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 12:49 am

As far as the windows, You can probably frame for a second set of glass. I'm still trying to figure this out for myself yet, but my basement has new windows already, but where the inside wall is, I'll probably add a second window (solid piece) but have it in a frame with seals, and on hinges so I can open it.