John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

im makin a booth out of a corner in my basement and for the 2 wals im building what can i do to make them as close to sound proof as posible with $150-200 the 1 wall is 7 ft and the other is 5 ft

we need length, width and height. If you could draw a small floorplan outlining the area showing us the walls you are planning to build.

Bryan Giles

lil sumthin real quick

OK, now we need to know what the other two walls are made of (concrete, right?), what the ceiling is like, what (if any) floor covering is already there where you want to put the booth, and what you intend to use it for (guitar amp, bass amp, vocals, ???) Also, how big a door will be needed?

These answers will help us figure out what level of construction you will need in order to get where you want to go... Steve

its gonna be used for rap and R&B vocals the walls are concrete theres just a thin carpet on the floor and the dont gotta be any special size jus so ppl can get in n out (i was thinkin bout 1 of those glass sliding doors)

Sliding doors work OK if you get the better quality - only problem is, the door alone will cost about twice what your entire budget is. You can get a pre-hung exterior (solid core) door for $100 and up, but it's not very good for visibility.

I'm not sure what to recommend in your budget range... Steve

Just a followup, a nice solid core Exterior door with glass lights would cost you $129 and up. At Lowes/Home Depot.

As Knightfly said, not much left for walls. If you expanded your budget to a more reasonable $500.00 you could do your walls, insulate and install the door for that cost.

Bryan Giles

I agree, $500 is more like what it would take. Do you or any of your friends have any experience building? Sound proofing is VERY demanding that you do everything just right, or it's no good... Steve

the $200 (i could go up to $300) is for anything other than wood and my friend that is helping me works construction

So You are saying the wood is free? Well In Michigan, the wood needed for this might equal to $50.00. And that is on the high side

The drywall needed, about 16 sheets for the interior walls would run about $80.00

So there is about $130.00 unless the wood is free.

Next is a door. like we said about $129.00 here in Michigan

that brings us to $260.00

Now comes the insulation. 2'x4'x2" Rockwool or SAFB runs about .25/sq. ft or $2.00 a sheet.

You would need about 14 sheets. so $28.00

Just under $300.00 in Materials. Now for your labor.....

Work it out.

Of course these are Michigan Prices.

Now that does not account for electrical needs. Estimate $30.00

Hmm what else is there, well screws, acoustical caulk, and of course some sound absorption materials. Cloth covered 703. Now up here that costs $1.25/sq ft. $10.00 a sheet.

Starts to really add up.

Hope that gives you some direction

Bryan

Wow, didn't realize you lived in Michigan.

Good job, Bryan, thanks - doesn't sound like PG2 needs to worry about the labor part, so this is starting to look like a done deal. Next, we just need to cover actual wall design... Steve