basement studio

[dragonworks]

I am contemplating(da)putting a studio
in my basement(actually garage). The only real sounproofing I need is in the ceiling
to keep it out of the house. Everything else
is cement block walls and concrete floors (will remove garage door of course). Downloaded acoustics 101 and it recommends treatment everyware. Read in some of the forums answers that this may not be a good idea? The room is about 25'x25' and there is
a perfect raised small room completely enclosed maybe for sound room. Anyone with
any expierience in basement studios i would
be glad to hear from ya. I am broke like everyone else but would like to try and do this but have no clue what would be best or
how to go about it?

[BigKahuna]

Are you planning on building new walls or just using the existing concrete walls. I guess what I'm asking is do you want to soundproof or just treat the acoustics.
I didn't build my studio in a garage, but I know people who have and they left the garage door on (permanently locking it, of course). They built a room within the garage taking the steps to isolate the inner room from the outer structure as much as possible. Acoustics 101 details for the most part details what they did, as they used that document when they designed the studio.
One thing is certain, if you try to soundproof to the extent as shown in that document ... you will be spending a fair amount of money.
If you remove the garage door, what would you replace it with? Just concrete block to fill it in?
If you're only interested in treating the acoustic of the garage, I'd start with blankets, etc (whatever is absorbant and cheap) to see if you like the effects ... and maybe graduate to foam products later on. For sure, get some carpet on the floor (the deeper the pile, the better). Auralex makes room packages now like the Roominator that may be a good starting point in foam.
Good Luck

[dragonworks]

Thank you BigKahuna

I realy only need to soundproof the ceiling
like I said. The garage is 90% underground
and only needs sound treatment. I would re-
move the door only because I never use it
for a garage and I would probably replace it
with concrete block and a picture window so I
could keep some natural light in there when
needed. I could probably make something sound
absorbent to fit tightly into the window when
recording. I could build a room within a room
but it would cost quite a bit. Someday I may
want to finish it so it could also be used as
a family room but I will probably start by
removing the garage door and installing a
wood floor and some carpet. The raised room
i mentioned i meant to say could be used as
a control room. It is about 8x8 and 95%
cinderblock with a dirt floor and about 3
feet above the garage floor and totally
seperate from the garage. I realize that I
would either have to put a window or a closed
circuit tv monitor in it to see into the
studio(garage). If I have voice contact do
I really have to see into it? That may seem
like a stupid question but shows how much
I really know on the subject.

Thanx

[Steve Tittle]

Is anyone else going to record? Eye to eye contact is nice when talking to someone when they're in the studio. Concrete itself is going to give you so much sound reflection it would be unreal. Have all your neighbors, friends, relatives etc., save those egg cartons. Nice cheap absorption.

[dragonworks]

Thanx Steve

I would hope other people would record which
I am planning on. I would have to knock con-
crete blocks to put a window in which I guess
I would just have to do. I once did a guys
trailer with egg cartons and we found a wholesale distributor who sold just the flat
18 egg holders for $37.00 for 1000. That was
in Colorado, will have to look for one here
in n.y. we also used a lot of carpet, it
wasn't pretty but it did the trick.

[BigKahuna]

When I did my ceiling, I put in double insulation (20" thick total), then a layer of soundboard, then 5/8" sheetrock, then acoustical tile. This has been *fairly* soundproof, but I wish now that I had maybe added an extra layer of drywall or sheetblock and maybe even hung the drywall on resilient channels.
Egg cartons can act as diffusors, but will not absorb the sound. To do that you need foam, or dense fabric like blankets or something like that. Mattress pads also can work ... those are pretty inexpensive too.

[dragonworks]

I was thinking now of using that isolate
room as a vocal booth and building the control within the garage itself, this would save me the trouble of knocking out cinderblock to install a window?

[skweeks]

you'd need some way of seeing the people probably if they aren't very experienced with recording vocals so you can tell them where to stand and see if they move... but you could do that with a camera setup, and you wouldn't need that right away anyway... how are you planning to get the wire's in there though?

[dragonworks]

There is a heavey wooden door going into
the "soundbooth" which I could pug glass in
but I really wouldn't be able to see into it
very well from anywhere I could put the con-
trol room. Then again I might be able to set
up mirrors like people use at the ends of
their driveway when they are on corners? I
could drill a couple of holes through the
cinderblock to get wires through. The cubicle is just big enough for a vocal booth
and with some sound absortion material would
be pretty dead in there.

[Steve Tittle]

You might also check into sound board. I know from the various jobs that I've on that it does a nice job of insulating. Yes egg cartons do have diffusion but from my experience dead air space is one of the best insulators and sound proofing that there is.

Let me now how you fair...I'm always up to new ideas.

[dragonworks]

I am building a website for the studio at
homestead and the wife saw it and asked me
where the studio was going to be (had it set
up at a friends house but brought all the equipment home) and I told her in the base
ment in the garage, then the suggestions really started pouring in! I have two of my
own songs I recorded on idrive.com at my site
name ulsterlanding, anyone wanting to log on
as a guest and listen (mp3s) and give me some
feedback on wether I am wasting my time or not like my wife has suggested, please feel free to do so and pull no punches. Thanx for
all the help so far.

[Ric]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>cement block walls and concrete floors<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

...this room will be too "live"...hard surfaces cause lots of sound reflections...
in a 25x25 room, walls should also be treated for a correct amount of "deadening"...there are some good books on acoustics out there...read one.

[dragonworks]

I intend to deaden the space but to what
amount should I? I read in this forum on the
soundproofing post that completely treating
a room may not be the best idea. I really cant afford the "pro" materials and will have
to go with whatever I can scroung up. I didn't anticipate this many replies to my
question but am very happy and should have a
wealth of information to help me along the
way when it finally peters out.

Thanx
Everyone

[Ric]

Hmmm..I guess you don't want to read one of them books eh?? OK...this is what I'd do:

1. Definitely carpet the floor.
2. Suspended ceiling above...
3. After that...I'd record some stuff and listen to it..."hear" what the room sounds like.
4. You'll always have resonant frequencies that can be somewhat addressed...these will be frequencies that will sound louder than others...bass resonance is the hardest to deal with in a smaller room..."line in" can always solve that problem. How the room sounds will dictate how much/how to treat. Some life in the room can be good...some room "defects" can't be treated...EQ's come in handy here...well...that's an acoustics book in a very small nutshell.

Good luck.
ric

[dragonworks]

I downloaded acoustics 101 and am reading
that and plan on visiting my local library and if they have nothing on the subject, ordering something through them. I never said
i wouldn't read anything, goddang it I love to read. Everthing is in the planning stage,
first thing I HAVE to do (yelling at myself)
is to get rid of the car I have in there. I
have been trying to give it to someone who
needs it. Maybe I should donate it to the
kidney foundation or something. My wife wants
me to get money for it, I just want to get it
out of there whatever it takes.

[Ric]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Maybe I should donate it to the
kidney foundation or something<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

...good idea...it's a tax write off...I did
the same thing this year(1999). Donated a car to a charity. Wrote off Blue Book value and someone got a car. Tell your wife it's as good as the green stuff!!

Good...read read read...that's where I learned......books is good...bad english intentional!!

see ya.

[Ric]

oh....and I have a couple of reading suggestions fer ya:

Acoustic Techniques for Home and Studio
By F. Alton Everest, Tab Books

Music, Physics and Engineering
By Harry F. Olson, Dover Publications

ok...bye again..
-r