DIY Basement Studio Project Begins

[nuemes]

Just moved to Seattle and got the ok from my building management to finish the basement of my rental house where I'll be setting up a low budget recording environment. I'm going to have a licensed electrician install three grounded outlets to three conjoined areas this week.

The basement is concrete from floor up to the walls about 5ft high. Ceiling is just under 8ft, the rest of the walls are exposed wooden studs. The walls of all rooms face the street where car noise and occational pedestrian traffic can be heard. It hasn't rained yet since I've been here but I'm sure heavy rain will pose a noise issue as well. As far as I can tell the basement is perfectly dry and has never had water damage.

Area 1 / Mixing Space: this space is approx 7x13 and very funky because it shares the furnace and entrance door. I will drywall (1/2") the exposed studs here.

Area 2 / Dead Recording Space: this space is approx 9x8. I plan to drywall the exposed studs and carpet the entire room (walls, ceiling, floor). My goal with this room is to dampen the sound in here as much as possible and use it for recording vocal and acoustic guitar.

Area 3 / Live Recording space: this space is approx 8x7 and has the only window in the entire basement, which is 2x1. I plan to drywall the exposed studs and otherwise leave it alone to allow reflection.

My goal with this space is to keep street noise out as much as possible as well as to keep loud noise made inside the studio from bothering my neighbors, all while on a tight budget (about $500 - the drywall alone will run $300 of that). I'm hopeful that between all the cement & the drywall that the result will be satisfactory as I cannot budget to build a room within a room.

I'll post pics and update this tread as it evovles; I figure it'll take about a month to complete. If you have comments/advice please jump in.

[mshilarious]

Originally Posted by nuemes

Area 3 / Live Recording space: this space is approx 8x7 and has the only window in the entire basement, which is 2x1. I plan to drywall the exposed studs and otherwise leave it alone to allow reflection.

Your rooms are small, especially for this live room--an 8x7 room just isn't going to have a good live sound. Try to combine this room with your mix room, or post a floorplan so we can make some other recommendations.

As for your wall construction, put some RC on the studs before you hang the drywall, and stuff insulation in the walls too.

Is one outlet in your control room really going to be enough? Also the other rooms, code requires an outlet every 12 ft of wall space, and (off the top of my head) on walls longer than 6 ft. I may have screwed up those details, but the moral of the story is you should plan on 2-4 outlets per room. The electrician should be able to tell you want you need, and it's not much more expensive to drop in a few more while he's there.

[nuemes]

[QUOTE=mshilarious]
As for your wall construction, put some RC on the studs before you hang the drywall, and stuff insulation in the walls too.
QUOTE]

I'm painfully green on this: what is "RC"? I think you're right about the live room; I'm going to combine the 9x8 room with the mix space for the live sound room and carpet the entire 8x7 space instead. Will post pics/floor plan as soon.

[c7sus]

Welcome to the NW. I'm in Marysville, about 40 miles north of Seattle.

Yes, it will rain again! I've been here 13 years and this is the driest Feb/March I can remember. Just wait til they have water rationing in Seattle. A few years ago folks that laid down new sod on their lawns were having it ripped up in the middle of the night. Seriously. I think that was in Magnolia or Queen Anne.

[mshilarious]

[QUOTE=nuemes]

Originally Posted by mshilarious

As for your wall construction, put some RC on the studs before you hang the drywall, and stuff insulation in the walls too.
QUOTE]

I'm painfully green on this: what is "RC"? I think you're right about the live room; I'm going to combine the 9x8 room with the mix space for the live sound room and carpet the entire 8x7 space instead. Will post pics/floor plan as soon.

RC is resilient channel. Should be in near the drywall in the store.

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

Welcome to the NW. I'm in Marysville, about 40 miles north of Seattle.

Hmmmm, hey Csus, I thought you lived in the midwest. I live in Coos Bay Or. Sort of neighbors huh. At least the Northwest neighbors. Hahahaha. I used to live on Whidbey Island. Long time ago though. I heard its a tourest trap now. I can't think where Marysville is. Must be close to Everett? Anyway, I'd like to make a trip up that way this summer and see Whidbey again. I always liked it when I was a kid. Interesting place.
fitZ

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

Area 3 / Live Recording space: this space is approx 8x7 and has the only window in the entire basement, which is 2x1. I plan to drywall the exposed studs and otherwise leave it alone to allow reflection.

If you don't acoustically treat that small of space, the reflections will actually be terrible comb filtering and resonance from room modes/standing waves. Many people think that they can get reverb in a small space. Trouble is, it isn't reverb in the normal sense, cause the room dimensions don't allow for long RT-60. Unless it was sheithed in Ceramic tile, and even then, room mode decay would be bass prone. In otherwords, it would suck. Best bet for small spaces such as this is to treat it almost dead, and signal process it to taste. Consider it like a drum booth.
fitZ

[c7sus]

Yeah, Marysville is the next stop north of Everett.

Coos Bay............. that's like in Costa Rica, isn't it?

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

Coos Bay............. that's like in Costa Rica, isn't it?

Right next door!

[nuemes]

Just got internet up & running so I have pics & blueprint available now. It's nearly finnished but will likely be a work in progress for the next few years Please feel free to advise on what you'd do considering the space/budget (about $300 left):

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/specsfodder/my_photos

The pics are up to date from today (just finished puting in joint compound). Behind the drywall is a sheet of plastic to help control moisture, then insulation, then the studs/outside. Tomorrow the carpeting will go in. The lone window is covered by (get this): 2 sheets of carpeting, one sheet of insulation, and 4 sheets of drywall. It made a huge difference listening outside when there was only one sheet of drywall in front of it before. If I could I'd cover the entire place like that!

For the Blueprint:
Large black boxes = unusable space
Small black boxes = electrical outlets (all on one grounded dedicated circuit)
Red ink = proposed use of space

[nuemes]

[QUOTE=c7sus]Welcome to the NW. I'm in Marysville, about 40 miles north of Seattle.

Yes, it will rain again! I've been here 13 years and this is the driest Feb/March I can remember. Just wait til they have water rationing in Seattle. QUOTE]

Thanks! Seattle is a big change from the San Francisco Bay Area and well worth it - especially because I have the opportunity here to spend more time on musical pursuits. I have to say I'm not looking forward to the rain despite the drought (suppose that is typical for a former Californian, eh)? I don't know what to expect from the rain in regards to noise on recordings. Also, the tug boats on the sound emit a bass rumble shakes the entire house. Want to take a stab at the frequency it emits? I'll record & analize it this weekend...