Best lighting for basement studio

RecordingMaster

RecordingMaster

A Sarcastic Statement
I am completely baffled at the lack of any info I have found on the subject anywhere online. All;s I can find is people getting waaaayyyyy too over-complicated and talking about dimmers and transformers and circuits and blah, blah, blah. I am the average layman when it comes to lighting so I have a VERY simple need (or so I thought). I don't need all kinds of separate light banks, colors, light types, various fixtures, special dimmers, etc. But I digress.

I am currently in the middle of a home studio build in my basement. It is approx 30'x11' and will be a one room studio for both tracking (drums included) and mixing, with a modified LEDE style acoustic approach. I need lights. The ceiling is 7'2". So I don't want giant chandeliers or big fixtures on the ceiling that i will likely hit my head on, I don't want pot lights because it will ruin any attempts I am making for sound isolation between floors. Track lighting sucks and is harsh imo, but if that's all I can do, so be it. I am looking for some inexpensive lighting that won't cause buzz with audio gear. So halogen and fluorescent is out. I will not be using dimmer switches either, because they create buzz problems as well. LED seems to be fairly expensive but maybe I am missing something here. There are three boxes already wired in the ceiling spaced out for lights (there are fluorescent lights there now which i am removing). Ceiling right now is wide open so wiring stuff will be easy. the ceiling will be filled with Safe n Sound and then double layer of drywall.

Any ideas from those who know about this stuff? Your help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
 
I prefer track lighting because it doesn't open a hole in the ceiling. Ugly, but what can you do? Come to think of it, my studio could use another set of lights.

I think with the limitations you've stated, you're pretty much locked into incandescent track lighting.

If you're not looking for a dimming solution, just get as many as you need to illuminate your space. If you want dimming capabilities without a dimmer, you can have several switches that control several banks of lighting. I know you said 'No banks' but gotta compromise somewhere.

I use a regular ol' dimmer switch from my local hardware store and have no noise. Okay, maybe a little but it's not noticeable and doesn't find it's way into my audio. At all!! It's actually the filament that buzzes and only when I have it dimmed. When tracking, I turn it up and no noise.

Don't forget the lava lamp.

Ask more questions, I'll try to help.
 
I'd go with wall sconces. The light will bounce up the ceiling. I getting ready to do that to my upstairs bedroom to studio conversion. I'm going with LED as I don't need the heat of incandescent bulbs. Plus, they will look REALLY cool. ;)
 
All of these are excellent ideas.

I do, whatever you do, recommend using LED lighting. Some LED lighting can be dimmed as well, but it is often better to have multiple switches to control the elements that you want lit. Create 'areas' of lighting and colors to compliment. The sky is the limit these days.. be glad you weren't trying to do this in the early 70s! ONE dimmer would cost you over $100 USD (huge auto-transformer in the wall), not to mention all those HOT lights.. :facepalm:

Cheers,
John
 
As incandescent (heat producing) bulbs are effectively banned in the US now I'm sure Canada is following suit - go with LED, multiple fixtures on multiple switches.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. So as I guessed, LED seems to be the answer. But the multiple switch thing? What's the deal guys? I mean, in a 30x11x7'2" room, three tracks (of say 3 bulbs each) spread out evenly, on one switch should be just fine. It I want mood lighting, I can turn those off and flick on the lamps and lava lamps (and maybe even some xmas lights around the perimeter).

I don't see why people would mess around with multiple light switches...especially since I already have enough rewiring to do. These 3 lights in here are already connected to 3 other lights in the basement (outside of this room) which are fluorescent. So I will be disconnecting those from the studio switch and giving them their own switch which will only be accessible in that other room. They will still be on the same breaker, however I will just make sure those fluorescent are off when i am doing anything crucial in my studio (which they pretty much always would be anyways). To run more cable/connections just in order to turn off certain lights within the room makes no sense to me. I look at the lights on the ceiling as "mains" which i would have on in order to see gear settings, cleaning, or just general "the lights are on right now" sort of thing haha. Anything other than that and I'd just use the mood lights. Am I super weird in my thinking?
 
RecordingMaster said:
Thanks for the replies guys. So as I guessed, LED seems to be the answer. But the multiple switch thing? What's the deal guys? I mean, in a 30x11x7'2" room, three tracks (of say 3 bulbs each) spread out evenly, on one switch should be just fine. It I want mood lighting, I can turn those off and flick on the lamps and lava lamps (and maybe even some xmas lights around the perimeter).
Click to expand...
+1 :thumbs up:

RecordingMaster said:
I don't see why people would mess around with multiple light switches...especially since I already have enough rewiring to do. These 3 lights in here are already connected to 3 other lights in the basement (outside of this room) which are fluorescent. So I will be disconnecting those from the studio switch and giving them their own switch which will only be accessible in that other room. They will still be on the same breaker, however I will just make sure those fluorescent are off when i am doing anything crucial in my studio (which they pretty much always would be anyways). To run more cable/connections just in order to turn off certain lights within the room makes no sense to me. I look at the lights on the ceiling as "mains" which i would have on in order to see gear settings, cleaning, or just general "the lights are on right now" sort of thing haha. Anything other than that and I'd just use the mood lights. Am I super weird in my thinking?
Click to expand...

Not at all. I offer that as an option to folks who want dimmers and can't have them. When it comes to a personal studio, it's all about what works for YOU, ergonomically and aesthetically.

By the way, do you have trouble with florescent lamps? The entire world is phasing out incandescent lighting and florescent IS done in many of our studios. However they are NOT the type with the big tubes and inductor 'ballasts'. ;)
I use the small tube T5 36" mini lamps for my office. Noise-free and good lighting. Very cheap to run. Check the phillips site for CFLs: CFL: Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs| Philips Lighting
If you wire your system properly, taking care to avoid ground loops, these bulbs will NOT be any problem whatsoever. See the articles on my publications page.

Cheers,
John
 
jhbrandt said:
+1 :thumbs up:



Not at all. I offer that as an option to folks who want dimmers and can't have them. When it comes to a personal studio, it's all about what works for YOU, ergonomically and aesthetically.

By the way, do you have trouble with florescent lamps? The entire world is phasing out incandescent lighting and florescent IS done in many of our studios. However they are NOT the type with the big tubes and inductor 'ballasts'. ;)
I use the small tube T5 36" mini lamps for my office. Noise-free and good lighting. Very cheap to run. Check the phillips site for CFLs: CFL: Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs| Philips Lighting
If you wire your system properly, taking care to avoid ground loops, these bulbs will NOT be any problem whatsoever. See the articles on my publications page.

Cheers,
John
Click to expand...

Thanks very much John! I think to stay on the safer side I will try and source some fairly affordable LED track lights.

You replied to me in another thread and were talking about making sure to seal the perimeter joints with caulking when attempting to improves a rooms sound isolation to the next. So instead of further hijacking that thread, I will post a question here that perhaps you could answer or anyone else that knows from experience. First of all, what kind of caulk?

Here is/was my plan for some affordable (obviously not 100%) isolation for my one room studio from the rest of the home:
On open ceiling in basement...
- Seal any joints, ducts or cables that protrude into the upstairs with this
- Fill all cavities with a layer of Roxul Safe and Sound insulation for 16" wood studs
- Install resilient channel
- Install one sheet of 1/2" drywall to start (and test upstairs with someone banging snare drum down there after the below steps are performed)
- Use externally mounted light fixtures (track lighting) as to not have gaping holes poked into ceiling

On the long side wall (interior) that I am building to separate it from rest of basement...
- Install a solid door similar to what you'd have on the front of your house with weatherstripping
- fill empty cavity of new wall with roxul safe and sound
1/2" drywall on the outside of room
- install resilient channel on inside
- install 1/2" drywall on inside
- dont touch drywall all the way to the floor
- glue on baseboards so the nails dont go through to studs and short out the channel

So I have read today that resilient channels are pretty much 90% fail rate and I can see why. A guy by name of "broken_legs" a few posts down posts all the reasons on a separate website here, and that all seems to make sense. I'm sure I could avoid most of those things but certain things are bound to screw it up that i'll do and not even realize.

After my initial test upstairs with snare drum downstairs, if it was still pretty loud, I was going to install a second sheet of drywall to ceiling and then caulk around perimeter and mud. Probably no Green Glue as it's super expensive and I already have all the insulation, dbl dry wall and resilient channel.

But since the channel is pretty much always a fail, what should I do instead that will cost similar to what i would have spent on the channel? The only thing I can think of is do everything in my original plan, but leave out the channel all together. Test upstairs and if still pretty loud, add 2nd layer of drywall WITH green glue since the channel is non existent. They "recommend" 2 tubes per sheet but that's crazy so I;d do just one per sheet (better than nothing)?

Pfff stressing here as I am IN THE MIDDLE of all this stuff. Next step is the channel which I ALMOST went and bought today.
 
I'm glad that I caught you then. ;)

It might be better to go with the Kinetics Wave clips.. They'll hold a decent weight and offer superior 'spring' for use on ceilings. - just add furring channel (hat channel).

When you design a partition for sound proofing, you must first determine the level of isolation required. See my papers on this subject (pubs page) "how much isolation do i need" and "Soundproofing - the quest".
The MASS of each partition coupled with the depth of air space will be the limiting factor for low frequency transmission. You can get an idea of how much STL an isolated partition will have by reviewing the CNRC documents like ir761. (my publications page again)

Doing so will save you time and money trying this and that. Note that there is a BIG difference between standard drywall and 'firecode' drywall. This fire rated stuff has a denser core and is therefore more appropriate for sound-proofing. Because sound proofing is basically MASS, or mass - air - mass. :)

Mass and Seal. ;)

* Recommended Drywall/Plasterboard/Gypsum Board:
Sheetrock® brand Firecode® Core 5/8" Type X Gypsum Panels
Firecode C Core 5/8" Type C Gypsum Panels
Knauf brand Fire Panel 15mm, or Soundshield Plus 15mm.
OR SIMILAR

** Recommended Caulk/Sealants:
Big Stretch
OSI SC-175
Soudaflex14LM
Bostik Seal N Flex FC
Non-Hardening Acoustical Sealant by USG or Tremco
any caulk with similar specifications.

Now the fun begins.

Cheers,
John
 
I have a couple of sound studios and a video editing room here. They all have lighting from 4 way bar fittings that originally used 50w halogen lamps. I swapped them for LEDs and was very dissatisfied with the quantity and quality of the light. The halogen lamps are nice to work under and are bright enough to read labels and CD covers etc. The LED versions I first had were mere glow-worms, and the brightness was such that I'd have needed to have at least 4 times as many fittings! On top of this, the quality of the beams was very blotchy, the colour a nasty sort of off-white and I hated them. I swapped them for high-brightness LED versions and while they were a bit brighter, the colour was still poor, and they were amazingly expensive. I have gone back to the Halogens again. In the edit suite, I have a 4 ft fluorescent fitting too for when I need bright white lighting - delving behind racks and fiddling with computers, but then for my working light, it's back to individual GU50 Halogens.

I avoid dimmers, because again you need special LED lamps that can be dimmed - ordinary ones tend to overheat and go bang! Avoid cheap dimmers, as they can induce buzz into low level signal lines. I have a ribbon that can 'hear' the dimmers on half brightness - just a faint background buzz saw type noise.

GU50s are quite good because you can light what needs to be lit, but keep other things dark - which always helps me play!
 
jhbrandt said:
I'm glad that I caught you then. ;)

It might be better to go with the Kinetics Wave clips.. They'll hold a decent weight and offer superior 'spring' for use on ceilings. - just add furring channel (hat channel).

When you design a partition for sound proofing, you must first determine the level of isolation required. See my papers on this subject (pubs page) "how much isolation do i need" and "Soundproofing - the quest".
The MASS of each partition coupled with the depth of air space will be the limiting factor for low frequency transmission. You can get an idea of how much STL an isolated partition will have by reviewing the CNRC documents like ir761. (my publications page again)

Doing so will save you time and money trying this and that. Note that there is a BIG difference between standard drywall and 'firecode' drywall. This fire rated stuff has a denser core and is therefore more appropriate for sound-proofing. Because sound proofing is basically MASS, or mass - air - mass. :)

Mass and Seal. ;)

* Recommended Drywall/Plasterboard/Gypsum Board:
Sheetrock® brand Firecode® Core 5/8" Type X Gypsum Panels
Firecode C Core 5/8" Type C Gypsum Panels
Knauf brand Fire Panel 15mm, or Soundshield Plus 15mm.
OR SIMILAR

** Recommended Caulk/Sealants:
Big Stretch
OSI SC-175
Soudaflex14LM
Bostik Seal N Flex FC
Non-Hardening Acoustical Sealant by USG or Tremco
any caulk with similar specifications.

Now the fun begins.

Cheers,
John
Click to expand...

Thanks again John! You're the best. I will need to take a look at your links for sure, although I am not the most technical of fgellows when it comes to that stuff. Basically, what it ends up coming down to is budget. I have 3 options...
1) I could do nothing at all
2) a bunch of stuff within budget that I "think" will work that ends up being barbage
3) or a bunch of stuff within budget I "hope" will work based on some research and doing the best i can with little tips like your suggestions of using firerated drywall and acoustic caulking

I am in Canada and I don't believe any of the stuff you recommended is readily available here but I will check. Never heard of any of it. I was going to use the Lepage acoustic stuff for caulking/sealant, but since it never dries/hardens, how do i put it in the perimeter joints of drywall after installing it, if I am going to be attempting to putty over it?

As for fire rated drywall, maybe I will use this stuff just on the ceiling, instead of double layering (costs a bit less than double 1/2" and green glue). But then just do regular 1/2" drywall on the inside wall of the studio to save $$$ since outside of my room will just be more basement. So the sound would have to pass through that wall and then travel upstairs before getting there.
 
Another question in case anyone can help...
For the tubular hvac ducts that run in between my ceiling joists, should I be wrapping them with some sort of acoustical insulation, or does it not matter, since they will not be hit with direct reflections since there will be drywall covering them up?
 
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