Help, Help, Help Someone starting out!!!!!

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Booda_J

New member
Don't know what happened to my first post. But honestly i read suggestions on everything. from soundproofing to sound boards, to mics. Please help me
I will listen to anyone's suggestions. because getting a suggestion means I am networking. and that's what I want is to network, talk to people to see what they are into. coming into this with a clear mind and now I have to transform space do have a lot of it so i need some advice on what to do.
 
I can guess our first responses.
1. How much do you have to spend?
2. How big is your space (dimensions are very important, and what are the current outside walls made of? Brick, blocks, wood, steel etc?
3. Soundproofing AND sound treatment? One helps you not annoy the neighbours or others in your house, and prevents them annoying you, and the other makes the soundproof space sound nice to record in.
4. what kind of music? Do you plan on recording a flute, or metal drums? That's quite vital info.
5. Finally - How much do you have to spend (repeated, because the answer kind of frames our answers) If spending 500 on rock wool mineral fibre is impossible, we still might have some useful advice.
 
Working in a basement. Walls are Concrete and Sheet rock.
I have around $2000 to spend on soundproofing. I might be able to get my hands on some more if I have to cut back in some departments.
I have to soundproof the area for people in this house and neighbors as well and want the person or persons recording to sound great as well.
Really all different kinds of music. This will be the only recording studio in my area and I would like it to be nice.
 
The only way to truly 'soundproof' a room is to isolate it from its surroundings - a 'room within a room' with floor, walls, ceiling disconnected from the building's construction using rubber spacers. With the price of wood these days, your budget will cover a small room like this, but nothing else. For just sound treatment, compressed fiberglass or rock wool (OC 703, 705, Roxul) in corners, points of first reflection (in relation to your mixing position) and in strategic other places. In a 'room within a room', you can use this stuff as the insulation in the walls, and don't put sheetrock over the inside, just a porous cloth covering. Oh, you'll need some type of ventilation, too - there goes the budget.
 
mjbphotos said:
The only way to truly 'soundproof' a room is to isolate it from its surroundings - a 'room within a room' with floor, walls, ceiling disconnected from the building's construction using rubber spacers. With the price of wood these days, your budget will cover a small room like this, but nothing else. For just sound treatment, compressed fiberglass or rock wool (OC 703, 705, Roxul) in corners, points of first reflection (in relation to your mixing position) and in strategic other places. In a 'room within a room', you can use this stuff as the insulation in the walls, and don't put sheetrock over the inside, just a porous cloth covering. Oh, you'll need some type of ventilation, too - there goes the budget.
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Yeah....what ^^^^he said ^^^. A room within a room is the only way to even get close to the type of sound proofing you're talking about if the music is going to have any above normal db levels....especially if you truly mean no sound coming out. It is possible to really cut down on the leaking sound level...maybe enough to keep your house mates and neighbors from getting annoyed. What we advise here is good knowledge for sure...but to be honest....someone with technical acoustic evaluation skills really needs to see your room in person for a better likely result.

Mick
 
Booda_J said:
Don't know what happened to my first post. But honestly i read suggestions on everything. from soundproofing to sound boards, to mics. Please help me
I will listen to anyone's suggestions. because getting a suggestion means I am networking. and that's what I want is to network, talk to people to see what they are into. coming into this with a clear mind and now I have to transform space do have a lot of it so i need some advice on what to do.
Click to expand...
Are you using live drums? If not then you do not need soundproofing it is a waste of money. You can do the vocal with an acoustic baffle surround around the condenser mike
 
Smithers XKR said:
Are you using live drums? If not then you do not need soundproofing it is a waste of money. You can do the vocal with an acoustic baffle surround around the condenser mike
Click to expand...
Put it this way, I have an empty garage with a stone floor. Through the day my neighbours went to work. It gave me a great Bonham sound for my drummer.
 
Mickster said:
Yeah....what ^^^^he said ^^^. A room within a room is the only way to even get close to the type of sound proofing you're talking about if the music is going to have any above normal db levels....especially if you truly mean no sound coming out. It is possible to really cut down on the leaking sound level...maybe enough to keep your house mates and neighbors from getting annoyed. What we advise here is good knowledge for sure...but to be honest....someone with technical acoustic evaluation skills really needs to see your room in person for a better likely result.

Mick
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Mick I agree. Most sounds can be recreated without any enhancement whatsoever. The only thing that needs anything are natural drums or acoustic instruments. You really do not need an acoustic room in this modern world. Just my take
 
Booda_J said:
Working in a basement. Walls are Concrete and Sheet rock.
I have around $2000 to spend on soundproofing. I might be able to get my hands on some more if I have to cut back in some departments.
I have to soundproof the area for people in this house and neighbors as well and want the person or persons recording to sound great as well.
Really all different kinds of music. This will be the only recording studio in my area and I would like it to be nice.
Click to expand...
In respect of that, I do see what you are getting at. You wish to record bands playing basically live? In your studio. Sorry I get it now.

Empty egg boxes and stick them to the wall.....get a load of em xxx

I'm not joking xxxx
 
Smithers XKR said:
In respect of that, I do see what you are getting at. You wish to record bands playing basically live? In your studio. Sorry I get it now.

Empty egg boxes and stick them to the wall.....get a load of em xxx

I'm not joking xxxx
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Go to your store and ask for all the empty cardboard egg boxes, collect them and glue them to the wall, I swear it will do the job brilliantly and will baffle everything perfectly and save you a fortune, please trust me xxx dont laugh xxx
 
Its well proven that egg cartons don't do diddly for taming the sound. Too thin and soft to provide diffusion and too thin to provide any absorption. Same thing goes for 'acoustic foam' - it'll absorb some of the highs and leave the sound a muddy mess with uncontrolled low-mids and lows.
 
Egg cartons are a kind of musical urban myth that partly came about because there actually were studios where they had egg cartons on the wall. The Rolling Stones recorded their first album in such a studio.....in 1964 and the Equals recorded their hit "Baby Come Back" in one......in 1966.
Smithers XKR said:
Go to your store and ask for all the empty cardboard egg boxes, collect them and glue them to the wall, I swear it will do the job brilliantly and will baffle everything perfectly and save you a fortune, please trust me...dont laugh
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I've seen hundreds, possibly thousands of photos of bands in the studio from the early 1960s onwards and I don't ever recall seeing any with egg cartons on the wall.
 
I think maybe Smithers was on the sauce again - the quantity of posts in a few minutes is a good thermometer.

I don;t record drums, a room within a room keeps the family happy. In fact, so happy that my youngest, who now has a house of his own just told me that he and his friends used to be in my studio most nights playing music loud and hanging out. My wife and I never had a clue. It explains why things used to change - like guitars on the wrong wall hanger, or settings mysteriously changing on synths etc.

Seriously - a room within a room will make isolation much easier to acomplish. Loads of info on the subject all over the net, but in essence, very simple rules. Mass is master. one layer of sheetrock is rarely enough, but two or three works very well. Well within the capabilities of a good DIYer. My own pet system is sheetrock (plasterboard, here in the UK) and MDF on the inner surface, because it's structural, solid and easily drilled and painted. You can smash flightcases into it without damage and while more difficult to cut and support, a layer of sheetrock - maybe 12mm and one of MDF 18mm can be very good at preventing audio getting in and out. If the basement is large enough, also avoid 90 degree corners - they usually then need treating to prevent strange things happening with the room's bass response. Having the walls splay a little - it doesn;t have to be much, 5-10 degrees of extra turnout instead of 90, removes parallel facing walls, improves the room's sound and is only a little wasteful of space.
 
rob aylestone said:
I think maybe Smithers was on the sauce again - the quantity of posts in a few minutes is a good thermometer.

I don;t record drums, a room within a room keeps the family happy. In fact, so happy that my youngest, who now has a house of his own just told me that he and his friends used to be in my studio most nights playing music loud and hanging out. My wife and I never had a clue. It explains why things used to change - like guitars on the wrong wall hanger, or settings mysteriously changing on synths etc.

Seriously - a room within a room will make isolation much easier to acomplish. Loads of info on the subject all over the net, but in essence, very simple rules. Mass is master. one layer of sheetrock is rarely enough, but two or three works very well. Well within the capabilities of a good DIYer. My own pet system is sheetrock (plasterboard, here in the UK) and MDF on the inner surface, because it's structural, solid and easily drilled and painted. You can smash flightcases into it without damage and while more difficult to cut and support, a layer of sheetrock - maybe 12mm and one of MDF 18mm can be very good at preventing audio getting in and out. If the basement is large enough, also avoid 90 degree corners - they usually then need treating to prevent strange things happening with the room's bass response. Having the walls splay a little - it doesn;t have to be much, 5-10 degrees of extra turnout instead of 90, removes parallel facing walls, improves the room's sound and is only a little wasteful of space.
Click to expand...
Yes on the sauce and angry and ashamed. Very stressed, the accident when the bike went into the back of the Jag 18 months ago is starting to reach resolution in the courts. The biker landed on the roof and flew over, he broke his pelis but his son was ok. Jag was written off but no propper damage my guru restored it. Gonna get a few grande soon. Not the bikers fault. just a dick who tried a stupid overtake on a blind bend the other way. He was at fault, anyone wanna see the footage?
 
Do you NEED soundproofing? Or is it enough that the room sounds good? Often these goals are exclusionary.
 
Booda_J said:
Working in a basement. Walls are Concrete and Sheet rock.
I have around $2000 to spend on soundproofing. I might be able to get my hands on some more if I have to cut back in some departments.
I have to soundproof the area for people in this house and neighbors as well and want the person or persons recording to sound great as well.
Really all different kinds of music. This will be the only recording studio in my area and I would like it to be nice.
Click to expand...
IMO you would be better off putting dampeners on the walls - thick blankets or Shelves of Books - $2000 isn't near enough to get anywhere significant - and you won't be able to sound proof your room unless you build a room within a room - so I would use the basics - shelves of books are particularly good in that they vary the surface enough to stop reflections,
 
I used rockwool framed with fearing strips and covered em with landscape weed fabric.. probably the most cost effective way to make a bunch of sound panels ..for not to much money. Also my studio room is in the basement with 1 poured concrete foundation wall which I framed 2x4s. Filled the bays with rockwool and again used weed fabric to cover it.. put the framed panels on the walls and ceiling.. the room sounds quite good.. acoustic drums..bass amp and 2 guitars..
 
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