Basement rehearsal/ recording studio

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God_guns_Rock

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It is an unfinished basement with red brick walls and concrete floors. It is 13' x 13' feet. One doorway goes to a store room while the other doors is the exit stairs leading out of the basement. It is 79'' to the floor joists, which are 8", and 16 1/2" on center. I am needing to find out what is the best way to soundproof the ceiling. The neighbor's house is about 10' feet from my exterior wall. There will be a live drum set, guitar, and bass, which consists of rock/ metal music playing from the catacombs below the earth. Right now, our neighbors like us, and I want to keep it that way. Budget is minimal.
 
Soundproofing is nowhere near low budget. With the size of your room, not really even possible.

Your best bet is to treat the room as well as you can acoustically, and arrange with your neighbor the times that they will be cool with hearing you.

I myself would fill the entire ceiling with 4" Roxul 80 set 4" off the upper level subfloor and cover it with cloth. Works very well in my similar constructed drum room.
 
I've used cement board ("Wonderboard" is one brand) to insulate the walls of my soon-to-be tracking room, and it's pretty effective in terms of knocking down thru-wall transmission. It's not cheap, though, and it's pretty dense and heavy (which is probably why it's effective). It was a real chore putting it on the walls, but the ceiling? You'd want to make sure you had a few guys to help, and you'd need to fasten it to the joists, probably with fender washers to distribute the load on the fastener. That, with the Roxul jimmy suggests, might help a lot, but 10' isn't very far. I'm 40 feet from the nearest neighbor.

I agree with jimmy. Do the best you can to knock down the transmission, but work with your neighbor. And buy him a few sixers of good stuff on his birthday. . .
 
Rock wool/mineral wool are the same thing. The products have different specs in regards to how effective they are though. Best to read the best use for them in forums like the one you are in. Some are better for certain applications.
 
Insulation issues

I have uploaded three basement pictures. Our local home improvement store has mineral wool insulation, and they also have have ultra touch and sound control denim insulation. Both of these two types of sound barriers are 3 1/2" thick, and I have a floor joist space that is over 8". Should I use one layer with a 4" air gap? Or should I double it up? I wanted to use canvas as the cloth to cover it or is it too dense? Also, I read that mineral wool has the same sound absorption characteristics as the Owen-Corning 703 panels. I wanted to make wall panels and base traps and was wondering if this would be a good solution? The wall panels that I observed had solid backs, but I also read of panels that have cloth backs and a 1" air gap between the panel and the wall. Does this affect the acoustic quality of the panels? And also, is this a good way to make base traps? I was thinking of making two corner base traps and six to eight wall panels. Is this enough or do I need more? I also have an idea of making the entire back one wall complete acoustic panel. Any suggestions?
 

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That duct work is a problem too. It will carry the sound right out of the house. I'd find a different space.
 
I've read that the 'recycled denim' sound insulation is worthless. The cover material on any bass traps you may should be 'transparent' to sound, so canvas is not good, burlap is. Leaving an air gap of an inch or so behind the hung bass traps (no solid back on them) enhances their trapping capability. Manslick is correct in that the ductwork is going to transmit the sound right into the house and outside. You could wrap it with insulation (use wire to hold in place). Even the PVC drain pipe will pickup and transmit vibrations.
None of that wiring all across the ceiling looks like it is to code. Be careful about covering it - it may get hot.
 
Thanks I plan on redoing the ducts
The wiring is 5 years old and was reinspected 2 months ago and he said that it looks good and I don't plan on covering it I'll put the insulation above the wire
 
Though I am no pro, the first thing I would do is change the duct to equivalent sized rectangular duct to increase ceiling height. Frame around it and 2 layers of 5/8" drywall (including above the ductwork. Then fill the voids between the joists with 4" of Roxul 80. It is stiff enough to cut 1/2" larger than the opening and hold itself in place (proven in my drum room). Leave the remaining air space between the bottom of the joists and the floor boards above. Speaking of which, you might lose a bit of sound transfer by adding some density to the under side of those floor boards by adding drywall to the bottom of them. Any breathable cloth works fine. I used stuff that was meant for backing of curtains. Smooth talked the cloth store lady to give it to me for $2.50 per yard.

I would first build 3 panels at least 4" thick to straddle the corners from floor to ceiling. Any access behind those stairs? If not, cut some 1/2" OSB down to 6" x width of stars. screw them into the bottom of each tread to create a shelf behind/under each. Then push in pieces of 4" Roxul cut a bit larger than the openings. Instant bass trap for that space.

Then treat your side wall first reflection points (from monitors at listening position. You wont need a cloud above you, as the ceiling will already be treated. If you still have some flutter echo, you will need to decide whether rock wool panels will be needed, or in this case, you might be able to get away with some foam panels to save space in the room. Likely two rock wool panels (including the first refection one) on the sides, and one or two on the wall with the stairs should do it. I would not even worry about the wall behind your desk (assuming that is going on the wall opposite of the stairs) , other than the corner traps. I don't have any behind my monitors and don't hear an issue. Though I am also 2' from the wall and my control room is 35' long.

This all just what I would do with what I have learned and tried myself.
 
God_guns_Rock said:
Thanks I plan on redoing the ducts
The wiring is 5 years old and was reinspected 2 months ago and he said that it looks good and I don't plan on covering it I'll put the insulation above the wire
Click to expand...

Maybe the thinner black cables looping all over are tv cable? I see an outlet on the wall above the table that does not appear to be GFI with a cable running up from it along the outside of the wall - maybe your wiring codes are different where you are!
 
Make sure the insulation stays clear from any wires to prevent fire hazard. Rockwool RW3 or Knauf RS60 mineral wool insulation slabs offer great acoustic performance
 
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