Basic studio build - No idea what I am doing !

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briguy

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Hi everyone. I have been reading quite a bit on this forum for a few weeks now and have learned a lot. There are some very helpful people here. I am hoping you can help get me going in the right direction with my studio. I am sure these questions have been answered before, but any info would be appreciated.

My wife and I have bought a house that we will be moving into next month. It has an unfinished "bunker" under the garage. It is 20'x20' (9' high) with concrete walls and ceiling. I plan to divide it in half, with one half being a play area for the kids and the other half being a small studio. So the studio size would end up being about 10'x17' (after the addition of a hallway) Two of the walls would be concrete finished with drywall, the other two would need to be constructed and soundproofed.

I play guitar and bass and sing. My son plays drums. We currently have electronic drums, but will be purchasing an acoustic kit once we get this room finished.

Due to the space limitations, I am not planning on having a separate control room, but I think I would like to have a large storage closet that could double as a vocal booth when I need it.

I am not planning on doing any of the contruction myself, but hiring a contractor. My main concern is the sound proofing portion. This house will have a basement suite for my father in law and I don't want to disturb him. I want to make sure my contractor does things right, so there are no issues. Essentially this will be a new room inside of a concrete room, so there shouldn't be any issue with him hearing it, but I also want it to be pretty sound proof from the kids playroom which will be directly on the other side of the newly constructed wall.

I have no idea how to go about the layout of the space, or what materials I should be looking at for floors (I was thinking laminate wood floor), walls or ceilings.

My budget is $10,000-$12,000

I know I am asking for advice on EVERYTHING and I appologize, but any info would be appreciated

Thanks
 
Soundproofing is gonna be a cast-iron bitch and burn a bunch of your budget. If you've been reading you know about the other websites, yeah? Lots of info on how to build "isolation".

How important is it really? Are you gonna be rockin' out at the same time the rugrats are playing in the next room on a regular basis? Can't schedule around them? That would be way helpful. How far away is Dad gonna be? Also what is the expected duration of having to accomodate both the little kids and the older gent? Are we talking forever, a couple years, six months...? Might make a huge difference to how future-proof your construction is.

Cover the basics first and we can go from there.

Welcome to the site.


lou
 
Thanks for the quick reply.

I have been reading a ton from different websites, but I am having trouble keeping it all straight. It seems there is lots of info on how to do soundproofing cheaply (egg cartons and balankets) and how to do it like the pros, but I am having trouble finding that middle ground. This site seems to be the most informative I have found.

Unfortunately, the rugrat room will be the main room my kids will be in, so yes it will be important to isolate as best I can. As for how long, we are looking at forever. If dad was no longer around, we would end up renting out the suite to someone. However, this studio will a room inside the concrete room, and then there is another room between the "bunker" and the suite, so I think we will be able to keep the levels low enough for that area.

So for soundproofing between the studio and the kid's area, I guess it doesn't need to be completely sound proof, but maybe low enough that it would sound like a moderate volume stereo (if that makes sense)
 
I was also just reading some posts on here about vocal booths. Sounds like maybe I don't need that.
 
That will be one seriously expensive wall and there will also be transmission through the floor, ceiling and outside walls. This stuff is beyond my pay grade. I know a bit about treatment - to make the room itself sound good - but isolation is a whole nuther kettle of fish. Search "isolation" here and at John Sayer's site and Gearslutz and Studiotips. Real experts are out there and the info can be found but gird yer wallet.


lou
 
It seems there is lots of info on how to do soundproofing cheaply (egg cartons and balankets) )

No. No. No. "egg cartons and balankets" is not information. It's MIS-information of the most horrible kind. "Egg cartons and balankets" do absolutely nothing good. Nothing. I can't emphasize that enough. If you read that on a website, then I'd recommend that you stop reading anything from that website again. Well, that's not really true, because this website has great information, but there are still people that come on here and recommend "egg-cartons and balankets". They're usually corrected with extreme prejudice very quickly, though.

This is not directed at the OP:

Please, can we have some kind of sticky about egg cartons, blankets, and vocal booths. It's really getting out of hand.
 
After you've done a bit more reading on the difference between isolation and treatment you should reassess your project.

So where are you? City or country setting? Is this house purchase certain? Got any land? Outbuildings? Other rooms? Garage? Heating/cooling requirements?

Maybe there are options you haven't thought of.


lou
 
No. No. No. "egg cartons and balankets" is not information. It's MIS-information of the most horrible kind. "Egg cartons and balankets" do absolutely nothing good. Nothing. I can't emphasize that enough. If you read that on a website, then I'd recommend that you stop reading anything from that website again. Well, that's not really true, because this website has great information, but there are still people that come on here and recommend "egg-cartons and balankets". They're usually corrected with extreme prejudice very quickly, though.

This is not directed at the OP:

Please, can we have some kind of sticky about egg cartons, blankets, and vocal booths. It's really getting out of hand.

I just want to re-emphasize this. :D
 
Don't worry, I am not even considering egg cartons and blankets ! I was just saying there is a lot of info about junk like that. I am only interested in doing this right.

As for the space Rami, the house has been purchased, we are in the city, no land, this room will be the best option.

It is under ground for the most part, so I am not worried about sound affecting the neighbours.
 
Hey briguy, and welcome to the bbs. You're in good hands. Could you possibly post some pictures and/or scaled drawings of your space?

Drew
 
As for the space Rami, the house has been purchased, we are in the city, no land, this room will be the best option.
For a guy that says he has no idea you seem pretty certain. There is a difference between best and only. So fine, you're stuck with it. Must the kids have a playroom as well? Does it have to be there or have you just decided that it will be there? And what about heating and cooling? Can you provide a simple floor plan of the basement specifically including Dad's suite, access points, halls, doors, windows and such? How about the HVAC systems and electrical? Already in place or to be added?

There is quite a lot to this if isolation is the objective.


lou
 
Sorry Lou, I called you Rami (confused about the threads I am reading)

You are right, there is a difference between best and only. I guess "only" would be a better word. And yes, we have decided that the playroom will be there. And it is also the "only" option for that space.
There is access to the furnace a/c in the next room. There is a vent coming into the main area, but it would need to be extended. There is electrical in there now.
I will see if I can put together a rough sketch to post.
Unfortunately I don't have photos and won't have access to the space until we move in next month.

Thanks for the help so far
 
Okay - we're getting somewhere. I think having the playroom between you and Dad will be a good thing. You should look at the playroom as part of the isolation strategy for Dad. Big air space = good thing. Plan on treating the wall separating the playroom from Dad fairly thoroughly and you can get away with less on the wall you will be building.

Forget about isolation to the playroom. Not gonna happen. You can damp it some so the tykes don't get hearing damage but they will certainly hear you and likely vice versa. Scheduling studio time, specifically tracking and jamming, is probably the only way to reduce conflicts. Listening and mixing should not present a conflict. I hope nap time isn't part of the playroom activities.

You will need to do some real work with the air handling - sound will run right down the ductwork. Baffled boxes are typical but vibration damping will be required as well to keep Dad from picking up bass.

I am running out of expertise but everything I've just told you I picked up right here and at the other sites. You will learn it as well.


lou
 
Ok, this is making sense.Thanks for the input. Sound running through the duct work is something I had not thought about, thanks for mentioning it. However, the good news is that dad's suite is not connected to our heating & a/c system. He has separate baseboard heating, so that will help with that, but I guess sound could travel through the ducting to the upstairs, so I will keep that in mind.
 
I created a rough sketch of my space ans saved it as a jpg, but how do I attach it to this thread ?
 
Hit reply/go advanced/manage attachments. Upload it from your HD and drag it into the box. Done.


lou
 
Here is the space I will have when we move in next month
 

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