Building a Home Studio Ver 2.0

[knightfly]

"3. do you need a floating drum riser on a cement basement floor, what's the purpose exactly? I don't think there's much acoustic coupling going on with a cement floor." -

Here's a 288 page document on flanking that will explain this better than I could -

http://irc.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/irc/fulltext/rr103/rr103.pdf

If you don't want to read 288 pages, here's an excerpt -

Figure 2-2 shows that the power transmitted from the source room to the receiver
room is determined by five factors in the transmission path:
1. Efficiency of power injection into the flanking surface by an airborne or impact
source,
2. Power attenuation from the point of power injection to the junction connecting
the flanking elements,
3. Power attenuation through the junction,
4. Power attenuation between the junction and the point at which radiation
occurs,
5. Efficiency of conversion from structure borne power to airborne power in the
receiver room.

#1 is the main reason for floating drum risers with well-damped, heavy floated floors.

The other 4 points are also important, and are usually NOT optimised in normal house construction because few contractors even KNOW about this, and even fewer will actually DO anything about it, because it costs more to build when you have to break flanking paths.

HTH... Steve

 

[Dan Merrill]

#1 is the main reason for floating drum risers with well-damped, heavy floated floors.

The other 4 points are also important, and are usually NOT optimised in normal house construction because few contractors even KNOW about this, and even fewer will actually DO anything about it, because it costs more to build when you have to break flanking paths.

HTH... Steve

I understand the floating floor thing, I've built one here. When I read "riser" I thought of an elevated drum platform- must be from my R+R days! Floating platform/floor- yes, drum riser- no.

So, what is the transmission coefficient for cement? I know it's not as soundproof as we might think, but I wonder actually how much sound it could transmit from a bass drum on the floor, through the cement walls, up through the sill of the house then into the upstairs. All things considered, negligable I would think... but, i don't profess to be an expert.

 

[BigHighLonesome]

Hello EVeryone,

Well I just came back from my photo shoot at the house. I need to shrink em down so they meet the 64k limit..... stay tuned.
Dan, thank you for the advice you gave me lots to think about. I understand fully that the room is packed, I just wanted to place everything in there to show the room at full capacity. I have plenty of open square footage outside the studio and the rolling baffles can help me record some stuff in the unfinished area of the basement, using crude sound absorption techniques.
Drums are always going to be noisy but it really depends on what your playing and whos hitting them. The music I play is pretty mellow, but overall I am used to playing really loud live music from my older bands. I used to gig with a 73' 4*8 Ampeg SVT "The coffin" that would blow you over. Fun stuff. Now I just use a 4*10 with the svt head. It's all I need. But your very correct, its going to sound like a bomb in there, but I have plugs just in case, and the baffles will help. I

Also I have a snake that runs up from the basement into the above dining room which is 30 * 25, hardwood. I have a pic of this. On occasion I could even record up here and and use the basement room as a control room. Basically, I have a pretty cool situation where I can turn any part of my house into a recording room. I have wires running all through my house and cat-5 ect. Overall I have a very detailed wiring diagram and routing schema, but there will still be issues. I had to wait to see where all the ductwork/ceiling structure went before I could properly plan anything

The corner where the drums will be is simply a floated floor section. I want to learn how to do this and its a great project.

My basement cieliing is 9" ft as shown in the pics that are on the way.

Also I have about 150 sq/ft of 12 * 12 ceramic tile, 30 sq/ft of Maple hardwood, and loads of carpet asphalt paper and plywood ect. Not bad. I am thinking of doing a vocal booth using the left over maple on the floor, and using the spare tile for the bathroom down there.

Now, back to resizing these freaking pics..

ps : is there any advantage of laying down the asphalt paper under my laminate? Will this do any good? I have heard you should just slap laminate right down on the concrete floor, but something says this isnt right.

 

[BigHighLonesome]

Picture 1) Facing South

This picture shows the future location of the studio. The view would be if I were to be sitting at my mixer and did a 180. The studio will be build along the wall. It will only go to the second window as per my diagram with the control room being on the other side. That is phase 2 of contruction.


Picture 2) Duct

This is the vent that will be running right over top of my mixer as per my diagram. Whats the best way to isolate this? I have another vent exactly the same down by the other window. So, in total,

Picture 3) The Beast

This is the HVAC system I will be looking to soundproof. Its not in the studio but I will be framing around this for isolation. The furnace is a Carrier Infitity 97, and it is QUIET.

Picture 4) Structuralsupports

This is outside the studio as well and will be framed in. Any ideas or tips here would be greatly appreciated.


Picture 5) Upstairs LiveROom

Well this will be a dining room, but when need be I can record whatever I want in here. You can see the 4" conduit tubing in the half wall (The hole in the wall). That leads to the studio below.

More pics....

 

[BigHighLonesome]

More pics here from the studio

Pic 1 ) Facing North.

This is at the far end of the studio looking at the mixer. If I were to walk to my right a few steps this picture would be taken from the floating floor section.

Pic 2 ) Ceiling 2

Just a shot of what I am up against as far as working with my ceiling.

Pic 3 ) East Wall

Pretty self explanatory, this is the eastern wall of the studio

Pic 4 Facing south

Another shot from the mixer. This looks down the length of the studio. Eventually the studio will go right to the end of the basement

Duct 1

The duct that runs over the southern part of the studio (The end where the riser is_

ANy help or tips to help make this room as good as it can be are obviously welcome. I thank all of you who have helped out!

 

[BigHighLonesome]

Bump

Just in case you missed the pictures I "finally" posted.