M
matt0410
New member
Hi, next september my friends and I (all at music college) are moving into a house which has 3 rooms in the basement which we have been told we can do whatever we want with. I already do a fair bit of bedroom recording, mostly of drums (I'm a drummer) and we thought it would be cool to turn the rooms into a studio. There are a few potential problems with the basement though.
Firstly, The ceilings are very low (probably about 7 feet, I don't have exact measurements). One of the rooms has a fire place shaped hole in the back wall. all three rooms are pretty big apart from their height, again I couldn't take measurements but if they would be helpful I can see if I can get some.
the second problem is that there are small grills between each room, I guess some kind of ventilation (there are no pipes or anything they are literally just holes between the rooms). I thought these could be made useful for running cables between the rooms without having the doors wedged open, but I assume I would need to cover them in some kind of rock wool? The floor at the moment is just some kind of concrete or cement or something, but we plan to cover it with rugs and old carpet. The walls are just painted bricks, as is the ceiling (but with areas of hardboard and a lot of pipes and things). Do we need to cover the ceiling pipes with something? and is it worth buying proper acoustic foam pads for the walls or can we just put up wall hangings?
we are all students so budget is pretty limited, but we're prepared to spend enough to make it useable.
The final problem is damp. We're based in Manchester, UK which as you may know is a pretty wet place. The landlord said that it had only flooded once in the last 10 years, so we're not too worried about that as long as we keep an eye on the weather forecast, but the floor does look kind of damp. There are currently various bits of building materials being stored in there and they don't seem to be too damp, but I was worried about keeping nice instruments and equipment down there. We are going to get some kind of humidity reader and dehumidifier down there, but does anybody know what kind of humidity levels are safe for drums/guitars/studio equipment.
any help you could give would be very much appreciated as I know very little about acoustics.
Firstly, The ceilings are very low (probably about 7 feet, I don't have exact measurements). One of the rooms has a fire place shaped hole in the back wall. all three rooms are pretty big apart from their height, again I couldn't take measurements but if they would be helpful I can see if I can get some.
the second problem is that there are small grills between each room, I guess some kind of ventilation (there are no pipes or anything they are literally just holes between the rooms). I thought these could be made useful for running cables between the rooms without having the doors wedged open, but I assume I would need to cover them in some kind of rock wool? The floor at the moment is just some kind of concrete or cement or something, but we plan to cover it with rugs and old carpet. The walls are just painted bricks, as is the ceiling (but with areas of hardboard and a lot of pipes and things). Do we need to cover the ceiling pipes with something? and is it worth buying proper acoustic foam pads for the walls or can we just put up wall hangings?
we are all students so budget is pretty limited, but we're prepared to spend enough to make it useable.
The final problem is damp. We're based in Manchester, UK which as you may know is a pretty wet place. The landlord said that it had only flooded once in the last 10 years, so we're not too worried about that as long as we keep an eye on the weather forecast, but the floor does look kind of damp. There are currently various bits of building materials being stored in there and they don't seem to be too damp, but I was worried about keeping nice instruments and equipment down there. We are going to get some kind of humidity reader and dehumidifier down there, but does anybody know what kind of humidity levels are safe for drums/guitars/studio equipment.
any help you could give would be very much appreciated as I know very little about acoustics.
Especially if this a habitable space. I don't know how the permitting process works in your area, but most contemporary urban residential structures are usually within the jurisdiction of a Building Inspection Department. Reason I mention this is "soundproofing" implys significant construction which "may" conflict with common local regulations. And to get permits, "usually", for un-common construction, one usually is required to submit a set of plans showing what you are planning on building. However, at this point I was just pointing this out, as John mentioned "soundproofing". Although..you didn't say anything about it. Frankly, since you are asking questions in regards to 3 different rooms, this suggests you are planning on using one as a control room and the others as recording spaces. If so, then yes..you will need to isolate the various spaces from each other by virtue of "bleed" and what's known as "transmission loss" through building assemblies. Not to mention "flanking paths"...ie..structural transmission and or air pathways between the spaces. Hence mass and seals like John said.
hmm, never seen that before. What was this..a dungeon?
That doesn't mean we arn't willing to help. It just means we need a TON of info before we can really help you. As to pipes etc, no, usually it's not really required to cover them unless your soundproofing criteria requires it, as pipes can be a flanking path in some respects. Especially large ones. Again, we don't know at this point.
