Making Studio In Basement

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mikexmcdaniel

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I'm going to be building a small studio in my (finished) basement. What I want is to take one room I have and turn it into a drum room/rehearsal space. The dimensions of the room are 11 x 10 x 7 (Walls are parellel). The room has a carpeted concrete floor, drywall, and a drop in ceiling (tiles are some kind of styrofoam-like substance, I don't know what it's called).

What has to be done to this room in order to maximize the acoustic potential of this room? (Keep in mind that one of the walls has not yet been built, represented by the dotted red line in the attached picture).
 

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mikexmcdaniel said:
I'm going to be building a small studio in my (finished) basement. What I want is to take one room I have and turn it into a drum room/rehearsal space. The dimensions of the room are 11 x 10 x 7 (Walls are parellel). The room has a carpeted concrete floor, drywall, and a drop in ceiling (tiles are some kind of styrofoam-like substance, I don't know what it's called).

What has to be done to this room in order to maximize the acoustic potential of this room? (Keep in mind that one of the walls has not yet been built, represented by the dotted red line in the attached picture).

If noone beats me to it; once I get home, I'll help reconfigure your room (via image program) so that it "may" "maximize acoustic potential" ie. no parallel walls. I'm at work right now.
 
Howdy Mike,
You don’t want to have parallel walls. That will have the sound bouncing back and forth and is acoustically undesirable. Hopefully Thane’s pic will give you a stronger idea.

God Speed
Crim
 
I too am trying to build a personal (not commercial) studio in my basement so I hope you guys don't mind me tacking all my baggage on to this thread. My question is, what sound treatment do you recommend and how can I achieve this on a moderate budget. I record my band (drums, guitars, bass, singer) live and seperate. We like doing live recordings because our singer has to show his wife that we are being productive or else she will make him quit. Anyway, I have pro tools and love it. Have good mics, etc. Everything is taken care of but the room doesn't sound as good as I would like. I am converting the bathroom in to a booth and I'm getting some results in there.

I anticipate someone will tell me I need to do something about my parallel walls. I'm considering building a bass trap or two out of rigid fiberglass and I'd like to use rockwool or duct board to make the room a little more dead. I think auralex is a little too pricey but I will use it if I must. I ordered heavy curtains for the door to the outside and the hallway but I'm thinking about installing a door to the hallway. The room has carpeting with thick padding underneath. It's 11.5x14 not counting the bump out. Thanks in advance for any help.
 

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ibleedburgundy said:
My question is, what sound treatment do you recommend and how can I achieve this on a moderate budget.


The best thing that anyone can do to improve the sound quality in their room is by using broadband absorbers that can achieve good bass absorption as well. This means dense rigid fiberglass in a thickness of 2" or preferably more properly mounted in the room for best possible results. Ethan's site is FULL of instructions on this.

I'd say that you should start in the corners. the four vertical (wall to wall)corners and the two horizontal (ceiling to wall) corners. Then, go for the area around the mix position. Line several panels along (but spaced away from) the walls across from your mix position and suspend several from the ceiling right above the mix position. An one or two on the front wall. This should make a noticeable improvement in your room's sound. I'm estimating 25 absorbers will get you there and at $20 to $40 a pop (depending on your skill level) you're looking at roughly $400 to $800 in treatments.
 
I also want to build a studio in my basement 12x12x7. I don't want to go through the trouble of fiberglass and making panels, so will aurelex do just stapled on the floor joices (celing)? Also I want to make some walls unparellel now after reading this thread, and staple some aurelex to the walls of that and put some aurelex bass traps in there.
Would this be sufficient (minimzing volume is not a factor here)
 
Renascent said:
but it could be pricey. still beats constructing entirely new walls though.
Scott

The beauty of it is that you can spare yourself the headache of construction and buy absorbers as you can afford them so the price can be stretched over time which is nice. Plus, if you ever move out you take it all with you because your not moving entire walls. And resell value is intact for people who don't like odd shaped rooms. Parallel walls are bad for sound quality but they are cureable for a reasonable amount of money and effort.

I was going to add that with a few more traps you'd want to treat the back wall as well.
 
capnkid said:
I don't want to go through the trouble of fiberglass and making panels, so will aurelex do just stapled on the floor joices (celing)? Also I want to make some walls unparellel now after reading this thread, and staple some aurelex to the walls of that and put some aurelex bass traps in there.
Would this be sufficient (minimzing volume is not a factor here)


You're the reason guys like Ethan, Glen, and Brian are in business. I'd consider their products/services before going with Aurelex. I'll add that stapling treatment directly to a wall isn't as effective as spacing the treatment away from the wall so waves can pass through twice rather than just once.
 
I'm currently putting my own panels together, I just purchased some covers from modularacoustics.com for $30 a pop, a little pricey, but then I can just pick up the insulation locally and it's quite affordable. Slide the insulation in the covers, and hang it wherever you want, including from mic stands so you can move them around easily as gobos. Rockwool insulation is the way to go, as far as I can tell.
 
I live in a finished basement (parents house) I also want to start a studio...

Do any of you guys thinks its possible to have a decent recording studio but also a bedroom?

Heres a diagram...

-----------------------------------------
<-door Closet Closet


BED
Sofa
PC


TV Stack Amp (PA) Drums

--------------window---------------------


I dont know the exact dim. but its pretty decent size basement as you can see...

Should I add on or should I keep it how it is?

Also is there any splitter type thing I could get to seperate half the room from the other with out having to build a wall?

Thanks, AJ
 
AJ,
It's pretty hard for me to get the picture of your environment from the content of your post. Let me just attack it like this.

"decent" is a relative word. When you're below "professional" quality it's basically up to the listener whether something is decent or not. We can't tell you that. I can tell you that I have made recordings I was pleased with in an empty house with no treatment what so ever. Just carpet on the floor was all there was. If you can't afford the treatment previously discussed, and don't have the skills to DIY, then it's all about technique. You should have fun experimenting with what techniques will get you your desired sound.

As for the divider, I'd say you need to consult your parents and see what they will allow you to do. If all you can do is staple some moving blankets to the celing, that's it. If they will let you build a wall, there are ways to make it "knock down" meaning it's a SEMI-permanent wall. Find out your boundaries and come back to us.

Later.
 
I'll give more information when the time comes...

Right now I can't afford anything because I just bought a Marshall NMV.

But my plans are to add on to my room and change the carpet...


This is just a project that I have been slowly working on, since I moved into my new house.

I'll give more detail in the future.

Thanks, AJ
 
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