MiceElf's Studio Build

[MiceElf]

Well, figured I'd start a thread for my Home Recording Studio/Band practice space. Band practice is a at my house and in my living room so making a space for instruments and music has becoming a necessity. So I've cleared out a space and we've moved the band stuff in there. It actually sounds better then the living room did. I originally hoped to get the PA out of the dining room too but that may have to wait for a different space as things progress. Since I wanted to do some better recordings of the band I started looking into setting the space up as a home studio too. Being a DIYer gets one into some interesting situations but I guess I like it that way. Ya......I like it like that!

The room isn't optimal but I think I can make it work. It has the half glass rear exit door, a full glass door leading to a sunroom, a large double plane window looking out to the sunroom, and an open door jamb leading to the kitchen. It's also adjacent to the laundry room and the mechanical room. So, no laundry and no heat/ac during recordings. I'm thinking a sound panel that wedges into the jam to the kitchen instead of installing a door there as I prefer not to have a door there.

As for room treatments, I ordered some Roxul Safe'n'Sound and plan to build (4) 6" thick front and back bass traps (Floor to ceiling), (2) 3" thick 2'x4' front wall panels, (1) 6" thick 2'X4' Rear Wall Panel, (1) 6" thick panel to wedge into that open doorway mentioned above (rear wall), (2) 3" Thick 2' X 4' first reflection panels, (4) 3" thick 2'x4' panels for a cloud, and (2-3) additional 3" thick 2'x4' ceiling panels. wow, that's a lot of building isn't it. Shouldn't take too long once things get going though. What's the word on sound dampening curtains? Are they worth the trouble of making? I'm thinking of using some for the two doors and the window if it's worth the effort.

I picked up a Zoom R16 a few weeks back. It's hard to believe I haven't yet set that thing up but the band's been trying to get back in the groove for our next show this weekend. I wasn't planning on buying monitors yet but decided on a pair of Equator D5 Coaxial Studio Monitors. After seeing that they were going to be raising prices next moth I figured I better bite the bullet and ordered a pair, which showed up today! I also bought a headphone amp (4 headphones) and 4 cheap headphones. I'm certainly going to have to upgrade the headphones soon but their probably better than nothing for now. I'm also looking into making some QRD diffusers for the back wall, but I'm not sure when I'm going be able to get to that and haven't settled on a design yet.

So the Roxul is suppose to be here this weekend and it looks like next week I'm gonna be getting down and setting up the studio for recording. Hopefully by the end of next week I can have the band lay down some tracks. Then the serious out of element learning curve begins. Looking forward to it.

I'll get some pics to post once things get moving.

 

[MiceElf]

Figured I'd talk today about my band's setup and equipment, since that's the main focus of my recording at this time. It can be hard to classify the genre but I'd say it's outlaw bluegrass.
Acoustic Guitar through a DI
Mandolin through a DI
Drums/Percussion is a bass drum; washboard; cymbal; and various cowbells and blocks, all mic'd up with condenser drum mics. He mixes his drums on his mixer and stereo's out.
And my instrument, which I've dubbed the bassango*, it’s a fretted standup bass banjo mic'd with a dynamic drum mic, through my amp, which has DI out.
Vocals are ran through 4 Shure PG57's.

*The Bassango.....again with the whole DYI thing I guess. I needed/wanted an acoustic bass that actually projected enough sound to be heard acoustically and too cheap to buy a decent standup so what's a boy to do! It's a cut down floor tom with a bass neck attached to it and a cut down bass drum as a resonator. It's all mounted up on a combined drum/cymbal stand. It's been an ever evolving instrument and It's certainly got an interesting sound to it. Plus it adds an interesting flair to the band. Oddly I don't have any pics of it on this computer so I'll have to post some another time.

As I mentioned before, we'll be recording into a Zoom R16. Once the room is ready we'll lay down some tracts and the real "fun" begins.

 

[homestudioguy]

See my website for some ideas.

 

[MiceElf]

Well, it took forever to get the call, but the Roxul finally arrived at my local Lowes. According to Lowes the first delivery was damaged so they sent it back and remade the order.
I decided to try and build a frame from the metal corner bead stuff for drywall. The original plan was to build a frame for the front and back then cover it all, but after building a single frame I decided to just go with a back frame and cover it. I covered it with burlap. I originally bought enough material to build a single prototype but after going with the single frame on the back side I was able to make two 6" thick 2'X4' bass traps. Seems like they'll work out fine.
Guess it's time to buy more materials to build the rest of them. As usual things are moving slower then I'd like but that's something I'm used to.

 

[MiceElf]

Time for another small update on the project thus far. I built 6) 6” thick panels, one for each corner and 2 for the back wall. I also built 2) 3” thick panels as first reflection panels. The plan is for 14 more 3” thick panels, 6 as wall panels and eight for ceiling/cloud panels. The corner and wall panels are hung from a rail I placed around the room, so they are moveable/removable. It also keeps the panels off the walls a bit, which I hear is a good thing. I’m terrible about taking pics as I do projects, but hopefully I can put up some pics of the panel construction and the rail system sometime soon. I thought about taking pics yesterday but looked around at the clutter and debris (Davebris as a friend of mine calls it) and decided against it. All in good time I guess.
I still need to build the doorway insert, and something for window treatments but things are progressing a bit. More to come, hopefully with debrisless pics.

 

[MiceElf]

Acoustic Panel Build

Well, I know that there are a lot of acoustic panel build info out there but I figured I'd put up how I built mine.

This build shows using 3" thick 2" X 4" Rulox Safe 'n' Sound insulation batts. I also build 6" bass panels staking 2 batts. I used spray adhesive between the batts.

I uses drywall corner bead as the frame and originally intended having both a front and a back frame like I seen in an on-line panel build tutorial. Instead I felt that just the back frame was necessary and build all of them with just a back frame.

I began by laying out a loose weave burlap that I got in the lawn and garden section of my local big box home improvement center. It was about $10 for a 25" roll. The burlap was found near the weed barrier and shade clothe.



I then laid a batt (2 for the bass traps) over the burlap.



I then laid the back frame over the insulation batt.



Sorry I didn't take pics of building the frame. The frames were build by clipping one side of corner bead the width of the insulation (2') and folding the ends overs, making a "U" shape. The corners where then affixed with two pop rivets in the overlap in each corner. Two of these "U" portions of the frames were then affixed together by pop rivets where the sides over lapped.

I then pulled the burlap over the sides and one end of the frame. I used tooth picks to temporarily hold the burlap over the frame.I pulled the burlap taught but not too tight to keep the batt attached to the frame without over compressing the insulation.





Once the burlap was held one three sides I hot glued the burlap to the frame. I used a tooth pick to spread and press the hot glue into the burlap and onto the frame.



Once the three sides were glues to the frame I rolled the burlap over the back and hot glued it down to the frame, again pressing the glue into the burlap with a tooth pick.

I then trimmed the extra burlap from the back of the panel. Sorry but I didn't take a pic of the panel with the back side finished and trimmed!

In order to attach the panels to my studio walls I ran a beveled rail around the room. I attached two picture frame hanging hooks to the back of the panel.



These hooks have an extra flange on them to guide the nails at a 45* angle on the wall but they hindered for my use. I wiggled the flange enough to fatigue the metal to remove the extra flange.



I then used self tapping sheet metal screws to affix them to the frame.



As the rail on the wall spaced the panels about 1" away from the wall so I added small sections of some foam pipe insulation to the bottom of the panels, which keeps the panels off the walls and keeps the panels from swinging on the rail.



Here is a picture of the profile of the rail I installed. I ripped a bevel for the picture frame hooks to rest on.



The system seems to work well and allows me to move/remove the panels as I see fit.

 

[MiceElf]

Panel Build 2

So I finished up the first of four panel to go in the upper corners of the room. These are 3" thick Rulox. I stuffed the cut off triangle pieces behind the panel so really they are mostly 6" panels.



Here it is installed.



I also purchased some moving blankets and made some curtains for the large window and the doors. I splurged and went for the camouflage moving blankets for the swanky feel! The window curtain is doubled over an adjustable shower curtain rod, and the doors curtains are held on by large magnets (metal doors). I originally planned on using 2 magnets per door but it took all four for the one window. Time for another run to pick up more magnets for the other door.





Other than more 2'X4' 3" thick panels for the ceiling, some track lighting I have, and the magnets for the other door curtain, I've got a door/Entryway insert to make.

The plan is to take a hollow core door slightly smaller than the entryway, fill it with expanding foam and attach 6" of Rulox to the backside. This will be wrapped around the perimeter with some foam so that it'll wedge into the door frame. That way I can insert it and remove it as needed, and leave it as an entryway instead of having an installed door.
The plan is to add diffusion to the door skin and deaden sound from the adjacent room.

 

[MiceElf]

Door Plug and Picture Window Panel Mount

So, another small update on the studio. As mentioned earlier I have an pass through between my kitchen and the studio, which has no installed door. Since I didn’t really want a permanently installed door in this (archway (?)….Pass through (?), what is a doorway without a door called……) I took a hollow core door blank, drilled several holes on one side and filled the door with “Door and Window” expanding foam. Then I placed a single layer (3” thick) of the Rolux installation batts over the side with the holes drilled in it, and then covered it with burlap. The burlap was glued around the edge of the filled door blank. I then added handles on the other side of the door blank. That way I can insert this “plug” into the arch/pass through/doorway without a door thingy without installing any permanent hardware. It fits snugly but will require some minor adjustments to better seal the perimeter.

My plan is to place the door side facing into the studio and installing diffusion panels on the door plug.



It’s also nice as I can reverse the door plug and have the batting side facing inside the studio.



It's really amazing how much sound that door plug inhibits.

My first reflection point on one side will be where a large picture window is located, so I needed a way to mount a panel in that area. So, I mounted one of those expanding spring loaded shower curtain rods to the back of a panel. I only attached it at the top of the panel and the bottom just hangs free.



This allowed me to insert the panel into the window sill and I can move it around in the window sill as needed, or remove it if needed.



This brought up another interesting mounting method idea. If one could locate these spring loaded poles that were long enough to go from floor to ceiling then all the panels (wall panels that is) could be installed without attaching hardware to the walls and the pole would automatically provide a gap between the panel and the wall. This would be really cool for a portable system I would think.

Anyhow, back to panel building. I have a panel in the final stages that I’m placing at an angle across the wall and ceiling in front of the desk, a part of the cloud I believe. Then I need to build 2 more upper corner panels and 6 more panels for the ceiling.