My Basement Studio - a possible cry for help?

L

lenMCHC

New member
Hello all.
I just recently purchased a house, in my lovely town of Ewing, NJ.
And I want to build a studio in the basement. I have considered the 1 vs 2 room approach,
and based on the size of the available space, 1 room, w/ a vocal booth is the plan.
now. that being said, I'd like to ensure that i am compliant w/ all local codes, and will
have inspections, and insurance, during and post build.

Key dimensions. From the Cinderblock basement wall to the stair case is 18 feet.
From the side wall to where I can viably build to, is 10 feet at one end (water heater), and 13 feet on the other end.
The Height of the area is 7ft 3" to the bottom of the studs.
I DO have 2 windows to deal with, but they are both made of the glass block, not just simple panes of glass.

I would like to keep the drop ceiling, but it isn't 100% necessary
I would like to do some sort of wood floor, but, due to height constraints, it may not be in the best interest...

What I am looking to get out of this build, is a decent mix position, with the ability to occasionally track drums in the open area. I tend to do most of my drum recording out of house. and focus on guitars/bass/vocals in home.

Can anyone lend a begining hand on what I should be explaining to my construction person?
(yes, i have spent a lot of time, reading things that many of the big guys here have said, "ethan" i'm looking your way. As well as the stuff on John L Sayers' website. and various other boards) But, I'm looking for bare essentials, initial steps.

Thanks in advance
 
Hey Ethan,

Thanks for the confirmation of the 1 room approach.

Would you say that even a vocal booth might be a waste of space?

Also, to hang a ceiling in such a short area, can i use 2x6's that are in the
open space between the floor joists of the house? to ensure i use as much of the vertical space?
 
I'd agree. 18x11 is a decent sized space. Don't cut it up. Plan on some treatments that are flexible in placement (stands) to be able to pull around the vocalist to dry things up when required and then used back for reflection duty when mixing.

Bryan
 
here is a picture of my initial sketch.
the widest spots are 11'6" on the inside
and the longest is 16"6"

How does this seem for the initial plan?
2 walls are cinderblocks.. so, i intended to offset the
2x4 studs, by approx 4 inches. for air space.

the other walls will be double studs, and have 2 layers
of sheet rock, 5/8ths..

on the right track?
 

Attachments

  • Studio Sketch.jpg
    Studio Sketch.jpg
    39.2 KB · Views: 124
Is the odd shape on the right of the drawing the natural shape of the foundation or have you planned to build it this way for a different reason? How deep is that recess?

Bryan
 
if you are viewing it so that the recessed area is on the right of the screen.

the bottom cut out is where the Hot Water Heater is placed. I don't want to move it
and want to leave adequate room around it for any servicing. and air flow.

the top cut out, is to keep the room symmetrical for mixing purposes.

the recessed area is 3 ft total depth, but it kinda slopes so it's a varying depth.
 
If you can kill the ceiling in that area and use some panels on stands pulled across the face of it in an arc, that'd likely work fine and allow you to do mixing at the other end.

Bryan
 
there are some pipes up there that i'm going to avoid, so
the ceiling will be pitched a bit, to accomodate them.
and it will avoid me having another 90degree angle in the room.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top