priorities...

[Belome]

I've been recording small stuff at home for a while now on my 4-track and on my computer for a while now, but I've recently decided that what I'm doing isn't enough. I'm going to more-or-less start from scratch with a set of two bedrooms in the second story of my house (which coincidentaly take up the entire second floor. I'm going to have to work on this project for a while so I'm going to have to put a logical order to my purchases. I have no money limit on the gear I buy ( more like a time limit, I'll only commit to waiting so long), I just need to figure out when I should buy things. I have a p4 1.4 GHZ w / 256Meg ram / one 80 gig IDE HDD/ and the plain Jane sound card that came with the machine. I'm currently running Win XP Pro. My plans include ( but are not limited to) :
- M-Audio 1010 interface OR
- Pro Tools 001
- Mackie 1604 VLZ Pro console
- Undecided on monitors ( probably powered in the cheaper price range Behringer truths maybe )
- A multi-channel Headphone Amp
- A two channel tube microphone preamp ( unsure of model, maybe behringer tube ultragain or (HOPEFULLY) something someone suggests)
- Studio Projects C-1, AKG D112, 5 or 6 SM57s, and a pair of Octava 012 small diaphragm condensers.
- At least one or two atlas mic stands w/booms..
- and more stuff of course...

So far I have:
- 1 SM57
- 1 SM58
- Tascam MkIII
- AKG K240 Studio Headphones
- 8 channel snake ( Carvin, I like it but it's got xlr sends... ??? )
- Line 6 spider 2x10, Carvin R1000 bass head, Ampeg SVT 8x10, Washburn XB 900 w/ Bartonlini Actives, Schecter c1-elite, and some other stuff...

I'm not sure what to do to the rooms as far a sound proofing goes the dimensions are as follows:

-both rooms are
12' x 16', and the ceiling is between 4' and 8' shaped like an A
and they both have a small closet space in the corner, that you can't stand up in.

Ideas?

Thanks

--Jesse

 

[Todzilla]

How loudly do you play?

How much will it bug the other residents?

What type of HVAC do you have?

What type of construction is the house?

What rooms are adjacent to these proposed studio space?

How much money can you throw at soundproofing?

 

[frederic]

- M-Audio 1010 interface OR
- Pro Tools 001

I dislike everything about protools, and I do think the M-Audio is a great interface. Just my opinion only.

- Mackie 1604 VLZ Pro console

Nice console, very quiet. Has the standard Mackie EQ which some people really love, or really hate. If you've never used one before, I highly recommend renting one for a few days to see if its really for you. *I* happen to really like Mackie's stuff.

- Undecided on monitors ( probably powered in the cheaper price range Behringer truths maybe )

A friend of mine purchased four truths to replace portions of his YS10's as 5.1 monitoring systems. After listening to them myself, I must say I was VERY impressed.

- A multi-channel Headphone Amp

I have the Oz Audio HR-4 and very happy with it. The Rane is also very nice. If you studio is to be used by more than yourself (i.e. multiple band members whereas you have seperate rooms for all of them simultaniously) Furman has a more expensive system that allows each headphone user to control their own mix to some degree. This solves the oh-so-common problem of the guitarist asking for more volume in his head-cans, then the drummer getting annoyed he can't hear himself. Certainly not something you have to buy up front, I'm offering this as an alternative idea for you. I record one artist at a time typically, so using the Oz or Rane device is most suitable.

- A two channel tube microphone preamp ( unsure of model, maybe behringer tube ultragain or (HOPEFULLY) something someone suggests)

I have several different units, the Behringer being one of them. No complaints about the Ultragain, its a nice, basic simple unit. I like the DBX unit I have more, and use it more often. But thats just preference - I find the DBX can be set to color the sound slightly less than the Behringer unit.

- Studio Projects C-1, AKG D112, 5 or 6 SM57s, and a pair of Octava 012 small diaphragm condensers.

All good choices.

- 8 channel snake ( Carvin, I like it but it's got xlr sends... ??? )

Hahahahahahaa. Nothing an adaptor can't fix

- Line 6 spider 2x10, Carvin R1000 bass head, Ampeg SVT 8x10, Washburn XB 900 w/ Bartonlini Actives, Schecter c1-elite, and some other stuff...

Spider is a nice amp. I looked at it for a few hours before I finally decided on the Fender Cybertwin. No real reason why, it just somehow floated my purchasing vote a little more at the time.

12' x 16', and the ceiling is between 4' and 8' shaped like an A
and they both have a small closet space in the corner, that you can't stand up in.

Sounds like attic space I'm going to assume the center wall between the two rooms has the 8' high measurement.

What I would do is put the console and your monitors about a foot away from the 8' wall in one room, cut out a hole in that wall and put in a double-pane window, whereas the glass are different thicknesses and made of safetyglass. Also angle one of them forward, so the space inside is trapaziodal shaped looking at it from the side (your head in the wall). This way you can see into the other 12'x16' space, but the window doesn't transmit much sound.

The wall should be redone to be about 8" thick instead of the more common 2x4 construction, using staggered studs, this way the entire wall is one big air chamber. That will reduce noise tranmission significantly. The surface of the wall could be plywood (MDF), greenboard, or some other dense material and filled with rockwool. Not to difficult to do, and not terribly expensive. Auralex or equiv foam on top of that. If you can put your monitors on stands and about a 1' from the wall, it should sound fairly nice as far as bass goes.

The slanted ceiling you can't make too much thicker because it slopes down, so I would just paint it to seal it up then apply 2" auralex foam all the way down. The 4' high wall could be where you put your rackmount gear, your computer, shelves etc with a listening sofa in the center, so your guests (and yourself) can listen to your work. Just watch your head when you stand up I have a slant in my studio as well and at first I thought it was going to be wasted space, but I built custom 2x4 racks and mounted all my outboards, midi modules and patch panels into these racks and found that I could fit 24U of gear nicely. I have to dress up the structure a bit - exposed 2x4's are not so pretty. Nothing a header panel can't fix. Just have to get to it.

The same basic treatments could be used for the other room as well, and you might have some tuning to do depending how loud the artists play over there. You also have neighbors to think about as well. You don't need 911 calls on a daily basis

If the floor joists run across the room, widthwise, you'll have to run the cables to the second room through the wall. If they run lengthwise, you can put cables underneath the floor from the sofa/rack area in the back of the room to the console table, then from the console table underneath the wall into the live room with nice covered floorboxes. Its a nice finishing touch.

 

[Belome]

Thanks for the ideas!

I have certain limitations that I didn't mention earlier,

1. This is a rent house. So I can't ( and don't ) want to make any adjustments to the walls, except for surface insulations.

( the quality of recording doesn't have to be professional, it's just for me and those who record with me so I can be completley ready when I go to a real studio. I don't plan on charging anyone to use it, or let any other bands use it for that matter. )

2. The rooms are shaped slightly different than what frederic may have pictured.
both rooms have the same shape where one wall is 6 feet high and the wall parallel to it is 4 ft. and the ceiling makes an upside down V shap goin over the room where the center of the room is 8' high.

As to Todzillas post:

I record guitars very quietly
Drums are as loud as live drums ( this is my main problem )
I record bass direct and sometimes with a real amp, very quietly
I record vocals live ( not a real problem for the neighbors )

both rooms have no central heat and air, they have wall units...

The house is poorly constructed ( IMHO ) but If you read above you will see my requirement for quality isn't perfect.

_
|_|__ B
|____ C
|_| A



A is the control room
B is the tracking/BEDROOM
C is the small space where the stairs meet the floor, there's about 4 feet between the rooms

I'm not sure how much I'm going to spend on insulation and soundproofing yet.

...

Thanks!

 

[darrin_h2000]

Web cams in both rooms and 2 monitors is a good alternative to the window. Even if you owned the place , If that was a load bearing wall. you would have trouble.

 

[Belome]

I made a fairly accurate floorplan to help the visualization process...

Also I may consider swapping the tracking room and the control room altogether since I'd have to move my bed everytime I used it...