Building a Room

[peterpalmieri]

I am considering building a rehearsal/recording studio in the basement....

I have started to research how to build the room, double walls, isolation materials etc. I'm not sure this is something I want to tackle on my own but may hire a professional if it's to much work.

At this point I am just concerned with creating a space that sounds good acoustically speaking and also will allow band rehearsals with minimum sound in the room above the basement...

Thanks for your time!

Pete

[TheButler]

Sorry, but what is your question exactly ?

[meev991]

use the poor man's solution:

Eggcartons/equivalent foam on the walls, minimize reflective surfaces, and then, heavy curtains all around the whole room.

[peterpalmieri]

My question is what materials should I use...

1. What's the best way to sound proof the room i.e. keep the noise from bleeding upstairs?

2. What's my best wall and celing treatment to deaden the room?

Thank's for the advice but I'm not looking for the poor man's solution but rather the proper way to do it, the egg cartons or pyramids will improve the sound of the room but not stop sound from escaping and making it's way into the rest of the house.

I am hoping to at least gain some knowledge before paying a consultant to come in and charge me a bundle....

[these_go211]

you need a room within a room for starters. so build 4 new walls a few inches from the ones you currently have. basically you need a lot of mass to stop sound, especially the low frequencies. floating the floors will also help. you're going to need money and lots of time to pull this off. gearslutz.com has good info about this. also, search the net for "ethan weiner." he seems to be a respected acoustical guru. good luck man!

[Jazzdogg]

IIRC, there was an article on this in the last issue of Fine Homebuilding magazine.

[Nate74]

Also, once you keep the sound from getting out, consider how it will sound inside the room. Egg cartons look cool I guess, but look into building some bass traps. I built 6 2'x4'x4" traps for my recording room and it's unreal how much of a difference it makes.

I hate to say it but you might want to lurk over at the homerecording forum for some ideas. But don't ask any questions or express any opinions over there...

[TheButler]

Are you going to be wanting designated areas for doing vocals, drums etc ?

[deaf pea]

Originally Posted by peterpalmieri

What's the best way to sound proof the room i.e. keep the noise from bleeding upstairs? ...Thank's for the advice but I'm not looking for the poor man's solution but rather the proper way to do it...

Originally Posted by these_go211

basically you need a lot of mass to stop sound, especially the low frequencies.

That's good advice . . . "a lot of mass" = Heavy, well-sealed(hermetically sealed) walls isolating the room from the passageway or stairway thet leads to the rest of the house AND ALSO making the ceiling of the room (and of the floor of the room above it) as thick and dense as posible. You might need to adjust the foundation of the house (in the area you're gonna' use for your recording-rehearsing room) to handle the additional weight.

Originally Posted by TheButler

Are you going to be wanting designated areas for doing vocals, drums etc ?

You need to remember that the most important thing about live recording spaces, besides not having ANY parallel walls, is the HEIGHT of the room. I'd say a minimum height would be 3 1/2 meters (or more or less 12 feet). And the ceiling should't be parallel with the floor, either

Good Luck . . .

[peterpalmieri]

It will be in the basement and I am not so worried about a great recording space. Obviously I am limited to about 8' of unfinished ceiling height, support beams etc. More of a place I can practice or have a few people over to rehearse. If I do any recording it will be incidental, no need for a vocal booth or seperate room for a mixer.

There are some products out on the market that supposedly will stop vibrations between the ceiling and adjoining wall, allot of it is in use these days for home theatrs and the such.

[Rick Brienzo]

Check this link.

http://www.auralex.com/pcf/

Auralex will also do a free analysis of you space for free I believe and recommend the proper treatments. They also have a cool site called acoustics 101 that I recommend reading before you begin. I has all the info you will need. link bellow.

http://www.acoustics101.com/

[derrico1]

As you're picking up from the replies, a basement studio is likely to be a compromised space in terms of acoustics. With low ceilings dropped further for soundproofing, it will be easier and cheaper to design a dead (broadband non-reflective) basement space than one that has a great acoustic signature.

As far as soundproofing, deaf pea and others have you on the right track. A couple of additional considerations: HVAC (and associated noise) and home maintenance.

If you are relying on ductwork to heat/cool, you might want to have an HVAC specialist who has done studio work draw you up a plan to keep the HVAC from scuttling the soundproofing between studio/non-studio spaces and from adding to the noise floor in the studio. (Admittedly, HVAC noise won't be much of an issue in a rehearsal space, but it's funny how well-designed rehearsal spaces have a way of turning into recording spaces these days. Easy to get it right now, but spendy to fix it as a re-model.)

As far as maintenance, an additional problem with basement studios is that the room-within-a-room approach can make getting to a plumbing clear-out, a leaky water pipe, or home wiring a real headache. Consider the basement joist access to your home's wiring/plumbing in your plans. If you can't build a rehearsal space around electrical/plumbing paths, you might want to consider re-routing them before you bury them with your room-within-a-room.

Best of luck.

[Bass]

Originally Posted by peterpalmieri

...There are some products out on the market that supposedly will stop vibrations between the ceiling and adjoining wall, allot of it is in use these days for home theatrs and the such...

Yes, they're called resilient channels. They are aluminum rails about 8 feet long and shaped like a "J" in cross section. The channels fasten to the studs, and the drywall hangs from the channels. They hold the drywall away from the studs about a 1/2 inch so vibrations aren't transferred to the studs.

I used these in my jamspace and they seem to work.

I also stuffed the ceiling full of insulation, and then covered it with 3/4" insualtion ceiling tiles.

[Interceptor]

Sound isolation for your practice space is going to be tough.

First off, I agree completely with Deaf Pea, to get a recording space to sound right, the ceiling needs to be at least 12', and I really like rooms with 4 x 3 ratios. Avoidance of any parallel surfaces is worth the effort. Then learn how to do impulse measurements after the room is built to get a handle on the reflective "issues" that need to be tamed. A mix of absorbsion and diffusion is how a room gets tuned - I like (and use) Acoustics First products.

That all holds true for a recording space; which isn't your goal.

What you need is isolation, lots of power, and an isolated HVAC system.

The approach I'd recommend is a room within a room. You can't attach anything to the first floor joists; that'll transmit sound. I've saw cut concrete floors (then filled the cut with latex caulk) to isolate a room. I'd rather have a seperate foundation, but it isn't always possible. The other option is to use one of the sorbothane type products under the footer of the walls. Power is obvious.

Don't under estimate the HVAC issue. Unless your home is using zoned heating and cooling, the heat rise in a well sealed room is significant, and will be totally out of sync with the rest of the house.

One problem I've run into is there are not many HVAC contractors experienced in designing high flow / low noise installations.

My day job is in this arena (and no, I'm not soliciting work, just trying to help.)

Stereophile did a seminal piece worth hunting down years ago (somewhere around 1990) that treated the problems associated with building a great room for a stereo. The issues remain the same! I found that article one of the best ever. Unfortunately, I doubt I've still got it.