Home Project Studio Build

[Doublehelix]

I have been working on a home project studio build in my basement for almost a year now (ouch!). Of course, I have to build it in my spare time on weekends and evenings, which are pretty hard to find these days.

I am almost done with the "back half", which is the control room, an air lock, and and iso room. I am about to start on the live room in the next week or so.

I have build threads going on a couple of other forums, which is why I didn't want to *another* thread for the same studio build (those threads are on SOS and Sayer's forums).

I went ahead and started a small blog on my web site, but BEWARE! It is meant of the complete novice, basically someone that has NO IDEA about studio builds, so the commentary is pretty basic and condescending if you have any knowledge whatsoever about building a studio!

Anyway, here is the link to my little Hobbit hole!

Helix Recording Studio Construction

[hisbluness]

Thumps up for such a cool documentation! Its a good read and its pretty cool for people trying to do a similar thing.

Keep it up!

[Ibvee]

Cool, keep it up!

Why did you choose for solid walls, and attached the acoustic stuff later? Don't you have much more acoustic options when you build it in the wall?

[Doublehelix]

Originally Posted by Ibvee

Cool, keep it up!

Why did you choose for solid walls, and attached the acoustic stuff later? Don't you have much more acoustic options when you build it in the wall?

Probably, but my knowledge on how to do this was accumulated as I went! I wanted to make sure that I had as much sound isolation as possible first, and therefore built this thing like a fortress! If a tornado hit town, everything would be leveled, but these rooms would still be standing!

Also, since it is a home studio, who knows what will happen 5 years from now? If I move, I can call the room a "guest room" or whatever I want, plus I can take the treatments with me.

[Ibvee]

cool, thanks for the time to explain

[TheDrumschlag]

Looks great!

How did you determine exactly where to place the traps? Did you use any sort of equation, or is there a product/service/online resource you used that points out problem areas? Also, what determined the size of each trap?

Also, how is the staircase in the live room going to affect the sound, and are you planning on doing anything to isolate the live room from the rest of the house?

[Doublehelix]

Originally Posted by TheDrumschlag

Looks great!

How did you determine exactly where to place the traps? Did you use any sort of equation, or is there a product/service/online resource you used that points out problem areas? Also, what determined the size of each trap?

I actually used the Room EQ Wizard (REW) to analyze the room after some initial "standard" trap placements (corner traps, 1st reflection mirror points, etc.). Once I had some readings that showed some "problem" frequencies, I used a mode calculator which generates a theoretical set of frequency modes based on the exact dimensions of my room. I looked at this list, compared it to my actual readings, and this helped me decide where I needed more trapping (front/back, left/right, or floor/ceiling).

Originally Posted by TheDrumschlag

Also, how is the staircase in the live room going to affect the sound, and are you planning on doing anything to isolate the live room from the rest of the house?

This is still an issue, and will be dealt with in phase II of the build out (sometime next year???). Sound travels up into the rest of the house from the live room for sure since I have really done nothing to work on the soundproofing aspects of that room. My plan for phase II is to tear out the entire ceiling in the live room, and beef it up significantly with lots of mass and insulation (and probably resilient channel). I will also plug up all of the "can" lights and make everything surface-mounting. The can lights act as "sound channels" to bring the sound right up to the floor in the rooms above.

I will also build and install HVAC silencers for all of the live room ducts and returns. This is a big source of sound travels!

Finally, I will seal in the live room with a wall and solid door to keep sound from going up the stairs.

In the mean time however, I am going to have to live with the current scenario, and do my best to utilize the iso room (which is "sound-proofed") for loud amps, and just realize that drum tracking is going to drive my family crazy for a bit longer. They are used to it however as we have been doing this for many years in the old basement room.

[Kris]

Looks really nice.

[TheDrumschlag]

Originally Posted by Doublehelix

This is still an issue, and will be dealt with in phase II of the build out (sometime next year???). Sound travels up into the rest of the house from the live room for sure since I have really done nothing to work on the soundproofing aspects of that room. My plan for phase II is to tear out the entire ceiling in the live room, and beef it up significantly with lots of mass and insulation (and probably resilient channel). I will also plug up all of the "can" lights and make everything surface-mounting. The can lights act as "sound channels" to bring the sound right up to the floor in the rooms above.

I will also build and install HVAC silencers for all of the live room ducts and returns. This is a big source of sound travels!

Finally, I will seal in the live room with a wall and solid door to keep sound from going up the stairs.

In the mean time however, I am going to have to live with the current scenario, and do my best to utilize the iso room (which is "sound-proofed") for loud amps, and just realize that drum tracking is going to drive my family crazy for a bit longer. They are used to it however as we have been doing this for many years in the old basement room.

Wow, that's pretty intense... sounds like it will be top-of-the-line when you finish though.

[redredstudio]

if you don't mind me asking, how much has this costed in materials and cables so far?

nice info very helpful to see.

[Doublehelix]

I have not updated that blog in a long time, I need to get on it soon!

I am up to a bit over $15K US at this point cost-wise.

[limestudio]

dude thats one cool basement!

[Doublehelix]

Originally Posted by limestudio

dude thats one cool basement!

Thanks! Like I said however, a lot has happened since I posted any pictures on that blog, and I really need to update the pictures! Hopefully in the next week or so I will post some final pics to the blog and also post one or two on here.

Thanks!

[greatgreatriver]

Great studio! You put a lot of work into this...

One question though. Why didn't you plan better with the corner traps - I would have put the xlr wall connectors somewhere else and the electrical outlets etc so they wouldn't mess with the corner trap design. Oh and one more thing - why didn't you put the wall treatment inside the walls? That would made the room perfect. If you build the room from scratch it's always better to hide all treatment in the walls instead... Just a thought?

Just curious why you choose to do it like that?

Great thread your studio looks really nice -

[datune]

Originally Posted by Doublehelix

I have not updated that blog in a long time, I need to get on it soon!

I am up to a bit over $15K US at this point cost-wise.

Wow, that's not a lot of money at all, considering what you did. Does this include all the tools buying/renting too? Really nice work, how's the sound? Are you happy?

[Melgueil]

Nice !

I too am surprised at the low cost, but then I'm sure it was a LOT of work. I know, because I did one of these before, though the set up was different. I recall "learning" alot along the way. The next one will incorporate all of the learnings (mistakes I made) from the first one.
At the time I was in a hurry because I had clients lined up and practicaly pre-booked time , so getting it done was more important than doing it right. Looks like you time you needed. Looking at all of those photos on the blog bring back memories (the caulk, the drywall, the wiring, the "if water can get in so can air" attitude I had .....).
I'll be doing it again at some point in the next year or so when I get the right property (may well end up being an old stone house - lots of those here in France).
Actually loved it .....can't wait to break out that hammer again

Regards ....

[Doublehelix]

Originally Posted by greatgreatriver

Great studio! You put a lot of work into this...

One question though. Why didn't you plan better with the corner traps - I would have put the xlr wall connectors somewhere else and the electrical outlets etc so they wouldn't mess with the corner trap design. Oh and one more thing - why didn't you put the wall treatment inside the walls? That would made the room perfect. If you build the room from scratch it's always better to hide all treatment in the walls instead... Just a thought?

The simple answer is that I am an idiot! Haha! It was all due to poor planning and not looking far enough ahead in the project. Of course, those were some painful lessons that I wish I could have learned *before* I built the studio!

It is funny, when I was in the early stages of building my studio, there was another guy that doing about the same thing I was doing, and we were both posting progress pics over at John L. Sayer's forum. He did the SAME THING I did with the wall outlets. What idiots we were! Of course, once it was all done, and it came time to do the corner traps, I was like, "You have got to be freaking kidding me????" I was VERY pissed off, and I just stopped all work for about 2 weeks before I could recover and come up with a working solution.

Understand that it is a sealed space, and moving the outlets and wall boxes was not an option that late in the game.

It was one of many F-Ups that I made, and is of course the danger of doing this stuff on your own without any advice from experienced studio builders.


Regarding putting the treatment behind the walls, so to speak. Another lesson learned. First off, I had no idea that I would need that much treatment, but of course I now know a lot more about treating small rooms, and would certainly do it differently next time. It would look much cleaner that way and I wish I had thought about it earlier.


There were several lessons that I learned, and you have pointed out 2 of the 3 biggies:

1) No outlets within 17" of corners
2) Make the room a treatment rather than cover all the walls with big ugly boxes
3) You can never have enough HVAC, and it needs to be *dedicated* to the room


Next time....

[Doublehelix]

Originally Posted by datune

Wow, that's not a lot of money at all, considering what you did. Does this include all the tools buying/renting too? Really nice work, how's the sound? Are you happy?

That is only materials, and TBH, it is probably closer to $18K now.

It sounds GREAT, although I had to add so much treatment to the control room that it is a bit ugly. I will post some pics soon, I promise!

I am *very* happy, but as per my previous post, I learned some valuable lessons so that next time (if there ever is one!) I will do several things differently. It is a great place to record, and I am getting some really great sound out of the room.

[Doublehelix]

Originally Posted by Melgueil

I recall "learning" alot along the way. The next one will incorporate all of the learnings (mistakes I made) from the first one.

Yep! I am with you all the way there brother! Lots of lessons learned along the way.

Originally Posted by Melgueil

Actually loved it .....can't wait to break out that hammer again

Here is where we differ! I am in NO hurry to do this again for a long time! I need some time to rest and record for a while!

[Doublehelix]

Here are a couple of more recent pictures of the live room:







I am planning on going down there with a local photographer friend and getting some final pictures of all of the rooms. I will try to post some here when I get them back.

[Kris]

Looks really nice!... Did I already say that?

Anyways, I may have posted this before, but if it makes you feel any better, when I did my initial build out at my place approx 9 yrs ago or so, I put doors between two of the rooms about 3 inches from the corner... obviously no corner bass trapping can fit there!!! I now look at is as giving my room some 'character'...

Also wood/material was so much cheaper nine years ago! Back then I built 3 floated/isolated rooms inside of a 525 square foot space for less than $4K!!!

Anyways, nice work!

[HDMusicGrp]

looks AMAZING!!!!!

[greatgreatriver]

Cool man - I've done lots of "not so smart" decisions to. It's a learning process. Your studio looks great!

Keep it up brother.

[Earwitness]

Sorry you probably already posted this but what is the dimensions of this drum room and height?
thanks,
Sam

[Doublehelix]

Originally Posted by Earwitness

Sorry you probably already posted this but what is the dimensions of this drum room and height?
thanks,
Sam

Well, it is my entire live room as opposed to my drum room! Ha! I wish it was only my drum room!

Dimensions on this room are 29' X 12.5' X 7.5' with a small 5' X 10' "L" shaped alcove at the opposite end from the drums that makes the width go to 17.5'.