Basement Support Beams and Acoustics

[mannvmachine]

Hi everyone, I'm in the market to move into a new house soon and I plan to build my studio in the basement. One of the most promising locations has things that i could see as potentially large acoustic issues in the design of room. The ceiling has drywall at different levels (looks like for the air ducts) and there are several skinny support columns throughout the room. I would be using this room as the "live room." the basement of the house has 1300sqft of finished space and there aren't any other photos of it so I'm not sure exactly what the rest looks like, i'm going to visit the house in the next day or two and i'll post more pictures then.





i'm picking up a ton of 4" thick aurolex foam from craigslist at a great price tonight, covering the room/support columns in this stuff gunna just magically make it like they're not even there...?

[ritelec]

Not knowing, and... or knowing about the aurolex.

What I might do is instead of 2' by 4' traps, make them the width of the vertical beams x 4'............. not having to go all around each beam but just the sides that face your mix position, and or the insides if your getting reflections off them

You're going to be setting up you mix area on the right side? In that area ceiling section, you might do the cloud, and around that hole section where it is higher, install a fluffy soffit trap.

Can you fire from the left wall side so that right ceiling is higher.....?

Again not knowing........

Good luck with the new house.
And Here.

Acoustics/Treatment Reference Guide - LOOK HERE!


-rich

[slapswan]

Originally Posted by mannvmachine

i'm picking up a ton of 4" thick aurolex foam from craigslist at a great price tonight, covering the room/support columns in this stuff gunna just magically make it like they're not even there...?

I asked a similar question some time ago, regarding support beams. What I was told then was that because the beams are relatively narrow, they are not wide enough to reflect larger bass frequencies. Therefore, the aurolex panels that you bought should be fine for the midrange and high frequency reflections that you might otherwise get there. That said, you might want to look into more broadband bass traps for the room corners.

Nice looking room, by the way!

[ritelec]

It's something how there's no specs at all on the aurolex sight.

absorbers...... so your saying all these people are creating dense absorbers of 4 to 6 inchs deap of OC or rockwool and leaving air gaps between the absorbers of 2 to 6 inches......and building saddled corner traps of 4 to 6 " deep and leaving large air gaps in the back at the corners, or filling the corners completely with fluff eg: superchunck style.... when all they had to do was go out and by some thin phome' and glue it to the walls or corners.


Wish I would have known that.............

[ritelec]

"What I was told then was that because the beams are relatively narrow, they are not wide enough to reflect larger bass frequencies".

SBIR? Or I would think, even there location if a waves is developing or has developed it would reflect???


I guess you have some time mannvmachine to move in. But you may want to hold off on the glue till you get an answer from a "pro".

[666666]

In my opinion, when looking to move into a new house / studio space, the last thing you should be worried about is acoustics. But before everyone starts flaming me....

What you should be WAY more concerned with is humidity issues, water leak issues, how you will deal with sound isolation (are the neighbors very close, etc), are there train tracks across the street, is there a transmitter tower down the block, and the list goes on and on.

Acoustics can almost always be dealt with, I've heard amazing records recorded in rooms that looked acoustically nightmarish but had good treatment... the trick is in the treatment.

If it's important to you, you may want to consult one of the studio builder guys on this forum for a comprehensive list of the important things you really need to watch out for when choosing a space. Because if you overlook something important, you will either have a very big headache, or you may not even be able to use the space at all.

Acoustics... I guess if you are getting Auralex ultra cheap, you can always use it as packing material. It can come in handy for assorted things. I keep a few sheets of it in the trunks of my cars, it's good for padding things. But for acoustics, get some real-deal bass traps made of OC 703 or the like. Done right, you can make almost any reasonable space sound good enough to make a record in. Just don't cover your entire space with Auralex or you will have an acoustical mess, regardless of how the room is configured.

[Aa63]

I'm interested in the answer to your question as I am about to embark on building a control/mix room in a very, very similar space.

[mannvmachine]

i didn't end up getting that house, still in the process of looking. i've been reading about proper acoustic treatments and once i find my spot i will definitely post pictures/diagrams and ask for help making a good plan to treat it

[ritelec]

Sorry to hear that....but things happen for a reason right?

The next house will be better.

[ritelec]

New picture mann?

The other was like finished basement, jogged ceiling,support beams.
This one looks like a basement kitchen....???

Same potential house, or is this something new your looking at (although the color may be the same)?

[mannvmachine]

i just linked the picture directly from the real estate website, i guess they changed picture indexes or something... but yeah, that's a picture from that same basement with all the skinny support beams, unfortunately someone else signed for it before i got to check it out in person :(