The DijonStock Digital Home Recording Support Forum

My wife and I recently bought a house, a 3300 sq ft ranch that has everything we need, except that most of it needs fixed or updated.

One of those things is the room that is to serve as my studio. It was finished when we moved in, but two days later had to be mitigated for mold and was stripped to raw concrete and drain-tiled.

My excellent adventure in studion building from virtually the ground up is about to begin.

The "room" (was a hallway and a room, and will have to incorporate a hallway again) is going to have some variable dimensions, for a small number of reasons. It is, as it blankly stands now, a 14' X 22' open shell with about a 7' ceiling. There is a a 6" support beam running the length with an upright just about dead-center. Obviously rebuilding a hall, wall and doorway is going to eat into the 22' length of the room, but I'm not worried about the loss of a few feet when I have such an opportunity at hand.

The floor is being poured this afternoon, 4" of reinforced crete. That is the step I've been waiting for to initiate other aspects of the build. The brain tumor, of course, distracted me from virtually all considerations of plans and options, so I'm starting to think it through now.

Floor: It's getting a new slab, and I'm pretty sure I should just epoxy the thing and have the "open, live" sound of a sealed floor. I know it won't resonate like wood, but I'll have neither the time nor money to invest in a white oak parque...I will have the ability to throw down rugs and baffles to manipulate acoustics...Any comments?

Walls: Right now the walls have been stripped to cinderblock. I have many choices here; Seal the block and set up curtain rails for moveable duvets, fir and wallboard for aesthetic consideration (can't think of any other important reason to fir), spray acoustic treatments directly to the block, or leave the damn thing unfinished...Any comments?

Ceiling: This one will be tough. The existing ceiling joices are not yet exposed, so I'm not sure what's up there, but I'm pretty sure I will be stuffing a lot of insulation in there. Sound still travels through that ceiling and I'd like to minimize that. I'm thinking of a raw 1/2" cedar T&G plank ceiling, no finish, to help absorb some transient upper mids in the room and act as a semi-absorbent low end baffle. A LOT of acoustic music will be recorded down there...Then again, I can rock and tape, tile, tin, whatever...But I like the raw cedar...Any comments?

Electronical: I want a dedicated pair of 20-amp circuits. I'm told that a single 20 will more than do. I like my idea better. There will be quad-outlets every four feet around the perimeter (on two circuits, dammit) simply for access without snakes crawling all over my nice studio floor, which there will likely be plenty anyway. This won't be no Frank-Lloyd-Wright artist's masterpiece, but I still want it nice, so I'll be looking into low-voltage trac lighting.

Iso-booth: I've been working on this one with a friend. We believe that a "folding" booth is possible, complete with floor, walls, ceiling and interior patchbay and remote bay. The studio will be big enough for a permanent structure to not encumber, but if we can make it happen, heck...Any comments?

OK then, that's what I'm about to get into...I got NO idea how long this will take, but recording in a corner of the living room may be a major motivator...



...Any comments?

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THE MUSIC IS DOWN IN HERE
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Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.

Years ago ( back in the 70's ) I used to do sound tech work for a company that provided simulataneous translation services. When working at conferences, I would set up a 'portable' sound iso-booth for the translators to use. They would listen to a live feed ( via headphones ) from the conference while sitting in the booth, translate it and speak back into a microphone....and the translation would be broadcast through the room. The sound booth was so that people in the conference wouldn't hear the translators doing their thing.

These portable iso-booths were about 8' x 8'. I would set up a metal frame, and then zip the sides, front, back and top together. There was a plexiglass window built into the front, so the translators could see out. It took about 10 minutes to set up the booth and 10 minutes to tear it down and pack it away in it's bag. The tops and side were like flexible material, covered in a heavy vinyl. Soundproofing wise, they worked great, and they zipped together in no time.

I wish I had grabbed one when I worked there, because I've never seen anything quite like them since.

Oooh, neat stuff. Wish I had the do-re-mi to do an aggressive build.

I've bookmarked the page Geno, thanks. If I do this right, then down the road there will be little to no demo involved when I can afford to upgrade...

I'm also drooling over sites like acoustic101.com and such. I just have to be frugal for now. You never know when the gub'mint's gonna want my money more than I do...

Thanks.

lucky you
i can't think of anything i'd rather be doing than assembling my studio space.
mine needs an overhaul real bad.

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"Let there be bass." - Leo Fender

Auralex makes something called "Sheetblock". Looks to be a rubberous mat-type under and overlayment for just about every surface in the room...Nuthin' Auralex makes is cheap though...I'll make a call or two, they're covetious of their pricing too...

Here are a couple pics of the room. Like I said, except for financial considerations I have carte blanche...




And from the opposite side. Kindly note that the headlights viewable on the stairs do NOT belong to the resident demon. He is, rather, Frank, one of four cats in the house and the second best dog on the propity (there are three dogs, two genetic, one with an honorable degree). For spacial perspective, Frank weighs in at 22 lbs. and is growing...

Huh. That last post was a while ago. Things have certainly changed.

A 4" concrete floor was poured.

The old sheetrock ceiling and wrap of ductwork removed.

A Daich Spreadrock coating system was applied to the slab. The floor looks like a large solid piece of granite.

Much chiseling and tuckpointing was done.

Drylok applied to the block.

An 8" staggered-stud decoupled wall has been installed to enclose and a 36" insulated steel door will be installed, unattached to the studio side (there is neither money nor desire to do the double-door system).

Old wiring pulled, new wiring roughed in. Inspected and passed yesterday. I did install two 20-amp circuits, one equipment-dedicated, the other for lighting, beer fridge and whatever.

Am now formulating a modified decoupled ceiling system. The joists will be braced, filled with rockwool, joist edges lined with 1/4" foam, 5/8" rock installed, more 1/4" foam, and finally another layer of 1/2" rock. It will be deadly heavy, but with only 6' 10" of height to work with the "formal" decoupling plan will just not work. This will have to do.

The ductwork area, being butted against the north wall, will be turned into a storage closet running the full length of the room, about 20' X 3'. Another staggered-stud decoupled wall will be installed, over-insulated and foamed, and accessed with insulated steel doors.

The Spreadrock was a biatch, as it is real stone, ground and suspended in a clear acrylic resin. It has to be troweled on in two coats. A concrete finisher I ain't, but contractors doing this kind of floor coating make upwards of $14+/sq ft, so it is lucrative...Not so good on the knees.

Lighting will be trac, one setup in each of four quadrants.

Acoustic considerations will be addressed after completion.

No pics, sorry.

Hiya Eric.

Sounds like a lot of work was done. I hope to see pics later.

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Don't judge the coffee by its cup.
The proof of the cheese is in the eating

Hi Eric,

sounds like a professional work you had done. Time to get ready ...

Can´t await to see some new pictures!

Andreas

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Blues aint nothing but the blues!

Sounds awesome so far, Eric. Might I suggest more than one door into the storage area? It's usefulness might be diminished by how narrow it is and the need to keep a walking path open the entire length. Of course, only you know what you will store in there.

Good call on the seperate electric circuits.

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My music: https://www.soundclick.com/bands3/default.cfm?bandID=1215402&content=songs

Oh, there's plenty more to do. In a perfect world I could be in there, all set up in a week or two. But alas, work I must, to afford the extravagance that my darling bride allows.

Yes JM, there will be at least two doors, perhaps three. I'd consider sliding closet doors but they don't allow for as soundtight a seal as I'd like. I'll be using most of the space for studio storage; speaker cabs, mic stands, cable locker, mic cab, etc. I have (and boy was I smart with this move) given Terrin about a third of the storage space for seasonal clothing and holiday stuff. Her tail now wags...

...And yeah, I like the dual-circuit idea too, though I'm told by the inspector and others that it is overkill...I don't think so, considering that when I yanked the old ceiling down I found the pigtailed ends of an unused 20 amp circuit--It was no work at all to reroute it. The equipment circuit is made up of 12 outlets (six two-gang boxes) in a raceway setup. NO ONE will ever whine about not having access to power.

I thought about roughing in an XLR snake system, and may still somewhere down the line, but the room will inevitably be a bedroom or den or workshop of some kind--I can't live forever...

A lot of my materials so far have come cheap--I work with construction trades and they're always throwing good stuff out...After they've charged someone else for it...

and knock off Chinese PMI microphones?

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it's funny, the older you get, the older you wanna be

The 15-degree deflection wall was framed up yesterday. All studwork is buffered with 1/4" foam. This will include ceiling joists. R-19 glass wool will be installed today or when I have the motivation to deal with fiberglas insulation. The window will be removed in the Spring, hole filled with cinderblock. If you notice anything looking out-of-square, it is because there is nothing square to reference to...It is what it is.



The 8-inch staggered-stud wall. There is a lot of lumber here and a lot of fiberglas, with more glas to go in before sheetrock. Utility room is on the other side of this wall, full of furnaces, washer-dryers, cats & dogs living together, et al...

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My music: https://www.soundclick.com/bands3/default.cfm?bandID=1215402&content=songs

Whowww ...

The Studio is making progress ...
Will be a great recording and rehersal room. You need to install a red light outside for the times you are recording. So everbody knows its the redlight district

Andreas

_________________
Blues aint nothing but the blues!

How a picture says more than many words, wow. Looks great!



Yeah everyone needs to know when you are plugged in.

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Don't judge the coffee by its cup.
The proof of the cheese is in the eating

so in studio terms 24 girls in line are called a Patchbay?

_________________
Blues aint nothing but the blues!

wow. i'd need an iPud to get to 24.

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"Let there be bass." - Leo Fender

Yeah, the scuttling of that group buy was a shame, but I guess it does happen. There's a lot of pissiness in that industry. Mics are overpriced as they are, the only real avenue for guys like me to own quality mics is to steal them or buy knock-offs.

My S-P and Meek mics have never let me down.

Today is, if I can get up the guts, insulation day. I can't think of any construction-related activity I hate more, with the exception of roofing--Those guys are crazy.

I bought a couple pairs of painter's paper spray suits. I got hoods and goggles and masks and gloves, just need more coffee...