I'm going to try and keep this Blog straight forward and to the point. We've all read those cooking recipes blogs where you're affronted with ads and links. Some sob story about the authors love for pine nuts. You end up learning more about the "families" daily scheduled bowel movements than about the meal you wanted to cook! Usually by this point I've broken down and I'm furiously eating cheerios for dinner while I dream about the slow roasted ribs I was spontaneously trying to make.
*Before we start I need to mention I am not a Professional Structural Engineer, Electrician, Carpenter, Drywaller or Painter. Seek the advice of professionals before starting any job that involves a task that you are not a professional in. Lets begin.
This space took shape over the course of about a year. We moved into the house and quickly gutted the whole basement (There was carpet, wood paneling and a drop ceiling). This then became the storage space for most of the stuff that didn't have a home in the rest of the house.
I only had a few key features that the studio HAD to have:
1. Maximum Isolation from the rest of the House/Neighbors (It's a Townhouse).
2. Vocal Booth with total isolation from the House and Control Room.
3. Room for all my existing studio equipment.
4. Isolation from the Furnace/AC. Yes, there's a furnace in the room. Plus all the duct work for the house. Step 1: Research
A metric f*** ton of research. This is by far the most important step. I'll post all my main resources at the end.
Step 2: Design Unfortunately my CAD skills where not great at the start of this build. SketchUP is infuriating and I wasn't about the purchase AutoCAD. So that means all of the plans existed mostly in my head and on random scraps of paper. I do my best to recreate some documents. The space is only 10ft x 17ft x 7.5ft. So more than enough room in the old cranial cavity for that.
Step 3: Structural Engineer
The only reason there's enough room in my head for my intended design is because nothing of substantial size has fallen on it. I'd like to keep in that way.
As we go through the pictures you'll see just how much weight is being added to the ceiling. There are very strict rules for how much weight a floor/ceiling can sustain. Consult a local professional and not just some long winded guy on the internet.
Step 4: Clearing Out
Emptying out the Space and seeing what we're dealing with. I went right down to the Studs and Joists.
Step 5: Infrastructure
I needed to add and move electrical. Add and move lighting. Insulate the HVAC Ducting. Replace the insulation on the AC Freon pipe. Run audio cables. Run Cat6 cables.
This includes the HVAC isolators at the end of every duct in and out of the Studio. Step 6: Framing
Frame the new walls, vocal booth, furnace room.
I framed the HVAC ducts and hung that framework on isolation hanger. This will be explained in the framing post. Step 7: Drywall Do you know what's worse than Drywalling? Drywalling again. Over the drywall you just finished... and you can't use any of the same seems or studs.
The Ceiling is all drywall hung on hat channels into isolation clips on the joists. The ceiling, including HVAC frame, is completely suspended and not directly coupled to the joists.
The whole control room has two layer of 5/8 firecore drywall with offset seems and GreenGlue between the layers. The Vocal Booth has 3 Layers...
Step 8: Painting
Nothing shows you just how bad a drywaller you are more than Paint.
Step 9: Trim and Doors
I custom built all of the door frames and two of the three doors in the Studio. The third is a solid Cedar Door that I cut to height. The Cedar door doesn't have the best acoustic properties but it's does look good.
I know understand why prefab doors and frames are a thing.
Step 10: Fixtures
There are not too many fixtures in the studio. All of the outlets are either sealed form the back with putty or a surface mounted box with a small hole sealed with acoustic caulking. The lighting is all powered from outlets except for two wall sconces.
Step 11: Treatment As I mentioned, the space is only 10 x17 x 7.5. I did not have a lot of room for coming up with the perfect ratio. Or building large bass traps into the walls (Actually I did have room for this in hind sight. I'm still interested in doing the math and seeing what I could have done). I really wanted maximum space in the room so I'm willing to deal with a few issues.
I'll try and make each of these their own post. Hopefully that works out as planned. That said, having plans usually just means you have something physical to throw at the wall when things don't go as planned.