Click here for Part 1 of the Recording Studio Build article.
Click here for Part 2 of the Recording Studio Build article.
Paint, Flooring, and Finishing Touches
I highly recommend Behr’s Paint+Primer. 960 sq. ft. of studio space was painted with just two coats. Talk about a time saver, and money-wise, it all evens out once you factor in additional coats of regular primer and paint.
Painting - Hallway
Painting - Tracking Room
I decided to use laminate flooring throughout the studio, except for the bathroom, which got the tile treatment. While installing the laminate flooring, we added a thin pad (specifically designed for laminate) underneath, which acts as a moisture barrier.
Laminate Flooring - Starting Point
Bathroom Tile
And if you ever decide to install laminate flooring yourself, do not follow the instructions on any packaging or online tutorials because they SUCK. The magical key to easy, pain-free, and quick installation is as follows:
1. Three people need to be involved.
2. Connect each board via short-seam, wall-to-wall.
3. With everyone spread out, gently connect the long seams to the rest of the flooring.
4. Keep going until you’re done.
Once we discovered this little trick after that first painful day of doing one board at a time, we knocked the whole studio out in a weekend.
Control Room
Hallway
Tracking Room
Inside Tracking Room - looking at closet, hall entrance
Bathroom - Tile/Fixtures
With the flooring in place, we added nice, thick molding to dress it all up.
Doors
There are a few directions you can go with doors for sound isolation. I used one door per wall for the control room, tracking room, and closet area; so basically, two doors per entrance. Each door is metal front and back, with blown insulation in the center.
Studio Doors
Weather stripping was added to the frame for a tighter seal, and door-bottom droppers were used to seal off the bottom of the doors. When the doors are open, the rubber seal is brought up. When the doors are closed, a switch hits the side of the frame, dropping the rubber seal to the ground.
Door Bottom
Acoustic Treatment
I added floor-to-ceiling bass traps (Rockwool) in each corner of the control room and tracking room to absorb low frequencies. Fiberglass wall panels (703 Owens Corning insulation 2’x4’ sheets, 2” thick) were added to the walls for high/mid frequency absorption, and 4” fiberglass panels were used for the ceiling “cloud”. Each panel and bass trap is wrapped with Guilford of Maine Fabric.
Corner Bass Traps - Stacking Rockwool
Corner Bass Traps Frame Wrapped in Guilford of Maine Fabric
Acoustic Wall Panel Frame - 703 Owens Corning Fiberglass
Ceiling Acoustic Panels 4" thick - 703 Owens Corning Fiberglass
Acoustic Panels Wrapped with Guilford of Maine Fabric
The Final Photos
Overall, I’m very happy with the sound isolation. From the outside, while drums are being played, you hear only a super faint woofing of a kick drum. This is no surprise, as low frequencies are the hardest to isolate, but this still allows me to record at anytime without having to worry about neighbors complaining.
And from the inside, with all the doors closed, it’s completely silent. Even with sirens going down the street, you don’t hear anything. Air conditioning is extremely quiet – quiet enough to record with it on without interfering with the recording quality.
And probably what I’ve been most excited about is the acoustic treatment and the sound of the rooms. My recordings have become cleaner (less mud), and I’m mixing faster than I ever have before.
Are you interested in building your own acoustic treatment? Click here to learn how to build your own Corner Bass Traps!
Now I just need more gear!
Prime Cut Studio - Control Room
Prime Cut Studio - Control Room
Prime Cut Studio - Tracking Room
Bathroom
Hallway
Most of what I learned came from reading “Home Recording Studio: Build It Like the Pros”. If you’re thinking about converting any space into a studio or even just interested in how studios are built, then I highly recommend this book. It’s one of those books that you really can’t put a price on - it’s that valuable. From wall construction to acoustic panel placement, it’s all there and then some, in an easy-to-understand writing style.
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Wow!
I love what you”ve done here
It looks amazing. _ I’m about to embark on a similar venture
I’m trying to plan ahead and work with my budget
I’m up to flooring
I want that wood look….. always have… have to have it
I’m juggling between real re-cycled wood floorboards and the ‘laminates’
You used laminates right? they look amazing
Do you think with them being synthetic that they are less ‘musical’ than a wood floorboard?
I’m actually going to have one huge carpert sqaure in the middle of my room and the wood or laminate I use will be mostly a 1 metre perimeter around the room… and featured more widely and openly around my desk (All in one room for me…. as I’m playing guitar and being engineer _ could make a control room…. but I want it open plan)
Any chance of telling me the brand or company that makes that flooring you used? I live in New Zealand but we have a lot of that type of product here _ i might be able to get the same one
Sincerely
Paspallum
Thanks! They are laminates, made by Bosch. As to them being more or less “musical” than wood, not sure, but with my acoustic treatment up and a couple of rugs, the rooms sound great.
Hope things go smooth with your studio build!
Daniel
I spent today looking at timber salvage yards
I can buy wood from old churches, halls and gymnasiams for the same price per square metere as laminates…..
But…. you really have a much biger job enginnering the floor to fit together again…as it has warped and twisted to a small degree…and as it is not a ’system’ if anything goes wrong - you might have to hire contracters to help you finish thej job ($78…$80…$90 per hour?)
I can’t find Bosch flooring in New Zealand…..(where do you live?)
I did find some Kaindl (made in Austria) and it is amazing in texture and colour
I think I’ll use that…real wood is nice….. but could be a nightmare to work with
I’m not all that worried about the acoustic propertys… I’ll be trating the walls and 60% of the studio floor will be 100% wool carpet anyway
I think a studio should look awesome like yours does….
Not just like a toilet and lunch-room in the back of a sheet metal factory
Yours looks just right (although I’m not going to copy yours- I have some ideas of my own kickin around for a few years)
to me the dark oak wood floors are part of the visual ambience
Paspallum
I used the Chunk method… fast, simple to put up, and actually very cost-effective for me, but the other’s that you’ve listed will work, too. Ethan Winer is well regarded in the acoustic treatment community.
As long as it’s 4″ or more in thickness, and the fiberglass insulation is thick enough, then you should be good to go. Personally, I like DIY methods because they’ll end up looking more professional (if you put the time into dealing with fabrics) that the foam bass traps.
Hey thanks Daniel
A few words can put someone on track and make them feel confident
I’ve bought 8 Bales of 100mm noise reduction fiberglass insulation
When I’ve finished… I’ll see if I have ANY left over - or see how much I’d need to do the Chunk method - if it is similar price to the commercially made product - I’ll make my own - if its way more expensive to make it myself… I might by the ready made product
But I agree…. your method looks beter if done right - it blends better and looks more bespoke
Paspallum
Daniel
I’ve decided to make my own bass traps following your example
One thing that is not clear in the book “Home Recording Studio: Build It Like the Pros or in your article here (and by that I mean that I don’t get it … yet)
It is the description of the fabric to cover the rockwool slab that confuses me
“Fabric that breathes - this allows frequencies to be captured more effectively. A good test is if you hold the fabric against your lips, you should be able to breathe in air without much resistance. Fabric such as Guilford of Maine is recommended.”
Does this mean that ANY fabric that breathes will be suitable?
Anything with an open weave? Muslin? T-Shirt Cotten?
Can I use anything that I can breathe through or blow through?
Paspallum
You’re correct - any fabric that breathes will be fine. I’ve heard of people using other fabric (other than Guilford of Maine), with that “breathe” test in mind.
Not completely sure, but I’m assuming something solid like that (made of sawdust) would cause more reflections than absorption. I would still use some type of thick insulation for the traps.
Daniel
Thanks so much for your help so far
I have fitted my insulation, and have enough left over for making corner bass traps
My studio is purposely built as one room, as I am the engineer, Producer, Guitarist, sometimes singer, sometimes bassplayer
But I do work with up to three other musicains at a time
Drums are either played with brushes… or mostly I use a digital kit that I made (from a standard drumkit with mesh heads) which triggers BFD2 samples
So it’s more important for me to be in the room with the other musicians than having a dedicated control room (and i don’t really need a drum booth or room - I also record with a guitar POD and re-amp or re-record my guitar tracks later through my amplifier
I record as a hobby - its not a commercial space at all
anyway
what I was going to ask are these three questions:
1. I see you have these corner bass traps in the front and back of your rooms - should I use them on the wall corners in front of my monitors and desk and also at the back of the room? (like you’ve done)
2. I’ll be putting some absorption above my listening ’sweet-spot’ on the ceiling where my chair, desk and monitors converge - I have plenty of grey acoustic foam…. should I make a baffle from that? or should I make it in the same style as your fiberglass baffles?
I think (I might be wrong) that the acoustic foam could be more effective in immediate absorption? I’d love to know your opinion
3. would you put a bass trap (the same design as your corner ones) along the front of the room horizontally (where the ceiling meets the front wall)? I know this is not a 3 dimensional corner…. but it is a where two planes meet at 90 degrees
I’d really appreciate your feedback on these issues
Paspallum
1. Corner traps - bass frequencies gather in corners, so I would definitely recommend trapping all four corners.
2. Not sure on how both compare in absorption effectiveness, but the acoustic foam should do a good job. The rest is up to how you’d like it to look. For me, I like clean lines.
3. I’ve seen it done before, but I’d say do the four corner bass traps, some other panels for the higher frequencies, live with it for a while, then if you feel like more bass trapping would be better, then build from there.
thanks Daniel
I’ll have to send you some pics when its finished
Paspallum
Daniel
one more question
The corner bass traps will be equalateral triangles (if viewed as a cross-section)
What would be the measurement of one face
Say the front face? Whats the width of your Bass traps front face?
I’m guessing around 30cm? (12 inches)?
Paspallum
Hi Daniel,
Just wanted to thank you for putting this up. It has been a great resource for me.
I am going to start building something similar in 2 weeks and just wanted to ask you about your floors. I will also be using a laminate for my flooring, so I am curious what kind of results you had with yours. Did you lay the thin pad and laminate directly on top of the existing concrete floor?
The laminate I have is 14.3 mm thick, with an attached underlay. The plan is to put down an additional underlay or thin pad underneath the laminate, but I just wanted to make sure this was going to be sufficient enough. Any input would be appreciated!
Thanks again!
My concrete floors were pretty level, so I just put down the thin pad first, then the laminate flooring. It’s been almost two years now since the build, and it’s been great!
I literally made an account to so I can post this and thank you for putting this up. Fantastic resource and the studio turned out amazing. I was wondering how you feel about using the laminant floor in the control room. I have a very similar laminant flooring in my rec room and it is a very hard room with a lot of flutter echo. Does the acoustic treatments you put up do the trick for eliminating this completely during mix down? I would rather use that laminant when I build my studio too, but was worried about the acoustics vs carpet.
Also, I have to second what you said about that book, I own it as well and it is a spectacular resource. Did you find the doorways as challenging as the book made them out to be?
Great job again!
Thanks Donnie!
I absolutely love my flooring… for me, the look was just as important as the sound. Acoustic treatment really did a great job of creating a nice sweet spot in the mixing position. Mixes translate well on other systems, although I do think it’s necessary to take time to “learn” a new room.
Doorways: Yeah, the book made that a little complicated for what I wanted to do.
Between a few friends in the door business, we were able to come up with the double-door setup with drop-down seals. Took a little bit to tweek the bottom seals just right, but works great for maximizing isolation and cheaper than what the book was suggesting.
Glad you enjoyed the studio build posts!
“Room within a Room” - we used liquid nails along the bottom framework to seal up any airspace at the bottom, then once one layer of drywall was up, caulked everything that could possibly leak air, then the second layer of drywall, same process. The tray ceiling was added during the second layer of drywall, stuffed with Rockwool, so that didn’t become a weak spot for isolation. The flooring is actually all cosmetic… like most homes, molding creates the final visual touch so everything looks clean.
Vocal booth - I original planned on having a vocal booth in the back corner of the tracking room, but having more space overall seemed like the right idea. I hear good things about the SE reflection filter, but personally, I like the sound of the room, and it sounds a little more open that way… sometimes tracking with too much isolation makes things feel a little weird, to me at least.
Thanks for the info!! It’s great to know what process yields good results with respect to sound isolation!
Vocals - I know what you mean completely. I think you made a great choice leaving out the VB given the dimensions of the room…well done.
Questions keep popping into my head and I’ll drive ya nuts I’m sure haha but lastly, how did you decide where to place your acoustic panels. Did you use any EQ readings, mirror test for primary reflections or just trial and error until you were happy with the sound of both rooms?
Nothing too scientific… I knew the tracking room needed as much as possible, but it was still important for it to look professional and pleasing to the eye. So I figured out how many panels I could fit on the walls and ceiling, and once everything was up, I started walking around the room, clapping my hands, screaming, talking, etc. just to test it all out. I’m sure mathematically it’s not perfect, but to my ears, it sounds and records great.
Which makes life in the control that much easier. For that room’s treatment, I just placed everything where I thought it’d be most effective in the mixing position. After pulling up old mixes, listening to CDs, and tracking a couple of new songs, it felt good enough to keep everything where it was at.
Nicely done. Thanks for the information.
Hey,
Nice Studio. Very well planned and structured. I am actually making one in my basement. What is the STC rating of the walls you built? Because I am very confused and not sure what to go with. I spoke to a couple of different people regarding soundproofing. Some are saying to go with studs->quiet clips-> furring/hat channel->sheet rock. Some are saying studs-> sheet rock-> green glue-> sheet rock. Some are saying to go with the same plan that you have followed. stud-> rockwool -> 1″ gap ->stud->rockwool -> 2 layers of 5×8 sheetrock. So how is yours in terms of soundproofing? Also how much are the rockwools, what is the name of the brand and where can i find them? And lastly how much were the glasses for the window? Your help will be greatly appreciated. Thank You
guitarboy008: If I remember correctly, I think the STC rating is 61-63… pretty much followed what was in this book:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1598630342?ie=UTF8&tag=theboudow-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1598630342
I’m very happy with the soundproofing. Amps and pounding drums and you can’t hear it from outside. The rockwool is actually the brand name Rockwool. I got it from a local drywall company/warehouse. The cost of the glass will vary from place to place, but I can’t remember how much they were. I think they were in the $500-1000 range.
Best of luck on the studio build!
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