Basement Studios

[torpedovegas]

Hi Guys,

I know this is a guitar forum but I don't really feel like asking gearslutz.  I'm moving back to Detroit from Nashville (before I get all the "why?" questions, there's too many guitar players here, I hate hot weather, I don't culturally fit into the south etc).  Anyway, the nice thing about the midwest vs. mid-TN is that basements are much more common.  However, the drawback is that basements are often combined with the utility room (hot water heater, washer/dryer etc) with no doors or barriers.

I've been looking into acoustic curtains online but they're very expensive.  I was wondering if anyone had any DIY suggestions for acoustic curtains or some sort of barrier to mitigate that problem.

 

[Sovereign_13]

What problem are you trying to address?  Ambient noise from the utility area?  Reverb?

Big, heavy comforters can help some, but there's a lot that goes into soundproofing/deadening a studio space.

 

[torpedovegas]

What problem are you trying to address?  Ambient noise from the utility area?  Reverb?

Big, heavy comforters can help some, but there's a lot that goes into soundproofing/deadening a studio space.

Ambient noise from the utility room

 

[timezon3]

FYI, I had tried acoustic curtains and found they didn't work well if you are trying to, you know, use them as curtains and separate a large room into two smaller rooms.  I guess they work better if you stick them up against a true wall.

TZ

 

[torpedovegas]

I may ultimately try building an isolation booth for recording guitars and vocals and just do my best to mitigate and work around the ambient noise for mixing.  Obviously not mix when there's a load of laundry in, haha.

 

[bagman67]

Unless  you want to abandon guitar for a career as an industrial/techno musician, of course.  You can get some good rhythmic grinding noises out of a household appliance if you work it right.

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[Cagey]

You can always buy/rent a place that has an "improved" basement. Since basements are very common here, so are treatments for them to turn them into living spaces. Some of them are quite nice and if you ignore the lack of windows, you can't tell them from regular living space other than they're typically very quiet. In many of the newer buildings, say less than 30 years old, they even have 9' foot ceilings. Being all or mostly underground, you don't have any traffic or neighbor noise to speak of. The HVAC and water heating/filtering/softening systems are generally isolated in their own room, along with laundry appliances. Since basements are usually 5 to 10 degrees cooler, the walls have to be insulated, and for both comfort and aesthetics the floors get padded/carpeted and floating ceilings are in place to hide all the infrastructure. Makes for a helluva studio, actually. Not only do you not hear the outside world, it doesn't hear you.

You may have to look around for a while to find one that really suits, so one idea might be to stash all your stuff in one of those temporary storage facilities and find a "roommate" situation to live in for a few months while you look. Might keep you from having to settle for something less than ideal like you might if you were under the gun time-wise. Services like Roommates.com in the area you're interested in are very helpful.

 

[TBurst Std]

A number of years ago, in an impromptu setting, I found that moving pads/blankets worked somewhat well.

 

[mayfly]

I've got a pretty good setup in our current house.  I've good a good sized room in the basement with double 1/2" drywall walls on the walls and ceiling, mounted on u-channel isolated from the studs.  The door is a heavy solid MDF thing with insulation strips all the way around - floor included.

it works great for recording ... but the kids can still hear me practice through the air vents!!

for the OP, in my experience nothing isolates better than walls.  If this place is yours, put up some walls around the furnace and the laundry room.  Or better yet, wall in the studio.

... and don't forget some acoustical treatment in there to tame those reflections!!

 

[rgand]

Many years ago, a friend of mine played in a band and they needed a practice studio. They walled off part of a garage with good insulation inside and paneling. Then they covered the whole inside with egg cartons. It was really effective. You can get better acoustic insulation these days than egg cartons but at that time, that was as good as the average person could do for a reasonable price. Home Depot advertises a selection of acoustic studio insulation. You'd probably do really well to wall the utils off and insulate the inside of that room with acoustic foam panels. You'd probably never hear it.