building a studio!

[Pyromnk3d]

Hey watsup everyone! I am thinking of building a litl studio behind my house, but the problem is , i dont know how big i should make it. I mainly rekord rap vokals, and i use a komputer and keyboards to make my beats, so i dont see why i should really need a big space, i dont rekord bands. I want to build the studio from the ground up. I was thinkin maybe a 12x 16 room with a vokal booth and a control room. My budget is 10 thousand bucks, so i am tryin to get the best possible room without spending all of it on the studio,.. i still got to buy sum gear! Should i make the walls really thick, because the train passes by my krib every 3 to 4 hours? What kind of wood is rekommended for a studio? should i put karpet on the whole floor or only in the booth? ANY suggestions are welkum...thanx...peace

[TonyB]

Originally Posted by Pyromnk3d

Hey watsup everyone! I am thinking of building a litl studio behind my house, but the problem is , i dont know how big i should make it. I mainly rekord rap vokals, and i use a komputer and keyboards to make my beats, so i dont see why i should really need a big space, i dont rekord bands. I want to build the studio from the ground up. I was thinkin maybe a 12x 16 room with a vokal booth and a control room. My budget is 10 thousand bucks, so i am tryin to get the best possible room without spending all of it on the studio,.. i still got to buy sum gear! Should i make the walls really thick, because the train passes by my krib every 3 to 4 hours? What kind of wood is rekommended for a studio? should i put karpet on the whole floor or only in the booth? ANY suggestions are welkum...thanx...peace

It may cost Ten-grand to build a soundproofed and vibration-isolated facility to keep the 5:15 train pounding from interferring with your recording (unless you worked around the train's schedule). Most of your budget may go into the facility itself (i.e., walls, interior acoustic treatments).

Typically you'd want double walls. The interior wall would not touch the exterior wall at all for optimum sound proofing. The air gap between the walls and isolation from each other (no vibrations from exterior wall causing vibrations to the interior wall....causing unwanted sound), provides some good sound proofing.

I recommend your control room be at least 10 x 12, so plan on a little bigger for two iso rooms and a live area to record....one dark and one not so dark (acoustically speaking; not light-wise).

You may need to spend about a Grand on interior acoustic treatment (unless you're a DIY'er).... especially bass traps and broadband absorbers on the walls. Carpet is the least of your worries. Treat the walls first. You don't want those nasty nodes in your rooms.

I built my own stand-alone facility and wished I would've made my control room bigger. The iso rooms come in handy even if you're not doing full bands.

[String7th]

Very true on the double walls. Think of it as a building inside of a building. What's called a free-floating structure, is usually supported on rubber pads to reduce vibrations.

If you have ten thousand dollars, why are you building in your backyard next to the train tracks? Scout around for industrial buildings, warehouses, or retail shops for renting.

Also; U-P-G-R-A-Y-E-D-D. The two D's are for a "double-dose of pimpin"

[TonyB]

Originally Posted by String7th

...a free-floating structure, ."

Thank you! I couldn't think of that term; had big brain fart!

[Pyromnk3d]

If you have ten thousand dollars, why are you building in your backyard next to the train tracks? Scout around for industrial buildings, warehouses, or retail shops for renting.


well, the thing is, i dont have a "real" job rite now, and i wouldnt want to spend my budget money to pay for rent,... the location i chose to build my studio is on land that i own, out in the kuntry, but i dont have to pay rent on anything..so u see, for me its konvinient.....ne way, where would i get pads to make a floating room... whut if i triple wall it? is there anywhere i kould see sum blueprints for small studios, just to get an idea of what i want???

[Pyromnk3d]

Thanx for yur reply TonyB!... how big did you build yur studio and how much did it run u??? ...so , how big should i make the vokal booth??? u rekomended two isolation rooms plus a live rekording room...wuts the difference??

[String7th]

my head hurts from all these k's.

Is this mainly out of curiosity, "If I had a million dollars" type of dream? Or do you have $10,000 laying around in your house somewhere?

I learned a lot about room acoustics by reading this book. It actually has a blue print of a $1.5m budget remodeling of a basement into a recording studio/media center.

[ryanoliver]

my head hurts from all these k's.

I agree, we're more than happy to help you but unless the "c" key is broken on your computer, just talk normally please. You're scaring off the intelligent people.

[TonyB]

I was under the assumption that the OP has 10K to throw at his project, whether cold hard cash or loan.

The building itself can eat up most of that without considering sound treatment, flaoting rooms, etc, unless it is mostly DIY to save labor costs.

[TonyB]

Originally Posted by Pyromnk3d

Thanx for yur reply TonyB!... how big did you build yur studio and how much did it run u??? ...so , how big should i make the vokal booth??? u rekomended two isolation rooms plus a live rekording room...wuts the difference??

Actually 3 areas would work for your needs since you're not planning on full band recordings,
You biggest enemy in small rooms and reflections that cause nodes (points where certains frequencies cancel out).
Small square rooms are not good for acoustics.
For a live room...that should be your largest space. This is where a single vocalist would lay down tracks. An isolation room (if designed right...not too small, not square, acoustically treated), is good for two simultaneous singers where you want isolated vocal tracks. The third room would be your control room. This room should not be square either. This is where you'll be monitoring your recordings while tracking and mixing.

Also don't make the ceiling too low.