Band recording studio/rehearsal space build diary

[Naigewron]

After having been kicked out of our old recording studio because the building was going to be refurbished, and then losing our rehearsal room a few months later, we have moved into a space where we can build a brand new combined rehearsal space and recording studio. This is the story of that space :)

The whole space is about 60 square metres (about 650 square feet for you Americans), and will be split right about down the centre to create the wall between the live room and control room. We will build a floating room inside the room for maximum soundproofing, since there are people occupying the rooms adjacent to ours, and the floors above and below. It's located below ground, but there's another level below us.

So, last night we got started with tearing down the stuff that was there from previous inhabitants, including a small kitchen (well, a countertop with a fridge next to it), and we also tore down some of the walls so that we could rebuild them with proper sound insulation.

I hereby present:
How to build a studio in X easy steps.

Today's entry: March 19, 2012

Destroy a perfectly good room by tearing down a wall


Have someone pose on top of the rubbish heap like a boss


Tear down more walls and watch the rubble heap grow


Stay tuned for further updates.

[Xero Talent]

Fun project! I'm finishing my basement this summer to do the same thing, cool idea to post up a build diary.

[Naigewron]

No work got done yesterday, but today we're clearing away the rubble to make room for building materials. We hope to have the materials on friday, but it's more likely we won't have them before monday.

Watch this space for steps 6 through... well, who knows.

[Naigewron]

Today's entry: March 25, 2012

Get rid of the rubble and trash.


Next step:
Building materials will arrive on Tuesday, so it's finally time to start putting this room back together! :D

[CreeplyTuna]

This thread is gold! Will keep up checking in...

[Richards1008]

Subscribed! Looking forward to seeing progress!

[Naigewron]

Bass player just called me: We have taken delivery of 2.5 tonnes of plaster boards and a couple of hundred metres of planks to construct the frame from. This has to be carried (by us five guys) down a narrow staircase and through a winding hallway.

This is going to be an exhausting evening, but it has to be done. More pics coming as soon as I can lift my arms again.

[Richards1008]

Originally Posted by Naigewron

Bass player just called me: We have taken delivery of 2.5 tonnes of plaster boards and a couple of hundred metres of planks to construct the frame from. This has to be carried (by us five guys) down a narrow staircase and through a winding hallway.

This is going to be an exhausting evening, but it has to be done. More pics coming as soon as I can lift my arms again.

Before you go at it... Go to your local Home improvement store and pick one of these up for the sheetrock... It will make that carry session a ton easier

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004UDN8/...hvptwo=&hvqmt=

Last time I unloaded sheetrock it was 5/8" sheetrock, and we had 3 tons of it on the trailer... me an one other guy I was helping got it unloaded in about 3 hours, one sheet at a time. thank god we had those panel carrying handles.

[DrumEatDrum]

Originally Posted by Naigewron

Step 9:
Let the singer and guitar player pose this time. Notice that the state of the room has vastly improved.

Err...didn't you have a female singer? Or is this a different band? Or did her 9 months of being occupied force a change?

[DrumEatDrum]

Originally Posted by Naigewron

Bass player just called me: We have taken delivery of 2.5 tonnes of plaster boards and a couple of hundred metres of planks to construct the frame from. This has to be carried (by us five guys) down a narrow staircase and through a winding hallway.

This is going to be an exhausting evening, but it has to be done. More pics coming as soon as I can lift my arms again.

Ouch. Been there. I hate that feeling. heh.

[Naigewron]

Originally Posted by DrumEatDrum

Err...didn't you have a female singer? Or is this a different band? Or did her 9 months of being occupied force a change?

Well spotted and remembered :-)
But indeed, this with is my other band.

[Naigewron]

Today's entry: March 27, 2012

Move a crapload of plaster from street level down to our basement room. Through narrow staircases and a winding hallway. Fun.
Then start building some walls.

[Richards1008]

Originally Posted by Naigewron

Today's entry: March 28, 2012

Step 10:
Carry 2.5 tonnes of plasterboards from street level...

Step 11:
...to our basement room. Through narrow staircases and a winding hallway. Fun.
Then start building walls.

Well shoot... That looked easy as pie! I did'nt even break a sweat! What the heck are you talking about?

[LukeSnyder]

Haha, I love this thread :D Naigewron, you are a funny man, and I'm excited to see the finished results! I have long wanted to create my own studio, so this will be instructional to me.

[Naigewron]

Originally Posted by Richards1008

Well shoot... That looked easy as pie! I did'nt even break a sweat! What the heck are you talking about?

Hah, man, am I sore today!

Very glad that we are taking a break from the build process for a couple of days due to other stuff that also needs doing, that should give my aching body some time to recover :-)

[Pocket-full-of-gold]

Can't believe I've only just seen this thread Naige. What a great project.....although carting plaster board up the stairs definitely ain't my idea of a good day out.

Look forward to more pics once your battered body has had time to heal.

Originally Posted by DrumEatDrum

Err...didn't you have a female singer? Or is this a different band? Or did her 9 months of being occupied force a change?

Haha....I'm glad someone asked, because lord knows I was going to!! I take it I wasn't the only one sitting back slyly waiting for pics then? :-)

[Naigewron]

We're still a bit up in the air about the specifics of how to solve the ventilation issue. There's a central air system in the building which we will hook on to, but we're still debating where to place the fans and how to best construct a sound trap to avoid noise leaking into the air system. If anyone has any tips on this (especially what NOT to do), we'd appreciate it. At the moment, we're just researching like mad to come up with the best solution we can :-)

Here's a rough drawing of the final product. The ratio between the control room and live room is a bit off here; the control room is not going to be that big compared to the live room.

For reference, look at the picture for step 9, which is taken from the control room area. The hole in the wall on the right of the pic will be closed up, and the door on the far left is the entry to the outer hallway, which we will close later.

[Wopsey]

Just finished helping my uncle do the exact same thing in his spare bedroom last week (used sound proofing insulation and everything). Although it won't be used for a studio, I too know the feeling of hauling dozens of sheets of drywall through shitty narrow spaces, hope you don't plan on playing a show anytime soon haha.

[toothie96]

no posts in a while here, just wondered how you were getting on? I did a similar thing a few months ago, it's all worth it in the end, despite the aching muscles and constant zombie-state-of-mind ;) Looking good so far though!

[Dirtcity]

Bumping this since I am very interested in the end result! It's been a month man, let's go! haha

[Naigewron]

Yeah, we had a couple of weeks where we had to deal with various other stuff in there, and then there was an easter holiday in there somewhere too. However, we got back into it last weekend, and we'll be doing more work tonight. I'll be posting a new installment late tonight or early tomorrow. We're getting there :-)

[Naigewron]

And we're back!

Today's entry: April 26, 2012

Keep building walls. And then more walls. And then more f%#¤*$! walls.


The room is now finally... back to looking like it did when we started. WTF? OK, so all these walls are now A LOT more soundproof than they were. Once the wall at the far end of the room is filled in with plasterboards and insulation, we'll finally start constructing the floating room.

(Click to embiggen)

[keep it simple]

Wow Naige, I've been so busy myself, that I hadn't seen this thread at all! Very cool project, & a lot of work. I'm sure many here will be either wishing they were doing a similar project, or doing something along the same lines. Either way, this thread is wonderful, & a gold mine of information. I've been thinking of converting part of my garage space into a rehearsal/occasional low end recording space for some time, so I'll be watching your progress with extreme interest. I'm especially interested in the "room within a room" construction, as my garage space is just single clad timber walls at present, so such a construction would be critical to success.

Good luck with this mate!

[Dirtcity]

Originally Posted by Naigewron

Click to embiggen

I like you.



This whole project is amazing and inspiring. I really hope I'm able to do something similar in the future.

[Naigewron]

Originally Posted by Dirtcity

I like you.

Thanks, I like me too.

Originally Posted by Dirtcity

This whole project is amazing and inspiring. I really hope I'm able to do something similar in the future.

Yeah, having a rehearsal room/studio like this is essentially the dream for most bands and musicians, isn't it? There's a crapton of work involved, but I'm so looking forward to getting it all up and running!

[David Floegel]

Damn that is great!

Can you make a list of material and what you have paid in the end??
I did the same thing in my basement (which is not so big, though) and friends and me are thinking about building a studio ourselves. We would need to find a good room first, though!

Did you talk to any roomsound engineer, regarding improvement of room sound or stuff?


Great thread! Good luck with the rest!
David

[Naigewron]

Today's entry: May 2, 2012

Take the van, go out into the middle of nowhere (twice) and pick up 300 square metres (3000 square feet) of insulation that a nice old lady wanted to get rid of.


Then start stuffing your walls with the previously mentioned insulation.

[the_schelf]

sweet the build is looking killer man

[Naigewron]

Today's entry: May 7, 2012

Just a single pic today to show where we ended up on monday.

Start separating the live room and the hallway. Starting to get a very real sense of how the final live room will be now.

[Messerschmitt]

So, it`s been over a month now. Any updates?:)

[Naigewron]

Holy crap, it's been too long! After two months of having no time, we're finally back in the basement with our powertools.

Today's entry: July 10-17, 2012

Start constructing the walls between the live room and control booth and stuff it with insulation. Remember to put in a door.


There's a lot of crap in the ceiling (exposed pipes being the main issue). To avoid sound travelling through these and spreading to the rest of the building, make boxes around them and stuff it with generous amounts of insulation.

[drummerzombie]

Subscribed! Awesome build, I will definitely hit you up for some pointers when I start my build.

[aaajn]

keep up the great diary. Thank you.

[David Floegel]

Hey,

do you have problems with humidity btw?

Best
David

[Naigewron]

Well, freaking finally an update, eh?

Stuff has been happening, but I haven't been able to be there to help out and document it. The good news is that the floating room is now floating (minus a roof). The bad news is that the electricity and ventilation is still a bit of an unresolved issue.

Took a quick trip down there yesterday so here is the latest scoop:

Let someone else build the entire floating room while you're busy doing other things :D
This is what the walls look like now. Two layers of insulated walls and then the floating room inside it all: