*Follow me for a step by step look at designing and building a DIY home recording studio — part 1

The whole story — part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10, part 11, part 12, part 13, part 14, part 15, part 16, part 17, part 18, part 19, part 20, part 21, part 22, part 23, part 24, part 25

Original load bearing wall framing in my new studio space area. I’m playing around with tape on the floor to see what different dimensions would look like — anticipating using double wall construction with a 1" gap and 2 layers of 5/8" drywall with acoustic green glue in between the layers of sheet rock. I’ll plug these dimensions into a couple mode calculators and see which dimensions will produce the least destructive acoustic modes and nodes (build up/excitement or basically a black hole sucking away certain frequencies as a result of the room shape and size). Hopefully this space has some great potential. I have all of my fingers and toes crossed very tightly! I am actually going to base the studio dimensions completely on what will create the best/most smooth mode response available for the space I have available. To help me get an idea of what the room may look like, the chair pictured is located 38% away from what at the moment I’m thinking will be the front wall (represented by the tape on the floor). This represents what is normally recognized as one of the most smooth response areas in the room to sit in in regards to modes and nodes. So it’s a good starting point. The table roughly shows where my desk would be seated at that location. It all may slide a half a foot or so depending on how big of an air gap I decide to have between the two framed walls. Right now all of my initial design ideas are relying on being able to move the load bearing wall which right now is smack in the middle of where my mix position needs to be (between the chair and table) and also the load bearing wall behind the couch.

I’m going to take you along for the ride as I design and build a recording studio space in my new basement. I’m designing the room to specifically accommodate both surround sound (5.1 and 7.1), and immersive 3D spatial audio for virtual reality and augmented reality.

Two weeks ago I moved my family into a new home and I am suddenly studio-less. The original owners of our new home decided to make one of the upstairs bedrooms a large laundry room (10' 8" x 11' 6" x 8'). This will serve as my temporary studio space until my new studio space is complete. I’ve moved a bunch of my foam treatment from my last room into the laundry room just to help deaden the room a bit and I’m actually humorously surprised at how nice the room sounds right now. After digging through several boxes and with my 5.1 surround system now back online, I’m quickly back to work on a new film that I’m already a couple weeks behind on because of the move. I have to laugh though because this may be the world’s first 5.1 surround laundry room.

Working on this new film at the same time as trying to design and build my new space…so I can work on the film…is going to be a huge challenge, but here we go!

This is a photo taken before I bought the masking tape. a few days ago I started laying studs on the floor to approximate what double walls would look like and how much space they would take up. Also, right now I’m trying to figure out how to use the decent sized alcove in the back left corner of the room. Could possibly be a cool vocal booth/isolation booth. Nice chin up/pull up bar hanging on the joists — left by the original owner.

My design goals….

As this is a ground up design, I have some specific goals for the studio that I’m really hoping will be possible.

#1 I want the room to be accurate so what I hear coming out of the speakers is really what is there. I don’t want to have to guess if my mixes are correct. I’ve spent too many years mixing in rooms where I had to guess. It adds so much time to a project and I just don’t want to have to fight that any more.

#2 I need the room to be able to accommodate Dolby ATMOS and AURO-3D for upgrade as soon as I’m ready to add a few more speakers. Just like what we are seeing pop up in theaters now, the ride film industry is now starting to incorporate spherical sound in their theaters. This means adding height channels (speakers above the mix position). I love the idea of sound coming from above me. I’m very excited to add that. I’m also wanting to specifically accommodate 3D spatial, immersive audio formats for Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality. Oddly enough, the 3D immersive formats are accomplished by mixing through specific software using headphones.

#3 I want the sound at the couch (at the back of the studio) to sound as close as possible to what I hear in the mix position. That way the director and musicians/voice talent I bring in can enjoy the sound from a comfortable seat rather than all having to pile into the mix position to hear the sound accurately.

#4 I want to have enough room in the control room that I can have musicians/voice talent record in the control room. There is something really cool about having the artists right there with me in the control room during a project. I much prefer it over stuffing someone in an isolation room. If I need to record instruments and voice simultaneously, I like the option of keeping everyone isolated. When I have that need, I’m happy to book a few hours at one of several awesome local studios. 98% of the time though, I’m able to record one person at a time. Just like so many famous recordings have been done for decades, I’m really hoping to be able to keep the artists in the control room with me. Under the right conditions it is a pretty magical experience.

#5 There is a bedroom/bathroom/walk-in closet on the main level directly above my proposed studio area. I want to isolate/sound proof the studio ceiling to the point that foot fall, TV, voice noises from above are reduced as much as possible and possibly even eliminated. More importantly though, I need to isolate the studio from the room above (and the rest of the basement) so I can be working late into the night and wee hours of the morning as needed without worry about keeping anyone awake! Because I am creating content with frequencies below 120HZ and even as low at 30HZ, this may prove to be cost prohibitive, but it is currently one of my main goals for the space.

#6 Moving is very expensive and building a studio space is expensive, but as I’m right at the start of a new project I need to build this studio very quickly but for as little as I can! To keep costs as low as possible I will be doing everything on my own that I can but consulting professionals along the way to when I get stuck to keep things moving. It’s a tricky balance because with enough time I could research and learn what I need to, but any time spent researching takes me away from time I need to be spending on completing the project. When something critical comes along that I just don’t have the time to dive into, I will just have to bite the bullet and bring in some help to get me to the next step. I have to believe that will ultimately save me time (which is money), in the long run. I plan on working out of this space for many years to come, so I want this to be the home studio of my dreams. I want and need to do it RIGHT, but I also need to be really smart about how I approach this. There are so many details to consider which will dictate the build — most of them based on the physics of sound, and I am excited to bring you along for the ride. I will be as clear and candid as I possibly can sharing all my successes and failures along the way.

Another view of the same space. The stairs lead directly to the studio which will make it very accessible. The majority of the back and side walls are concrete foundation. This is nice for isolation but creates a few tricky considerations and steps required to prevent “flanking” which is basically sound that although blocked in one area still finds a way to leak into an area you didn’t want it to.

The whole story — part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10, part 11, part 12, part 13, part 14, part 15, part 16, part 17, part 18, part 19, part 20, part 21, part 22, part 23, part 24, part 25