I am building a low budget home studio and thought I would share the process with other forum members who might considering their own studio.
My previous setup consisted of a single car garage which acted as my control room. I used a 100ft 24 Channel Cable Snake to run into a detached 2 car garage with an 8'x17' ish office in the back of it. The office was my "Live Room" for recording Drums, Guitars and Bass.
My Control Room had a 4'x4' vocal booth.
Here is a diagram and photos of the old setup.
Old Control Room
Old Vocal Booth
Old Live Room
My old Control room had no accoustical treatment. My vocal booth was simple 1/2" Drywall screwed onto a Phonebooth design of 2x4's insulated with carpet I found behind a carpet warehouse.
My Live room had the same carpet nailed on to the walls to help tame some reflection, but that was the extent of my previous recording environment.
Other than the poor sound treatment, the other thing that really bothered me about the old setup was having the Control Room and the Live Room in two different locations. I was also bothered by the fact that the Control Room had a door that went strait into my house.
Its already unprofessional enough to run a "Home" Studio. And sure there are worse setups being used by others that have gear in their bedrooms and living rooms etc.
But I do want to be taken seriously about my recording.
So at least using the detached garage as one facility would appeal to me and I hope others much better since it physically has no attachment to my home.
So the only thing left in the term "home" studio is that it is physically located on my property. I am right off a main road so its not like I am deep in a residential neighborhood.
So now it will have its own driveway, entrance etc.
Here is a diagram of my new studio concept:
I will be a little more cramped in the control room, but I figured it is better to have more open space in the Live Room. So the Live Room will be constructed to record the Drums, Guitars, Bass and will most likely include a larger Vocal booth.
I lucked out when determining my materials.
I wanted to keep the entire cost under $2000.00
I got to the amount of insulation I would need and found that it was going to be expensive.
So I searched on Craigslist and hit the jackpot.
I found a guy selling 25 bundles of new Thermafiber Sound Attenuation Blankets, which essentially is 4" thick 2'x4' panels of Mineral Wool/Rockwool. Each bundle had 6 panels. The guys wanted $500 for all 25. I offered him $300. He offered back $375. I took them all for $375. When I picked them up with 2 trucks and 2 trailers, there were actually 33 bundles.
Im guessing in the end I got about $3000 worth of Sound Proofing Insulation for $375.
Heres a pic of the stack of insulation next to the garage.
It will have to sit until I begin contruction on the Live Room but it was to good a deal to pass up.
So the first place I started on new contruction was the New Control Room.
I had to tear down all the carpet I nailed on the walls and tear out the carpet squares that were on the original cement floor.
That was pretty easy.
I decided that I would love to have hardwood floors, but they were too expensive for my budget.
Carpet wasnt too desirable.
So I searched for cheap laminated floors, pergo, or whatever was an option.
The best deal I found was Maple Tundra at Ikea for $1.29 per square foot.
I picked up 12 packages to cover both the Control Room and Live Room Floors. I also bought plastic sheeting to cover the concrete and Niva Foam leveler/lining that goes on top of the plastic sheeting and completed with the flooring.
The live room will have wood sheeting on the floor and will only need the Niva Foam before laying the Maple Floor.
The total cost at Ikea for all of my Maple flooring was $490. That included the $10 installation kit you need to hammer and shim properly, 2 rolls of Niva Foam, one roll of plastic sheeting, and 12 packages of Maple Flooring.
Here are photos of the floor being layed:
Baseboards removed, plastic sheeting down with Niva Foam on top.
My Father carrying in Packs of Maple Tundra Flooring.
My older Brother starting to lay down the first few pieces and hammer them together.
All Done with baseboards back and some trim molding!
And now a comparison of before and after with most of the console in the room.
Before:
After:
I have alot of cables to hook up still but so far I am happy with the results.
To finish off the room I will be using some of the 2x4 Mineral Wool to make Bass Traps. Might also make a few purchases from Auralex. I will make sure this Control Room has proper accoustical treatment this time!
I will begin contruction of the Live room next week.
So far it took about 4 or 5 hours to lay the floor in the control room.
Total cost at this point:
$375 Insulation
$490 Flooring
$10 Trim Moulding
$3 Caulking
$139 New 10" Hitachi Compound Miter Saw (Used for moulding and will use for framing)
$1017.00
Next on my list is 2x4's.
Time to start Framing!
To Be Continued.....
My previous setup consisted of a single car garage which acted as my control room. I used a 100ft 24 Channel Cable Snake to run into a detached 2 car garage with an 8'x17' ish office in the back of it. The office was my "Live Room" for recording Drums, Guitars and Bass.
My Control Room had a 4'x4' vocal booth.
Here is a diagram and photos of the old setup.
Old Control Room
Old Vocal Booth
Old Live Room
My old Control room had no accoustical treatment. My vocal booth was simple 1/2" Drywall screwed onto a Phonebooth design of 2x4's insulated with carpet I found behind a carpet warehouse.
My Live room had the same carpet nailed on to the walls to help tame some reflection, but that was the extent of my previous recording environment.
Other than the poor sound treatment, the other thing that really bothered me about the old setup was having the Control Room and the Live Room in two different locations. I was also bothered by the fact that the Control Room had a door that went strait into my house.
Its already unprofessional enough to run a "Home" Studio. And sure there are worse setups being used by others that have gear in their bedrooms and living rooms etc.
But I do want to be taken seriously about my recording.
So at least using the detached garage as one facility would appeal to me and I hope others much better since it physically has no attachment to my home.
So the only thing left in the term "home" studio is that it is physically located on my property. I am right off a main road so its not like I am deep in a residential neighborhood.
So now it will have its own driveway, entrance etc.
Here is a diagram of my new studio concept:
I will be a little more cramped in the control room, but I figured it is better to have more open space in the Live Room. So the Live Room will be constructed to record the Drums, Guitars, Bass and will most likely include a larger Vocal booth.
I lucked out when determining my materials.
I wanted to keep the entire cost under $2000.00
I got to the amount of insulation I would need and found that it was going to be expensive.
So I searched on Craigslist and hit the jackpot.
I found a guy selling 25 bundles of new Thermafiber Sound Attenuation Blankets, which essentially is 4" thick 2'x4' panels of Mineral Wool/Rockwool. Each bundle had 6 panels. The guys wanted $500 for all 25. I offered him $300. He offered back $375. I took them all for $375. When I picked them up with 2 trucks and 2 trailers, there were actually 33 bundles.
Im guessing in the end I got about $3000 worth of Sound Proofing Insulation for $375.
Heres a pic of the stack of insulation next to the garage.
It will have to sit until I begin contruction on the Live Room but it was to good a deal to pass up.
So the first place I started on new contruction was the New Control Room.
I had to tear down all the carpet I nailed on the walls and tear out the carpet squares that were on the original cement floor.
That was pretty easy.
I decided that I would love to have hardwood floors, but they were too expensive for my budget.
Carpet wasnt too desirable.
So I searched for cheap laminated floors, pergo, or whatever was an option.
The best deal I found was Maple Tundra at Ikea for $1.29 per square foot.
I picked up 12 packages to cover both the Control Room and Live Room Floors. I also bought plastic sheeting to cover the concrete and Niva Foam leveler/lining that goes on top of the plastic sheeting and completed with the flooring.
The live room will have wood sheeting on the floor and will only need the Niva Foam before laying the Maple Floor.
The total cost at Ikea for all of my Maple flooring was $490. That included the $10 installation kit you need to hammer and shim properly, 2 rolls of Niva Foam, one roll of plastic sheeting, and 12 packages of Maple Flooring.
Here are photos of the floor being layed:
Baseboards removed, plastic sheeting down with Niva Foam on top.
My Father carrying in Packs of Maple Tundra Flooring.
My older Brother starting to lay down the first few pieces and hammer them together.
All Done with baseboards back and some trim molding!
And now a comparison of before and after with most of the console in the room.
Before:
After:
I have alot of cables to hook up still but so far I am happy with the results.
To finish off the room I will be using some of the 2x4 Mineral Wool to make Bass Traps. Might also make a few purchases from Auralex. I will make sure this Control Room has proper accoustical treatment this time!
I will begin contruction of the Live room next week.
So far it took about 4 or 5 hours to lay the floor in the control room.
Total cost at this point:
$375 Insulation
$490 Flooring
$10 Trim Moulding
$3 Caulking
$139 New 10" Hitachi Compound Miter Saw (Used for moulding and will use for framing)
$1017.00
Next on my list is 2x4's.
Time to start Framing!
To Be Continued.....
