Building the Studio
The basement room was built many years ago. The 2x4 walls are filled with rock wool insulation with a layer of Styrofoam between the studs and drywall. At the time resilient strips were not available to place behind the drywall so I had to be creative. The cavity above the dropped ceiling was filled with fibreglass insulation. The room is an odd shape with some areas where drywall boxes in ductwork. This creates some odd sound reflections.
The dropped ceiling is about seven feet above the carpet which has an underlay sitting on cement.
At first I set up my gear on a table in the room. I used TrueRTA software and a Behringer ECM8000 microphone to do audio testing on the room. The results were dreadful. I moved my gear around the room and tested at each listening position. The best location to set up became obvious but the test results were still dreadful.
I decided that I had to “fix the room”. Some sound absorption was in order. After much research into insulation materials and bass traps I decided to purchase UltraTouch Natural Cotton insulation. This insulation is made from recycled denim (specs below). I made my own bass traps with plywood top and bottom and 2"x2" posts at each corner. Each one has 14 cubic feet of cotton (recycled denim) held in place using eye hooks and cord. Next I made a cloud to go above the desk. Insulation was wrapped around a piece of plywood and held in place with cord. The fabric was stapled on with an electric staple gun. The difference was obvious just to talk in the room. Testing showed a huge improvement but the room still had a lot of exposed parallel wall space causing problems. UltraTouch Cotton is an amazing product which is far superior to any other type of insulation that I found at absorbing low frequency sound.
When recording in a small untreated room the result sounds like it was recorded in a broom closet. I decided to add lots of absorption and kill the room reflections. The result of adding 100 square feet of pyramidal foam and 40 cubic feet of cotton is that the room sound noticeably dead. It is like recording outdoors except without the background noise and wind.
I built a 2x3 wooden frame and added a plywood top to place my gear on. I cut two holes for my home made, low tech speaker stands. I placed cement blocks on Styrofoam (to protect the carpet), placed wood blocks between them and the audio monitors on top. This provides high density, low resonance support and keeps bass from the monitors from travelling through the bench surface. Bench height of 24 inches is chosen to place the music keyboard keys at a comfortable playing height. Speaker stand height puts the tweeters at ear level. Speakers are placed so that the distance between speakers equals the distance from each speaker to my ears.
I made a couple of wood risers to lift the computer monitors and gear.
Next I obtained some predrilled heavy aluminum rails to make a 19” rack under the left side of the bench. I assembled the wood face frame using pocket holes (Kreg Jig). I added power bars and a patch bay to this rack.
I built a very quiet computer but found it still needed to get out of the studio. I built a cabinet for the computer and put it in the spare bedroom on the other side of the wall behind the computer monitors. All cables run through a hole in the wall from inside the cabinet and the hole is stuffed with cotton. The cabinet has one side missing and there is space around the computer for ventilation.
The Miracle
Many of the things that went into making the studio have been provided free, second hand, or at greatly reduced prices. Some have been delivered to my door. Each step along the way my family has seen God's provision for this project. That is more valuable to me than anything in the studio.
It will be exciting is to see what will come from this project.
UltraTouch Natural Cotton Fiber Specifications (made from recycled denim)
Bonded Logic, Inc. R-13
Insulation (Thickness 4") Type A Mounting
1/3 Octave Band Sound Absorption
Center Freq. (Hz) Coefficient
125 0.95
160 0.93
200 1.14
250 1.30
315 1.36
400 1.30
500 1.19
630 1.24
800 1.10
1000 1.08
1250 1.06
1600 1.06
2000 1.02
2500 1.00
3150 0.99
4000 1.00
5000 1.00
The basement room was built many years ago. The 2x4 walls are filled with rock wool insulation with a layer of Styrofoam between the studs and drywall. At the time resilient strips were not available to place behind the drywall so I had to be creative. The cavity above the dropped ceiling was filled with fibreglass insulation. The room is an odd shape with some areas where drywall boxes in ductwork. This creates some odd sound reflections.
The dropped ceiling is about seven feet above the carpet which has an underlay sitting on cement.
At first I set up my gear on a table in the room. I used TrueRTA software and a Behringer ECM8000 microphone to do audio testing on the room. The results were dreadful. I moved my gear around the room and tested at each listening position. The best location to set up became obvious but the test results were still dreadful.
I decided that I had to “fix the room”. Some sound absorption was in order. After much research into insulation materials and bass traps I decided to purchase UltraTouch Natural Cotton insulation. This insulation is made from recycled denim (specs below). I made my own bass traps with plywood top and bottom and 2"x2" posts at each corner. Each one has 14 cubic feet of cotton (recycled denim) held in place using eye hooks and cord. Next I made a cloud to go above the desk. Insulation was wrapped around a piece of plywood and held in place with cord. The fabric was stapled on with an electric staple gun. The difference was obvious just to talk in the room. Testing showed a huge improvement but the room still had a lot of exposed parallel wall space causing problems. UltraTouch Cotton is an amazing product which is far superior to any other type of insulation that I found at absorbing low frequency sound.
When recording in a small untreated room the result sounds like it was recorded in a broom closet. I decided to add lots of absorption and kill the room reflections. The result of adding 100 square feet of pyramidal foam and 40 cubic feet of cotton is that the room sound noticeably dead. It is like recording outdoors except without the background noise and wind.
I built a 2x3 wooden frame and added a plywood top to place my gear on. I cut two holes for my home made, low tech speaker stands. I placed cement blocks on Styrofoam (to protect the carpet), placed wood blocks between them and the audio monitors on top. This provides high density, low resonance support and keeps bass from the monitors from travelling through the bench surface. Bench height of 24 inches is chosen to place the music keyboard keys at a comfortable playing height. Speaker stand height puts the tweeters at ear level. Speakers are placed so that the distance between speakers equals the distance from each speaker to my ears.
I made a couple of wood risers to lift the computer monitors and gear.
Next I obtained some predrilled heavy aluminum rails to make a 19” rack under the left side of the bench. I assembled the wood face frame using pocket holes (Kreg Jig). I added power bars and a patch bay to this rack.
I built a very quiet computer but found it still needed to get out of the studio. I built a cabinet for the computer and put it in the spare bedroom on the other side of the wall behind the computer monitors. All cables run through a hole in the wall from inside the cabinet and the hole is stuffed with cotton. The cabinet has one side missing and there is space around the computer for ventilation.
The Miracle
Many of the things that went into making the studio have been provided free, second hand, or at greatly reduced prices. Some have been delivered to my door. Each step along the way my family has seen God's provision for this project. That is more valuable to me than anything in the studio.
It will be exciting is to see what will come from this project.
UltraTouch Natural Cotton Fiber Specifications (made from recycled denim)
Bonded Logic, Inc. R-13
Insulation (Thickness 4") Type A Mounting
1/3 Octave Band Sound Absorption
Center Freq. (Hz) Coefficient
125 0.95
160 0.93
200 1.14
250 1.30
315 1.36
400 1.30
500 1.19
630 1.24
800 1.10
1000 1.08
1250 1.06
1600 1.06
2000 1.02
2500 1.00
3150 0.99
4000 1.00
5000 1.00