John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

We have a very limited budget of $500-1,000. We are probably going to find a 2-room office location to set our studio at. What is the best way to soundproof the live room?

First, I'd shop very carefully for your new rooms - most office space is like a sieve for sound. Wall partitions don't go clear to the ceiling/roof, drop in homosote ceiling panels, thin walls, crappy doors, etc -

Second, try to save more $$ if possible - soundproofing isn't cheap, nor is it "portable" -

I'll give this some more thought, but I'm outa here flying to Phoenix in about 10 minutes - meanwhile, maybe some of the regulars have some ideas??!?

Steve

We are probably going to find a 2-room office location

Forget offices. Find some industrial complex with concrete walls. Steve is correct about office space. They partition these spaces for quick resizing so partitions and ceilings do NOT lend themselves to sound attenuation. Thats not saying it can't be done, but you would spend far more money trying to isolate rooms in these sort of spaces. Industrial business complex type spaces are usually seperated by concrete partitions, which give you a substanatial first leaf.
I can tell you this right off the bat, so you understand some things. At current market prices, I don't think you could build one complete normal room, for less than $1,000, let alone two rooms, built with standard materials for normal use. Depending on the space you end up with, add sound attenuation methods, like double walls, iso ceiling and floating floors, doors, jambs, iso glass construction, hardware etc, and you will EASILY approach $5k or more. And that doesn't include HVAC requirements. Even tieing into the existing HVAC, can be expensive.
And remember this. ANTIME you start retrofitting commercial space, you immedietly place your construction under the control of the BUILDING INSPECTION DEPARTMENT, and since it is commercial space, you are dealing with COMMERCIAL PERMITS. That means everything must be submitted in the form of PRO drawings. Sounds easy. Ha!
Let me give you an example. My boss PURCHASED a complete commercial strip center in Sacramento California. He decided to resize the spaces for each client as they needed it, and I had to design and detail these spaces according to the wishes of my boss, and needs of the client. The very first leasee, was opening a simple learning center. All he needed was 2 seperate offices, and a large space for a classroom. Sounded simple. And it was untill we applied for a permit and submitted a set of simple floor plans. We were immedietly confronted with a list of compliance requests. Remember, they will tell you NOTHING. Only require. Its up to you to meet thier code compliance DOCUMENTATION requests. This translates into time and money. For instance, a simple installation of 4 electrical outlets, and 4 fluorescent ceiling lights required an electrical schematic and load calculation, and lighting compliance schedules. This translated into $3000 for the electrical engineer alone. Actual electrical work only cost $475 Then deal with Title 24(handicap access compliance). Ha! Had to add a bathroom, and make both meet Title 24 = $10,000. Parking space marking and signage. $750.Handicap access hardware compliance=$600. Sprinkler approval and installation in specified locations. $2700. HVAC supply and return ducting relocation documentation and installation=$2500. 10 trips to BID, and my time. $3200. Actuall partition and doors, only cost less than $1500. Painting, trim, hardware, ceiling repair, another $1500.......

Ok, enough. Suffice to say, anytime you start to think COMMERCIAL, think COMPLIANCE. I would suggest you talk to your local building inspectioon department first. Find out what they require for building a simple studio in a commercial space. Then reevaluate your scenario. I think you are seriously underestimating what it takes to go into a commercial space and do any type of construction. Well, thats my .02, but its better to be armed with knowledge, than to start a project such as a studio, and THEN get a stop work order. This is NOT like remodling a bedroom. Permits are mandatory. To get a permit requires planning and documentation. Also a few reality checks.

fitZ

Beyond the commercial permitting issues noted above (which sounds like a nightmare) - figure on around $25 / sqft to soundproof and treat your live room. You can't really do this stuff on the cheap. By default everybody already takes the cheap route - only with this stuff cheap is expensive.

Just adding to the great advice given so far. Don't forget details can drive up costs significantly. It will be cheaper to use a TV monitor system instead of building a window.

The seals on one door will probably cost 100$ if you use the most build it yourself system. Doors have to be heavy; either sound rated (out of your budget) or self fabricated. Another 100$. Need double doors? That's 400$ right there and A LOT of work.

To give an idea on material costs, here is an example. Assume a 10x12x15 room. You determined that all that is needed is to add an additional layer of drywall. The area of the walls and ceiling is 720 ft^2. You need 22.5 sheets, rounded off and adding a conservative 2 sheets of cutting etc, that is 25 sheets. For simple cost purposes multiply the sheet cost by two for other materials required (paint, screws, tape, mudding compound, etc). The cost of construction materials varies wildly from area to area. Right in my area 5/8" gypsum is around 12$/sheet. So this one room would cost 600$. Nothing for doors, trim, deeper electrical boxes if required.

Don't get too frustrated. Read all the stickies and ask informed questions and we will help as much as possible.

Andre

Right in my area 5/8" gypsum is around 12$/sheet.

Unfrigginbelievable how the cost of materials has risen in one year. I paid 4.25 per sheet last year for 1/2". I just bought some more. Now its more than doubled. Gas too. And wages? Give me a break
fitZ

I am not too far from you, just over the hill in Walnut. I would most likely look for the small industrial/office storefronts that you tend to find on the fringes of big industrial parks. They are broken up into small suites but are not designed for the street visibility of commercial storefronts. Still, your budget is way too small to make a professional studio. This is particularly the case since in this sort of development you have no control over how noisy your neighbors are.

If this is just for the use of your own band for short periods of time and mostly as a practice rather than a recording space there might be a really cheap, if not entirely legitimate, way to go...rent a big personal storage unit. Cement block walls and no noisy neighbors to complain. Tell the management that you are renting the unit to store your gear (which is at least partly the truth). Even so $500 is not going to be enough to treat the space to make it sound good enough for recording.