VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[captain54]

a link to the rough draft of my new upcoming space .. (March 2013)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ud38zjkz8vpbvhm/new%20vo%20room.jpg

Basement of a split level home.... The plan is to ulitize a corner of the room, since the remaining area of the basement is going to be ulitized as part time workspace for an artist, who stores materials in the bookshelves lining the walls.

All I have to work with is a 7' x 7' area.. very tight... it could possibly be expanded to 7' x 9' if a sliding door to a storage area is partially covered up...very low ceilings.. 7'

The biggest offender is the HVAC unit on the 1st floor and about 25' away..
very little isolation in that regard... The hum isn't too bad, but evident

three solutions as I can see
1) 3.5 x 3.5 whisper room in a 7'x 9' space, the remaining space for the 4' x 4' workstation/desk
2) removable Gobos or Max Walls to create a room within a room, with the walls facing the HVAC treated with Quiet Rock
3) isolate the lst floor HVAC area, building a sort of "fort' around the HVAC unit

any thoughts? I'm under the gun here and pretty much stumped

[Jason Huggins]

7x7 is pretty tight. You could pull the drywall, add a furring to stagger the studs, add double layer drywall on the inside, seal it up real tight with acoustic caulk, and add a 1 3/4" solid core door with full weatherstripping and heavy duty sweep. That will take about 6" out of the inner dimension. Then treatment will take more. If you did 2" panels, with an inch or two standoff then you are looking at an inner dimension of about 5'10"x5'10". I don't think the furnace will be too big of an issue. My room is 3' from my furnace in the basement and I don't hear it one tiny bit.

That's not too bad, and you could do it relatively cheap (when compared to a whisper room of similar size. You really might benefit from that extra couple feet. My space is a cozy 8x8 with a ceiling (after adding 4" panels) of only 6'6"ish. Doesn't bother me one bit. I can stand up just fine...just no jumping.

Could you use the corner on the other side of the stairs and just move the shelves? That might give you some more room, two foundation walls (better isolation) and no connection to the stairs.

One other thing to keep in mind is people walking above. It transfered really well if the ceiling and floor share joists. You will probably want to decouple that as well. A whisper room is starting to sound easier and easier

[captain54]

I've tried to figure out a way to move those bookshelves but they are solidly, literally built into the walls. The overhead walking I'm not concerned. It's directly below a rarely traversed area of the first floor..

The expense of the Whisper Room is starting to look worth it at this point. Provided I can supplant my workstation/desk within the remaining area after installation of booth

[Jason Huggins]

If you didn't have to treat the "outer room," you could probably fit a desk in there. You could always push the back out to 9' if you needed to (as you mentioned. My inner dimension is 8x8 with 8" of treatment, putting me close to 7', and I have no issue with space. I would, however, have an issue putting a booth inside that space and being comfortable.

You'll just have to tame the Whispering beast if that's the route you go. You could probably just get a larger WhisperRoom (maybe a different brand), and have your desk inside. I like not having to go in and out of a booth to record.

[captain54]

Hey Jason, thanks man, So far I see no other logical solution than Whisper room in 7x9 space. Unless I can figure out some way to isolate that space without breaking the bank. I've always been able to make a space work without a booth so this is a first for me

[captain54]

some pix to sort of help visualize my dilemna

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/054xcxtjiiowevt/R_eRqeHCt7

Had a couple of contractors take a look and across the board they felt building 'a room within a room" was doable for less than a Whisper Room...

that includes 1) relocating sliding doors for storage room passage 2) insulating over existing dry wall, ceiling with Quiet Rock 3) building out two "walls" 4) installing a door of some sort that could maintain the isolation 5) adding a subfloor 6) installing new window at street level to be sound proof friendly..

16 pieces of Quiet Rock alone comes in around $800... not doubling up on both sides and cut that cost, but still.. I'm stumped..

[Monk]

"doubling up on both sides"

I'm thinking you mean to build a wall inside the wall. What you'll want to create is a two leaf system. So the inside of the two walls are bare insulation facing each other.

It will go:
Drywall
Stud
Insulation

Insulation
Stud
Drywall.

You could use two layers of standard 5/8" drywall with a layer of GreenGlue in between. Could work out cheaper than the other material.

For the doors, I'd double them up, adding an airlock between the door and the sump pump area.

It's going to be a big booth, and you'll want your gear outside of it. Verses thinking of it as a small room. Also, anyone coming down the stairs will ruin a take. They're just too close. You could carpet the stairs to help that out some.

It's doable, you won't get a completely quiet room if someone is determined to make noise, but it will be a lot quieter.

Room dimension wise, you'll want to avoid cubes. That will set up a standing wave frequency that you'll be hard pressed to treat.
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