Hello,

I convinced my mom into letting me finish my basement and make it into a home studio for me and my band! Construction will start some time around spring break but id like a head start on what I need.

I live in a townhouse, and making sure its nicely insulated even though it is in the basement and odds are the neighboors wont ever hear it.

Id like to get fancy and put in built in 1/4 jacks in the wall for a much cleaner look along with some XLRs for mics. Where can I go to get some stuff for that?

Just any overall help on what I should do is appreciated!

Thanks!

Phil

Phil,

A couple questions first.

1. Is the basement finished, sheet rock walls, tile ceiling, etc?

2. Or, are the walls bare concrete block, concrete floor, open ceiling?

Most of the electronic components are available at the local Radio Shack store. They have a wide assortment of plugs, connectors, utility boxes, and loads of cable. Their cable prices, however, are outrageous and you can do a lot better by shopping online for heavy-duty instrument cable in 100-foot rolls. I suggest using shielded instrument cables of 18 gauge or heavier if the cable length exceeds 15 feet. If the cable length exceeds 30 feet, I would go to 16 gauge shielded cable. Additionaly, all connections should be soldered--NOT CRIMPED. Crimped connections frequently fail, especially in a damp basement.

Good luck on setting everything up, and feel free to post any questions you may have in the future.

Gary

Thanks Gary,

The room is just studded up right now, it has sort of a foam behind it, its hard to describe, sort of like a glass fiber. The room will be sheet rocked over that, and we will sheet rock the ceiling as well.

The room will be approx 150 by 152 inches minus the thickness of the sheet rock.

Also, would be a good name to look for when shopping for the wire itself and the jacks?

Thanks,

Phil

[This message has been edited by Pennywizz6 (edited 02-27-2005).]

Phil,

Make sure you check this forum out:
http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/index.php

This is the best place to get studio construction advice, you should spend quite some time reading the information there if you want to get your studio to meet your needs.

I recently finished building my studio and got a ton of great advice from very nice people at John's forum. If you are trying to sound proof or isolate the sound from getting out of the basement, then there will be a lot more that you'll have to do construction wise to achieve this. Insulation only will not stop sound from getting out. Search for double leaf construction at John's forum.

You can read about my studio construction here:
http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2372

I would actually not recommend buying Radio Shack stuff. Here is where I bought all my connectors, wall plates and wires from. Neutrik is a great brand for connectors. This place is great!!
http://www.partsexpress.com/



[This message has been edited by harosha (edited 02-27-2005).]

Belden has always made the best cable, and I believe is the largest manufacturer in the world. As for the connectors and jacks, Radio Shack does not make them, they only distribute them. Most 1/4-inch jacks are well constructed, as are the XLR plugs, however, there is some minor difference in quality, and price is not always the determining factor.

Before the sheet rock is placed on the walls, this is the time to plan, layout and run the wiring. If the studs are 2X4s, a 1/2-inch auger bit can be used to drill the holds to run the wires through. Place the back boxes a minimum of 18 inches above the floor, which is usually specified by state electrical codes, before the sheet rock is put in place as well. Standard recepticle boxes are all that's necessary, which will provide you with professional-looking, flush-mount wall jacks that will last for years to come. Some electronic stores carry pre-mounted 1/4-inch phono and XLR plugs that have already been installed on stainless steel recepticle plates. They're a bit more expensive, but can save you lots of time and labor.

If at all possible, try to route your mic and equipment cables well away from any AC wiring. This will help reduce the possibility of 60-cycle (Hz) interference.

Good Luck,

Gary

http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2372
Very cool link thanks for the info!

[This message has been edited by beachbum (edited 02-27-2005).]

Thanks for the links also, i spent a while looking at the threads and im sure I will post a couple myself.

BTW harosha, that studio of yours... wow... thats beautiful, im much jealious. Its probably a good thing i dont have one, odds are I wouldnt ever come up from the basement.

I liked the carpeted acoustic panels. Did you use a special foam or is it just a wood frame that you carpeted. Does it really decrease flutter echos?

I added up the cost for the built in 1/4s it came to close to 80 bucks minus the wire (i think its 40 bucks for 100 feet). Thats with using http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=248-126 . Are there any cheaper than those? I couldnt find any.

Another Idea I had was to run a 1 inch in diameter pipe in the wall where i needed the wires to run in and out. That would be much cheaper but obviously wouldnt have as clean of a look.

Thanks,

Phil

An extremely helpfull site(found it today)about studios:http://studio-central.com/phpbb/index.php

Heres a quick image I drew up on CAD. Just for a better Idea on what im working with. http://www.schnickelfritzmusic.com/basementplans.jpg

Thanks!

Phil

Phil,

Thanks for your comments! I actually like to spend a lot of my time in the studio but, my 3 year old son doesn't let me.

The acoustic panels have rigid fiber glass insulation inside. The insulation is made by Owen Corning model 703. It absorbs all the high and mid frequencies and some low frequencies. The panels on corner (bass traps) are designed to absorb low frequencies. I was able to get rid of most of the flutter echo in the room with these panels. I may have to add some more on the ceiling I think. I will be taking some frequency sweep measurements in the room soon to find out what exactly I need.

The panels are wrapped in acoustic fabric, made by Guilford of Maine. This fabric is specially designed for this purpose, it is acoustically transparent so, the insulation absorbs all the sound.

Now about your wall plates. I bought blank wall plates from Home Depot for about $0.70 a piece, then bought only connectors from parts express: http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=092-124

Drill a hole through blank wall plate and install these connectors into it and you have a very cheap custom made wall plate. It will come out to be less than $2.00 per plate.

I have two 1/4" and two XLR on a double gang wall plate for around $7.00 a piece, much cheaper than $45.00 that some plates were selling for.

[This message has been edited by harosha (edited 02-28-2005).]

One more thing, I highly recommend running conduits (pvc or flexible plastic pipes) inside the walls for wiring. Doing this, you can fish wire any kind of wiring inside your studio. The cost of flexible plastic pipes is really not much.

Thanks for the very useful information harosha!

I had no clue that those panels were so specially designed! Maybe that is a little too advanced for me yet. I might pick up the foam you can find at MF.

I like you idea about the 1/4 wallplates, that looks fairly easy. For cables is http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=100-297 the correct type? Could I possibly fit 2 1/4's on one plate? I will be needing around 12, 1/4's and that many singles would most likely become too crowded.

Thanks!

Phil

Phil,

You have mail!

Gary

Yes, this cable should be fine. You may need mono connectors for it. You should be able to fit two 1/4" jacks easily on one single gang plate.

The Auralex foam at MF works fine, if you don't mind the looks

Pennywizz6,

I am about to do the same thing as you'll do, I mean turn the garage at my parents house into a home recording studio. I think we have a lot to discuss...!

The garage at my parents house has two rooms: one for a band and one small room for the production and editing. My project is basically a keyboard,guitar,vocals thing produced by myself, so that's why I'll spend most of the time in the small editing room. That room is currently finished and I'm about to equip it with production tools now.
What I'd like to achieve is basically a music laboratory, I mean production at a very low level. My main focus is surround sound. That expresses advanced mixing together with basic laws in dynamics and really trying to discover what role surround plays in music and what kind of relationship there is between a musician that expresses himself in a state of incredible lightness in digital format in a way that collides with what surrounds sound really brings. My focus with the project is also to get a basic understanding of the key elements in rich sound both overall and per instrument and then learn how to maximize productivity and making good decisions in the studio when creativity, technology and knowledge is united.

Currently I'm thinking about where in the room I should place each unit I have. I am also thinking about what soundcard I should by. I am thinking about the RME Fireface 800.

What kind of recording setup will you run?

Please respond!

Best regards,
YamahaAndy

My advise...? Don't order ANYTHING for your studio shipped via US Mail....it will NEVER make it to Minnesota.....(Ha!).


Russ

Hehe Russ, no kidding, at least I wont let USPS do it!

Gary, Thanks alot!I shot one back at ya

Andy, sounds good,man! It will be nice to have somebody in the same shoes to discuss different things for our projects.

I currently use Cool Edit Pro, as my main recording program. Im sure theres better, but I love it, and cant imagine needing anything more. I use a standard 16 channel mix by Behringer and a plain jane 16bit card from my computers input. Yeah well guess what, thats gunna HAVE to change... SOON! I plan on purchasing a E-Mu card, it has recieved great reviews from users, and it has a very nice price tag at 100 bucks.

Your project sounds pretty awesome, id suggest using some studio monitors rather than amps or a PA. I saw a real good deal on http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=home/search/detail/base_pid/600604/ They look quite nice for the price.

Thanks to all for the help, ill be sure to update you with progress.

Phil

Thanks for the link! Right now I am satisfied with my speakers. I have two subwoofers, a home cinema speaker system and 2 active Mackie HR 824 monitors and the speaker set on the Tyros. Currently I'm not planning on upgrading my speaker setup and I also have a couple of extra speakers as well to tweak with when I start recording in surround sound. But the Mackie HR 824 speakers are the best set of speakers I have.