A lot has been happening lately, and I hope everyone is staying safe.
As I've mentioned in the past, I'm fairly active with as a musician with a local band here in Philly. We are releasing our first album very shortly. The mastering engineer is remixing our stems through a Neve console, and will create a master based on those remixes. (We did have final mixes ready, but while not bad, they were a bit overmixed). So, our first album should be ready for release pretty soon. Our mixing engineer was also kind enough to send me the stems as well, so I'm creating my own "unofficial" mix of the album.
Meanwhile, my wife and I have moved into a new house last year, so I have a good sized space set up a mixing suite/workspace, and it sounds great in here. Also, yesterday, I signed off on plan approval to build a 16x20 ft. rehearsal/multi-media room in our basement. Yes it will have a wet bar. Really looking forward to that design becoming a reality.
So, the ceiling height is pretty good as far as basements in Havertown, PA tend to go. Our joists are right at about 7 ft. 6 in. high. I'm having a direct-mount ceiling grid installed, so we'll only lose an inch or two of headroom. The grid system is CeilingLink. Ceiling tiles will be Armstrong Classic Fine-Textured tiles, due to decent NRC and CAC ratings. I originally wanted the USG Sandrift tiles, which are a little better, but too dense/heavy for the grid system. Above the ceiling will be 2 layers of insulation with an air gap between. Thermafiber Fire & Sound Guard, and Thermafiber Ultrabatt R-15. The more flexible insulation will be flush with the bottom of the joists, then air gap, then more rigid insulation right up against the floorboards.
Flooring will be luxury vinyl plank flooring, medium brown wood tones, waterproof.
Drywall will be 1/2" of the normal stuff. The 5/8" purpleboard was too expensive and too labor intensive, pushed everything over budget, same with the 1/2" version. But we'll have Thermafiber Ultrabatt R-15 installed in all walls.
Wall paint will be a cool silver with a blue accent wall.
Doors will be solid core.
The goal isn't to soundproof the room, but to attenuate the sound decently on its way out of the room so it's not too bad up on the main floor and up on the 2nd floor.
The wet bar will be an L-shape with the corner beveled to allow for more walking space between the corner and the drum kit. There will be a bar-height counter, and a lower counter on the back with a sink. Cabinetry will have pull out shelves with dividers for holding glasses and bottles. There will also be a spot for a mini-fridge on the end. Wood will be a cherry stain, and the wainscoting panels will be a box with an X in it.
Equipment/furniture, I'll get a few bar stools for the bar area, and get another Output Platform desk for the room (great desk, BTW, do recommend!) I'll move my main down there, but refurbish an older computer to still handle mixing duty here in the home studio room on the 2nd floor. Mixer/AI for the room will be a Tascam Model 24. PA system will be a pair of Yamaha DBR12's. Drum kit will possibly be an older PDP CX Series blue onyx shells. Still deciding on cymbals, but could go with Meinl Classic Customs, or Zildjian Planet Z's. I'd like to get B10 or B12 alloy, but gotta balance that with the budget, so can't get too fancy with the cymbals.
I'm toying with the idea of getting drum triggers and a Yamaha DTX502 module for doing up a hybrid kit, but I'm on the fence about it.
I'll be getting a couple LED blacklight bars to put up on either side of the steel beam that will bisect the room. I'll mount a LED wash light above the desk. 2 track lights will be installed on the right wall, either side of the steel beam, and wired to a dimmer switch. 3 pendant lights will be hung over the bar area, also on a dimmer.
I'll treating the room with offerings from GIK Acoustics. Corner triangle traps on the front of the room, then 16 242 series panels spread around the rest of the walls. 1 panel behind each speaker, 1 panel horizontal over the desk, 4 panels on each of the long walls, staggered, and 5 panels on the back wall behind the drummer. (The HVAC mini-split will also be on that back wall, but the panels will fit under it just fine.)
The intent of the room is multi-purpose. Occasionally rehearse in the room with the band, and also to do some light media production, or even hold a virtual concert while we're dealing with COVID-19 and venues aren't hosting live music yet. And for further recording work in the future, it should be a decent sounding room for tracking as well. Once the pandemic has calmed down, it will be a great space to entertain guests, and do some jam sessions with other musicians as well.
