This basement Studio A is something I had been planning for a few years. So, last year, we bought our first house. One of the big factors in the decision was that the basement was very open and well laid out, and the joists were a decent height for the area (roughly 7ft 6" high). The other factor was that at least one upstairs bedroom was a good size and good dimensions for being a mixing suite. So, the basement room is basically a room within a room that bisects the basement space. It leaves a decent amount of space for the laundry area, and a good size storage area on the other side of the room, where the utilities and mechanicals are located. This room is effectively Studio A, a rehearsal/tracking/multi-media space. (Studio B is the mixing suite upstairs)
I found a good contractor here in Philly, John D. Renzi with Custom Renovations PA. I sent him my designs and the details. We talked back and forth a few times last Fall, and I commit to having him draw up a plan back in February this year. Unfortunately, the shutdowns happened, and we couldn't move forward with the project until August. We got a signed proposal with a hard quote, and construction began August 14th. Project was completed by October 14th. Renzi did a wonderful job meeting my design ideas, and the room turned out fantastic. So big shout out to John and Tony. They are also recording/production enthusiasts who focus on hip hop, and John is working on finishing up his own home studio space soon. https://www.customrenovationspa.com/ I left an in-depth review for the work done on their site.
The Studio A room is a 16x20 (320 sqft.) space with the front ceiling height being 7ft. 2in. and the back ceiling being 7ft. 4in. (the front had to be lowered a tad to get under the gas and water feeder pipes). It is a good space, and enough to accommodate a 5-piece band. (I could probably squeeze up to 6 or 7 people in here, depending on type of group, but, you know, social distancing).
The big part of this room was the ceiling. My goal was to severely attenuate sound traveling into the living areas of the living room, kitchen and further up on the 2nd floor bedrooms. And the ceiling is definitely doing work. Ceiling has a double layer of Thermafiber Fire & Sound guard with Ultrabatt R-15 insulation with an air gap between, and Armstrong 954 ceiling tiles on a direct mount grid (to preserve headroom) The tiles have a .70 NRC coefficient, and a CAC rating of 35. We did have to install some 2x4 blocks to lower the ceiling a tad and get it under the pipes at the front of the room. So we lost about 2 inches of headroom, but not a huge deal. Front half of the room height is 7ft. 2in. the back half of the room is 7ft. 4in. high.
The walls are standard insulated partition (again, Thermafiber Ultrabatt R-15) So not much attenuation through the side walls, they are maybe STC 38 walls. If it becomes an issue later, I'll see about adding a layer of Homasote to the two side walls to bolster the STC rating a bit.
But yeah, it's a great looking room. Walls are a silver color with a hint of blue, front accent wall is an electric blue. Medium brown Acacia style Luxury Vinyl Plank flooring from our local Floor & Decor shop, Cherryville cabinetry on the wet bar, and black granite countertops. Pendant lights are aluminum brushed style from Bicycle Glass Co. And I found some good track lights on Build.com that have a transparent shade, and light up the room pretty well. Both lights are on dimmer switches. Note: I still need to acquire and install foot rails for the wet bar.
Decorative lights include LED strip underlighting for the bar, and a LED wash light bar mounted over the desk. I also mounted 2 black light bars to the steel beam. Doors have thresholds with gaskets, and are solid-core. It's a nice space, and not bad sounding as is, but will sound much better once the GIK Acoustic panels arrive next month. I'll have 2 corner bass traps at the front, and 16 242 series panels spread through the room.
