So we moved in to our new house just over a month ago, and I've been doing up my music room. Still lots of work to do. But this is how it started.
This was how the previous owners had it. First thing I did was remove the built in wardrobe and cupboard on the other side, and stripped all the wallpaper.
Then I pulled up the carpet and ditched that.
Then I chased out the walls for four double electric sockets and had an electrician come in and connect them all up.
Then I took all the boards up and filled the floor cavities with Rockwool RWA45, cleaning up the joists as I went and removing all of the old dodgy headless nails.
On the right side of the room (my left in the photo!) there were boards that I cut across the joist in order to get at the cavity. The other side of that the boards are supporting a cinderblock wall, so I decided to leave that part. I reinforced a few of the boards there that were cut by someone else previously.
I then screwed all of the boards back down to the joists, and the floor was MUCH more solid than it was previously. No squeaking or creaking anymore!
Then today part of my acoustic treatment arrived. Sound Reduction Systems acoustilay 15 and acoustilay MDF boards.
So basically you've got 15kg of heavy duty rubber based acoustic slabs that help to reduce impact and airborne noise. Those go on top of the wooden floorboards across the entire room.
Then the MDF boards go across the top of that.
That is as far as I got tonight. Will finish the rest of the MDF boards off tomorrow. After that, put the laminate flooring down and then move on to painting the walls. Skirting after that, at which point I can start setting up all my gear, and putting my broadband absorption panels up!
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Larger alcove will have a 4x12 cab for now, but might switch out to a 2x12. My desk and two sets of monitors in the bay window. Other side of the room I'll have a small table with keyboard-y stuff on it. That's as far as I've imagined it all being.
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I'd seen some pics as you were going along but it's clear you've put a shitload of work into that floor, am genuinely impressed! It's an inspiration to me, a man who hasn't even hung his acoustic panels 4 months after getting them out the garage.
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Monitors - Focal Alpha 65's and a pair of M-Audio BX5's which are actually surprisingly great!!
Yeah that always sits in the back of my mind, especially when tracking vocals, I bet the neighbours are getting really fucking annoys with these 8 bars of music for hours on end!
Get yer panels hung bro
Acoustilay MDF boards fully down now. The edges have been sealed. It's not as pretty as what other people do in their videos, but it does the job!!
Tomorrow, it's the damp proof membrane, 5mm underlay, then start on the laminate boards. Wanna get the whole floor finished by the end of the weekend.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
Tiring day, but made big progress. Ceiling, walls, skirting, doorframe, roughly in that order.
Then it's setting up all my gear.
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/joke.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
The acoustilay has two functions - to control for impact noise (footsteps, dropping things, etc) and it will also help with airborne noise. So I should be able to play a cab to a reasonable volume in the room without it going downstairs to the front room and to the next door neighbour. Obviously there are limitations to this because I haven't treated the walls, but it should be enough to give me some peace of mind.
I'm just aiming to have what I had in our old flat (could basically play at a good level without annoying everyone)
The RWA45 panels under the boards are the same as I've got in my tie-died monstrosities, right? 120x60x10? They'll definitely be doing something positive for guitar isolation - when I used to record my ac30/mesa amp right next to a drum kit, I could get it cranked up to whatever volume I wanted, and if I made a den by stacking the panels around and on top of the amp. with just a crack in the front for the mic & sofa cushions stuffed in the gaps, then there was *no* practical spill in either direction. You could solo the overheads and only hear the faintest of subs, and in the guitar mic there was no drum spill at all - even with the snare only about 150cm away from the mic!
Different application to be sure, but gives you an idea just how much they absorb.
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Still haven't decided the final colour, but I'm thinking a dark grey or green or something.