Commercial Basement Space

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workshed
suffering 'studio suck'
Posts: 499
Joined: Sun Nov 28, 2004 2:12 am
Location: Portland, OR

Commercial Basement Space

Post by workshed » Sat May 26, 2007 8:52 pm

Hey All, I've been away from the TOMB for a few months, as I've been working on building my design/web business into more of a full service creative agency and have had little time to think about recording, which makes me sad. But I have an opportunity to make my studio a little more legit and get it working in a more professional space. So bear with me, this requires a little explanation.

To start out, we recently moved in with another multimedia company that is bigger than us and I have an opportunity to maybe take that company over. The owners of the company also own the building and would be our landlords. They have said they'd be fine with a studio as part of the business.

They have a big basement office space that was recently built out in the basement of their downtown commercial building. There is a 21'x18' room that is currently a video production studio, which has acoustic egg crate foam on all the walls, along with a concrete floor that has some sort of black coating or paint on it. The ceilings appear to be at least 9' high with hanging office acoustic tile. Heck, it even has a "recording" light outside the doors.

Anyhow, of course, since my home studio has been somewhat displaced for the last few months, I've talked the video person into letting me move my recording gear in with her (she records voiceover stuff sometimes and was using a cheap dynamic and a DJ mixer!).

They supposedly did some soundproofing for the studio space when they built out (I was told 2' of ceiling foam, whatever that means), but it doesn't isolate all sound out from upstairs if people are being too loud up there. There's a Mortgage company up above the studio space, but they seem to keep bankers hours. This is good, as I'd probably do most of my recording, whether it be personal projects or friends' bands or local clients, after hours.

So getting to the point... I am looking for any advice from others in a commercial basement space in terms of etiquette, experiences and sound treatment. I know the egg crate stuff only absorbs certain frequencies, so I imagine some corner bass traps and wall absorbers will be in order soon. I'm also thinking I will keep it a one-room studio space but would like some ideas for isolation for amps and vocals or voiceover work. There are adjacent offices I could plop amps into for iso and just run my drop snake out to the hall for access. Also, outside the business door there is a lobby area that is all tile with a metal staircase... might be a good drum room, but I am guessing it will have too much harsh reverberation.

Any thoughts or advice are welcome!

-Bret

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