Man Cave/Studio ...from the ground up!!

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Bman

Power User
We're buying a house that has an unfinished room on top of the garage. The wife has given me the green light to do what I want with it. I've been googling how to sound proof it and she and her brother work for a dry wall interior build-out company so materials would be cheaper for me. I just need to plan it. Should I just go for a dual purpose Man Cave/ Jam room and not worry about sealing it sound tight? No AC up there but a portable can be had for cheap. The fluorescent has to go. That's ground hum waiting to happen. Looking for cool realistic ideas.

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-1 man points for referring to it an a man cave. Men don't have to do that. :D

WWRD. What Would Ron Do?

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Bman said:
After going this long without a room my kids aren't playing PS4 in I'll take a -1 hit point. I should hire a contractor to finish it out before the movers move us in. That's what Ron would do.
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I’ve sort of got a cave of my own now. But everyone seems to follow me in. I love them all but sometimes I’d like to have my music hole to myself without commentary and conversation.

I recommend a mildly passive aggressive lock on the door to your new cave.
 
Pinterest should give you tons of ideas. Combo music room/man cave sounds good to me. I'd just design it normally and then add acoustic panels and treatment. Have fun!
 
Truly down the road of soundproofing you need walls within walls nothing touching so to speak... .touching = transfer vibrations..
 
dpeterson said:
Truly down the road of soundproofing you need walls within walls nothing touching so to speak... .touching = transfer vibrations..
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This is what I read. I doubt I could ever 100% sound proof it, being built on top of the existing garage. I can do a lot to limit the noise. I think I could actually get it framed with aluminum inside the wall space to provide an air gap, plus the aluminum framing is cheap. But I'd also need a floor that's separated from the plywood floor that's installed.

I'll probably do what I can and feel out what the neighbors can tolerate. I've got an AX8, so I don't need to crank it to get the tone and my buddy has a Roland elec kit.
 
True soundproofing probably isn't financially viable IMO (unless you just have gobs of cash that you need to sweep out from underneath the seats in your car, etc.) And the wife will still look at that number and...gasp. Double walls etc is a huge deal.

Look at some of the sites out there that will show ideas for sound muffling. I've researched it a few times, and there are alot of DIY things that will reduce costs. I don't need to bother with this anymore since the deeevorce...my whole house is a man-cave! Do a test of just how much sound is translated to the exterior so you're taking into account neighbors. In my basement I cranked music through my CLR's and went outside AT NIGHT when it was quietest to see how noisy it was. It was not too bad (I've got an old brick house that's thick as a...well, brick.) Just from the looks of that room, it's gonna be pretty loud outside there. But you'll at least have an indication of how far you have to go.

Also be clear about what you want to do here. Band practice space? Studio? Some combination of the 2? If it's a studio, it might be enough to build a few soundproof-ish 'spaces' that will work.

Oh, and don't forget to budget the Fridge, the wet bar, the pantry for snacks, and the 70' 4K Television.
 
I would love to help you spend your money. IMHO, you only need to treat your mixing area and an area for recording live acoustic instruments/vocals.
 
grandinq said:
Well, Ron Swanson would do it himself, not hire a contractor.
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Was prepared to say this myself, but didn't want to appear to be publicly relentlessly castigating the man.

@Bman I hope this one is safely out of the flood zone.


Bman said:
The fluorescent has to go. That's ground hum waiting to happen.
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LED light replacements for these things are fantastic. I have one lighting my garage. They've come down quite a bit in price too, I see.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Utilitech-Pro-Strip-Shop-Light-Common-4-ft-Actual-6-5-in-x-48-in/999911231
 
Fantastic blank canvas!
That room is in a bad spot for sound proofing, but you can substantially reduce the volume by:
Installing a floating floor
Installing thick insulation in the walls, before covering them with plaster - extra points if it's again covered with something like further panelling, or acoustic foam etc.
Treating the ceiling as well - many forget this step but it's important
Covering and sealing all windows
Sealing the entire room - any cracks or openings will allow a scary amount of sound out.
From here you have an uncomfortably sealed room with no oxygen and no personality, but it'll certainly deaden a good amount of sound.
Next, make it fit for humans - ventilation is a hard case, you want to let air in and out, but not sound. In my room, I built two boxes about 3 or 4 feet high, that contained a labyrinth made of timber directing the air to zigzag one way, then another, from the bottom to the top of the box. With openings at the top and bottom, these were then installed in the ceiling cavity, with the bottom openings poking through the ceiling, on opposite sides of the room, and the top openings ducted away from the neighbours. Next, I installed a centrifical fan which draws air from another room in the house ( thereby bringing in the heat and oxygen from the house) via a couple of filters, and ducted it to push air though one of the boxes. It then exhausts out the other box, giving me clean quiet air flow.
I'd also recommend separate power to this room from the rest of the house. Impossible totally of course, but an improvement in interactions with other electrical a in the house can be had by running separate power cables back to the fuse box for this room.
The final touch in making it fit for humans is to make it an enjoyable place to be ... Lighting that can be dimmed without inducing dimmer noise in the electrics, colours, posters, motorcycles... All the good stuff. Funky leather couches, huge studio monitors and enough equipment to make you wonder how the hell can you ever get bored.

Great project. Please keep us posted.
Thanks
Pauly




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hdcs said:
I’ve sort of got a cave of my own now. But everyone seems to follow me in. I love them all but sometimes I’d like to have my music hole to myself without commentary and conversation.

I recommend a mildly passive aggressive lock on the door to your new cave.
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You're not playing loud enough! \m/
 
Spray foam insulation - not perfect but good for soundproofing, seals really well and saves energy. You will have to heat and cool if you keep instruments in there which means you should spray insulation underneath also. Carpet and foam padding will also absorb sound and insulate. If you can find a local saw mill panel it with rough lumber. It's cheap looks good and has good acoustical properties. Only issue is if it isn't dried it will shrink a great deal.
Mini-split heat pumps are easy to install and aren't too expensive. Plus they have some really crazy high efficiency ratings if you get an inverter compressor.
 
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