Help me cost / talk me out of building a home mixing room.

[Text_Edifice]

So... life is happening and I may be a home owner sooner than I ever imagined.

Without wanting to go into details – I'm looking at buying a house with an established sizable artist studio that could be converted to a mix / overdub room.

I don't know if this is wise, I've always had a room that I work in from home and the projects I work on have always made enough money to justify this use of this space. Building something feels very different though. It won't add value to the house, and feels like it could be a rabbit hole I don't want to venture down.

Can anyone with experience hazard a very vague guess at what might be a realistic budget put soundproofing, an internal structure, wiring, ducted air and doors into an existing shell? $20k / $40k / $100k?

I know probably I'm opening up a world of hurt here and if that's the case I'd rather have a worst case scenario and decide it's a bad idea than bite off more than I can chew.

Cheers.

[gigpiglet]

totally depends on the existing space...
and what you mean by the artist room.

a friend of mine recently bought a place with a "granny flat" that i turned into a perfecty useable studio for 10k
but it was fully detached, double brick building. so all we had to do was work onthe inside and then make it sound decent.

whats your situation?
10 - 100k are both reasonable figures depending on the original building and you needs/ wants.

[Text_Edifice]

Hey Gareth,

I'll try to be specific without being too specific.

Long rectangular room with a pitched roof approx 4 and a bit meters at the apex 2 and a bit meters at the walls. Concrete floor that's been carpeted. Wooden external walls and tin roof and plasterboard internal walls and a layer of insulation in between the external and internal walls and batting (currently exposed) against the roof.

There's a couple of smaller rooms off the main room that could also be converted to isolation booths but more likely they'll be used for storage.

Let's say we could average the dimensions to approx 8mL x 2.5mW x 3 m high for the purposes of this discussion.

The building would have been built in about 1900 and has been wired for power relatively recently.

What I think I'll need to do is:

Build internal walls and insulate the cavity.

Put an internal roof in (ideally maintaining the pitch).

Put in a floor (floating bamboo?).

Add internal doors.

Wire up electricity and (probably) run some cabling between the main room and side rooms just in case.

Treat the room as required.

As I said - I'm not sure this is a good idea...

Cheers

[Thirteen]

How is the space sited relative to the bedroom windows of neighbours and to roads and flight paths?

[Text_Edifice]

No flight path, it's buffered by other buildings and space to neighbouring buildings. Reason to soundproof is more to keep external noise out rather than my noise in.

[ChrisW]

I'm no mixer, but in theory when mixing you don't need to be working at high db's. In fact I think it's a real minus, regarding hearing damage and fatigue.
I know two mixers who are working in fairly standard, lightly treated rooms. Of course if the building is attached or very near neighbours, the same song heard over and over again would be extremely annoying.
I think the priority would be eliminating sonic issues that might make true mixes hard to achieve.

[gigpiglet]

hi dave
sounds like a pretty "easy" and perfectly located room (in so far as possible issues)
the biggest concern is probably your roof/ ceiling
you should be able to achieve a pretty pro product for under 20k
especially if you chip in on the work yourself.

where are you located? id happily drop by for a beer and a look if its easy

[Text_Edifice]

Chris – completely agree, I never work at high levels (85dBspl is about as hot as it gets).

Gareth - I think it seems like a pretty good shell but I've no idea of the cost of building stuff. I'm down in Hobart so probably not easy to drop by for a beer – appreciate the offer though.

[gigpiglet]

well i am a travelling engineer - ill be in hobart this time next week
but just for sunday, have a super early flight out to get to LA on monday.
if your sunday arvo was free and our schedules could line up id be happy to

[Drumstruck]

A 1900s building? Sounds like a great project. I see a few properties selling with "artist studio" - it adds value to people like us (and artists).

No great advice here but a few cautions of issues I encountered:

Concrete floor - is a real pita - things laid directly on in can induce condensation - I had carpet tiles and got rid of them because of mould and humidity. Make sure your sarking? around the edges is well sealed - I used that aluminium sealant with sticky tar backing to seal where the floor meets the walls (folded at a right angle).

Are you near the ocean? It's devilishly hard to keep out the rumble.....

Tin roof + birds and possums make a nice little dancebeat

[Barney Loveland]

I've just built a bungalow from scratch and it was a reasonably expensive exercise. BUT practicing, mixing, tracking in my man cave and not bothering family = priceless.

I'm yet to treat it and get into that but it's got power, aircon, and rocks so far.

It always will cost more than estimated.

[Text_Edifice]

Hi Ian,

yes - concrete floor is probably not a keeper, and there needs to be a buffer between the room and the tin roof, but I think the shell is pretty cool.

Not near the ocean but it gets pretty chilly down here – heating is probably a bigger deal.

Barney - a space apart from the family will be a great thing.

[Manning]

It always will cost more than estimated.

My pink dunny came in at about 10K...

Yes, a 2.4 by 1.8 metre box came in at 10K. I spent $300 on screws.

[gigpiglet]

i have done several concrete floor studios
i have used a wonderful australian product called isoboard in everyone (including my own, and doing it again in room two currently being done)
solves pretty much every problem with concrete floor there is..

[The Tasmanian]

I'll help sort you out Dave - I'm local and a loooong history of studio builds.
And I'll talk you out of spending too much...

[Text_Edifice]

Thanks Chris - I'll chat to you later in the week.