Need some advice for an unfinished basement...

[SaltyDawg]

So, I recently moved. My setup at my old house was in a fully finished basement. I am not so lucky in the new house...

My new basement (where my studio will be) is not finished. It's basically cement walls, cement floors, and the ceiling is not finished either- it's basically the underside of the (upstairs) floor. You know, with the big boards on their side... There are also all kinds of pipes and stuff too.

I don't have the 15 grand or so it would cost to get it finished at the moment, so here is what I was thinking about doing...

1: I need to hang some lights up. There is not currently adequate lighting down there. What type of lights do you guys suggest for studio use? Are certain types noisy or cause more interferance than others?

2: I can't have the cement walls, pipes, and dusty boards for a ceiling. I am thinking about covering the walls and ceiling in some sort of fabric. Like from Walmart or whatever. I would hang the ceiling fabric low enough so the pipes don't show through it. It would still be plenty high enough for me (around 7 feet). And I would put it on the walls too (probably a different color or patern though).

3: I would just get a roll of carpet and put it down for now. Not installed, but just rolled out, covering the entire floor.

4: I would need to make sure whatever lighting I get has a heat/fire resistant casing or something so the cloth on the ceiling doesn't burn.

I know this is ghetto, but I really don't have the money to do it the right way. I will have the money eventually, but it might be a year or 2. So I am just trying to make the best of it.

You guys think this will work? Do you have any suggestions that might be better? Any suggestions where I can buy fabric, carpet, and lights for cheap?

 

[MASSIVE Mastering]

Insulate the rafters - The thicker, the better. You can cover with FR cloth and staple strips to the rafters to hold the shape.

If you can, stud the interior walls, fill them with OC703 or 8# rockwool. Cover with FR cloth. Even regular insulation will be better than nothing -- But cloth by itself is only going to make the low end worse. And you're going to have some pretty severe low end issues (I can all but guarantee it).

Live floors are generally a good thing... Leave the floor alone. Or cover it with something hard (vinyl, wood, etc.) - not carpeting.

Several smaller lighting units - Floor lamps, hanging lamps (Ikea!) and the like are going to give you more control over the lighting. It'll take some "hit-or-miss" to find the right wattage, but you don't want rheostats unless you get "good ones" -- Otherwise, it's going to be too noisy.

Speaking of lighting / electrical, assuming your main panel is down there, get an electrician (or someone who's decent at electrical work) to run you a few dedicated circuits (it's cheap if you're not paying labor). One for your gear - all of it. 20A. One for your computer(s). Another for lighting.

There's a relatively *cheap* way to get the room under some sort of control.

 

[Ramouchka]

is live ceiling good?

 

[MASSIVE Mastering]

Generally, no. A diffuse ceiling can be nice depending on the application (drum rooms, orchestral recordings, etc.) but a "flat" live ceiling is usually a liability.