Sound control when finnishing a basement?

There wasn't as much information available twenty years ago that's for sure. Some of this I got from a French language audio magazine which is no longer published called "Son Hi-Fi Magazine". They, in fact, published a brief review I had written of Allison:One speakers a long time ago. I liked the work Roy Allison had done on integrating the speaker as part of the room it was operating in. So very early on I was convinced of one thing: the very considerable effect (good or bad) the room has on the speakers. Some information I also got from "Audio" magazine which printed a brief series on designing and building LEDE listening rooms. Some of it came from the manufacturers of the wallboard and channels and from construction and renovation books and magazines. I may have gotten info from Stereophile or TAS, but I think the point was pretty well moot at that time since, if memory serves, the room was built by then. The ceiling height problem was solved by not installing any sub floor and by installing a foam backed carpet directly on the concrete floor. The front of the room is covered with inch thick natural cork tiles. The room did smell like an audio shop of years gone by for about ten years, you may recall the smoky smell of cork, I understand the dark brown colour is achieved by applying a flame to the material and, in fact, burning it. In the front part of the room, in a random pattern, the odd square of cork tile is found creating a double layer and acting, somewhat, as a diffuser. Another cheap trick I found is the use of foam spacers that are wavy, these are used in attics under Fiberglas bats too allow for air circulation. I covered these with white glue and affixed corduroy fabric to the whole thing. I have a couple of these on either side wall (my room is narrow at 12 feet) near the speakers and two on the ceiling a bit to the rear of and between the speakers. Another thing I found at Home Depot is carpeting that has a very corduroy-like pattern. I have squares of this placed on walls and on the floor, over the wall to wall carpet. Again, the main effect is to absorb, but I find that the texture also creates some diffusion. In the corners I used Sonotubes and gave them the same white glue and corduroy fabric treatment and stuffed them with Fiberglas. Two small Oriental rugs and one large one are hung on the walls in the front part of the room. Another Oriental carpet is on top of the wall to wall between the speakers and the couch. There is no furniture of any kind between the couch and the speakers. The equipment is now on a stand I made last year with an aquarium base made of very heavy tubular steel. The tubes have been filled with fast setting cement of the type used for fence posts. The top is Corian about fourteen inches wide and six feet long screwed to the base. This narrow base is installed along the front wall of the room. The two small windows are covered with curtains in a linen-type material. The rear wall of the room is covered with shelves holding books, knick knacks and artwork from my three kids. The one thing I never got around to doing is replacing the cheap luaun door with something more substantial that would be equipped with a foam or rubber gasket of some type to prevent the sound from going right through the gap around it. So that's it, most are twenty year old ideas and fixes for building a listening room on a limited budget. My last tweak (and believe me I am not into tweaking) is to tilt back my speakers using four hockey pucks under the front spikes. Very Canadian, no? The image height problem was solved. I hope I don't find or imagine any side-effects to this. That's about it. As you can see, I tend to substitute research and handy-work for the outlay of cash.

I would recommend something a little different. It's called a "chicago ceiling", and uses WHR blocks that suspend a ceiling that is then sheetrocked. You need the sheetrock to keep the sound in and controlled. As has been previously mentioned suspended ceilings won't do this. In fact, they stop very little transmitted sound and usually make the room sound terrible. The WHR block is a spring loaded suspension ceiling. This give virtually complete isolation to the floor above. Not only will you hear very little from the audio room, you will very little in the way of footsteps from above.

Thanks for all of the input on this issue. I like the ideas that use drywall/sheetrock but the reality of that approach is that you no longer have access to areas of the ceiling. This may be necessary in case of repairs and in some areas access on a regular basis is a must (shutoff valves for the lawn sprinkler system, gas line, and water lines). I will likely end up with some of the ceiling drywalled but a drop ceiling will have to be part of this process in some areas.

I just completed a media room and work with people who had done recording studios. I found all of the professional acoustical companies to be grossly overpriced. PBB and others are essentially in line with my application. Double drywall with offsetting seams is a must. On the walls I would consider using a 1/4 to 1/2 inch exterior sheet insulating material from celotex in between the studs and glued in place. I would blow in your insulation with a mastic so that it provides solid coverage. On the floor consider two layers of subfloor with 1/2 to 1/2 cork in between the layers glued. Or cork on concret then subfloor.
Use a fibrous commercial pad under your carpet. I would go with a drywall ceiling the acoustic tiles aren't going to do what you want. I would run furing strips perpendicular to the joists about 8" apart and glue rubber strips to the furing strips. Put two layers of the drywall on this. The rubber strips will provide separation of the ceiling from the joists and floor above. Finally before doing all of the above get elastic concrete filler in the caulking tube and caulk everwhere wood meets wood or floor.

Small removable panels are all you need to have access to shut-off valves and the like. Just build a frame around the portion of ceiling where access is required, the panel is just a piece of gypsum board cut maybe 1/8th of an inch smaller in all dimensions, you finish the edges of the small panel and the opening with J bead secured using contact cement, affix the panel with screws and that's it. If you have to reach what is underneath, run a craft knife in the gap to cut the paint, remove the screws and voilà! The idea of having to gain access to all pipes and wires underneath is, to my mind, bogus. How many times in the course of owning your home will you have to gain access to properly installed services? The wiring should be good to start with. Same thing, even more so, for the plumbing. It should do its job without problems for a decade at least. If the plumbing starts leaking, you can always cut a portion of wall board out and patch it up after. Patching is easy enough. Cut the opening neat and square near to a resilient channel or nailer, depending on what was used, make a panel of the proper size, screw the panel in, tape using fibreglass tape, apply mud to the gap and blend the patch in by thinning the layer of mud out to nothing, far enough away from the gaps that it all blends in seamlessly. Prime and paint. Paint can be bought at any time in a matching colour, since all paint and home renovation stores have computers for paint matching. The worst case scenario is you paint the whole ceiling over again. Do yourself a favour, bite the bullet at the outset, a suspended ceiling will not do the trick. To my mind, the sound generated in the listening room should stay in that room, the sounds from outside, should not be allowed to enter, as much as that is feasible. The other benefit with a real plaster board ceiling (even better with double layers) is that there is less of a mismatch between the resilience of the concrete floor and that of a massive plaster board ceiling, than between a concrete floor and a flexing suspended ceiling. Short term pain for long term gain. May look daunting, but is within reach of a dedicated do-it-yourselfer. Good day.