My wife changed her mind

rivilee

New member
What was originally being built as a "she shed" for my wife to do her sewing in is now becoming my practice/recording space. Yay! It was her idea- we're basically swapping space so she can stay in the house with her hobby.

Don't need to worry too much about sound isolation. The neighbors have already been beat into submission by my kids banging away on the drums in the garage at all hours of the night. Not too worried about outside noise- it's a decently quiet neighborhood.

Here's where I'm at (obviously built with no regard to being a music room):
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It's 15.5 ft. x 11.5 ft. and 11.5 ft. high. It'll have a drum set, a guitar amp, a keyboard and a desk for my computer. Also gonna put in a little sleeping loft on the windowless side. The loft will be about six feet deep about five and a half feet up from the floor. The stairs (ladder) to the loft will be by the front door. Using an inverter minisplit wall mounted unit for cooling and heat. Would like to get it finished in the next two weeks.

My goal is to have a musical sounding room with a fairly even frequency response at the desk (wherever that's going to be). I know symmetry is important for a control room but the emphasis here is as a practice room. Having a good mixdown would be nice but I don't plan on placing the desk out in the middle of the room.

I'm guessing the weak links in the room with STC are the windows and especially the door. I'm definitely NOT doing room within a room. The door itself is solid core with good seal. I'm thinking I could add laminated glass to either side (where the little windows are) of the door and add a layer of laminated glass over the windows and that would give me a fairly balanced space for sound isolation. I don't really want to hang double drywall.... The floor would be the weakest link. I originally was going to have 1/2" foam over the subfloor with laminate flooring on top of that. Maybe a thin layer of concrete on the subfloor? The pier foundation is pretty solid.

So, what do you think? I'm mainly excited that I'll have isolated space for drum practice. My wife still wants me to have a sleeping loft so when one of my college kids comes home they have a spot to themselves for the weekend. I could put a sound cloud in the open area but it's wired for a ceiling fan right now. Might could do a sound cloud on either side.

I'm doing the work myself and have about $1000 left for remaining supplies. Since the picture was taken I've put insulation up and really don't have much left to buy to finish it "as is".

Thanks,
Rick
 
Pretty cool! Having your own dedicated space is a great thing! Not to mention having a porch. I can see some early evening ice tea (or beer) and guitar pickin' going down. Great place to write songs.
:thumbs up:
 
Lots of pink fluffy, then 5/8" wallboard on walls and ceiling. It should help keep a lot of the noise from getting out and bothering the neighbors. (Glad they're cooperative, but every little bit helps.)

Bass traps in the corners will be the starting point. Probably floor to ceiling. You can use the OC703 panels to straddle the corners then fill the voids with pink fluffy slightly compressed. After that, a cloud over the mix position, 1st reflection points. With that cathedral type ceiling, you might consider hanging clouds from one end to the other. 3 panels, maybe. Probably some panels behind the drums.

I've got a mini split for my little studio. It works great and is quiet.

Looks like a nice spot. Enjoy.
 
Yes! The porch will be nice. I should add that I'm connecting it with a covered walkway to the house so the porch will continue on the left side, connect to my shop and continue to the back door of the house.
 
Got the unfaced pink fluffy up. Was originally going to use pine wood picket fencing (1/2" x 6" x 6'-cut as needed) as the ceiling covering and possibly the big back wall. I've got those already. The roof has 1/2" foam underneath the metal roof. The two side walls and front wall will have 5/8" wallboard. The pine wood will be tightly spaced but I'm expecting a little shrinkage over time. I could go all 5/8" wallboard for the ceiling and use extensive clouds but I was looking forward to a rustic look.

I've got (nice) panels already made for the drums that I'm bringing from the house. One of those is a bass trap. Definitely a trap in the tall corners.

When I figure out where the mix position will go I'll hang a cloud and 1st reflection points. Just pretty clueless where putting it right now! Maybe after I get the loft in....
 
I'm a happy camper! My wife and I were talking about what I would have done differently if I had built this initially as a music room. Since it has to be a "portable shed" (hence the foundation choice) to meet building code we talked about having a separate control room. To keep things manageable I realized instead I could easily attach a separate drum room since it doesn't have to be as big as a control room. So now I get to add a drum shed!

It will be between the current music room and my shop which gives me an exterior width of 9' x 12'. Height can be up to 10'. It has to be on a shed foundation. So I'm thinking of double wall with a sand floor and a double walk thru door between the drum room and music room. Since it will be a completely different building I'm thinking I could have two small windows lined up to see in between rooms. The doors will be acoustically separate (floating) build like Rod Gervais recommends.

Since the doors will rarely be closed (mostly practice space) I'm not gonna worry about HVAC now.

This way I can work on making the music room a better control room and have space for some comfy chairs to just hang out in, etc.

I'm a happy man! Wife thinks it's a great idea!
 
Or..., just thought of this... I could put the drum room door opening onto the porch! That way I wouldn't have to agonize over getting the door openings perfect. Yes, not quite as convenient but could remote control the computer and have a really tight acoustically isolated room without huge cost. And could have bigger windows between buildings.

Hmm.
 
I'm a happy camper! My wife and I were talking about what I would have done differently if I had built this initially as a music room. Since it has to be a "portable shed" (hence the foundation choice) to meet building code we talked about having a separate control room. To keep things manageable I realized instead I could easily attach a separate drum room since it doesn't have to be as big as a control room. So now I get to add a drum shed!

It will be between the current music room and my shop which gives me an exterior width of 9' x 12'. Height can be up to 10'. It has to be on a shed foundation. So I'm thinking of double wall with a sand floor and a double walk thru door between the drum room and music room. Since it will be a completely different building I'm thinking I could have two small windows lined up to see in between rooms. The doors will be acoustically separate (floating) build like Rod Gervais recommends.

Since the doors will rarely be closed (mostly practice space) I'm not gonna worry about HVAC now.

This way I can work on making the music room a better control room and have space for some comfy chairs to just hang out in, etc.

I'm a happy man! Wife thinks it's a great idea!

Very cool. Just curious, do you live in Nashville? I have been here for about 11 years.
 
I'm about an hour south in Tullahoma. Used to live in Nashville doing the music thing. Belmont grad. Go Preds!

The thoughts on my "music complex" have been changing. I think I'm going to use the current shed solely as a control room. The drum room right next to it I realized might work better with the loft in it and have the drums underneath. Might sell my new unused mini split and put in a ducted mini split so I can pull in fresh air and have HVAC in both sheds.

Been reading my Rod Gervais book. I'm definitely not putting sand down for the drum shed- overkill and too much mold/rot possibilities.
 
call me green-eyed with jealousy. As the years go by it is becoming more and more obvious that I'll never get my own private practice place like I've fantasized about for over 40 years. You are a very lucky man to have a wife so understanding and supportive of your endeavors. Good luck.
 
Oh good! From the title I expected the worst. Usually they change their mind NOT in your favor.
This worked out good, and you're doing a great job.

Good you don't have to ditch the wife after all. :D
 
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