Help Me Build My Studio ;)

N

newatthis

New member
Well the time has come. :D My wife said, I want you to build a "Pool House" out by the swimming pool in the back yard, and if you do, you can make it your studio first,,,then when/if you get tired of the recording life (HA,,,little does she know), or move the Studio to another location, She wants it converted to a Pool House for the family to use (dressing room, bathroom, outdoor kitchen, game room yada yada yada) :D

So,,,here is what I am up against. I have a meeting this Wednesday with our Borough to apply for a variance to build such a building. The building will be 30ft long by 28ft wide and 1 story high (about 12ft to point of roof). (that should be plenty big for a Studio I would think).

I will be building it as a Studio, with a Control Room, ISO Booth, decent size tracking room (like 20X28) etc etc and I will be building it on a concrete slab w/ footers under it, of course.

I was going to build it out of all sand filled block, then frame out another room inside the interior with about a 6" or 8" gap of air between the interior walls and the exterior walls of the structure (reading this is the best way to kill sound). I do have neighbors, so I MUST make it as sound proof as possible from the outside. The neighbors are not too close (about 100ft away on each side) but at midnight I cant have them hearing the kick drum or Bass thumping. Plus my band will be rehersing here as well. I am not too worried about outside noise coming in, as my neighborhood is usually very quiet as the norm.

Before anyone tells me,,,,I have already gone to the other Studio sites (as in John Sayers Studio Site) as people on here have recommended in the past to others, but I still get a bunch of mixed answers when reading all the posts.

I am afraid that IF I build this building out of block, then modifying it later to the "pool house" will be a real bitch (cutting in doors and windows etc). :o So, my question is, can I woodframe build this building, insulate the exterior walls,,,,then build a 2nd set of interior walls (as planned to do anyway) and sheetrock & insulate them (again leaving an air space between the 2 walls. Do you think this would enough to stop the escaping noise to the outside so the neighbors wont be bothered??

I was also thinking of making sort-of seperate ISO booths for the drums and Bass if the above alone didnt work>?>?

I'd hate to stick build this thing, just to find that I would still have a ton of sound coming out of the building, and have the neighbors bitch. :mad:

Does anyone have any experience in this area that they can help me with which way to go with building this?

I would very much appreciate it.

Again, my preference to build would be stick build over block if I can get away with it. Oh yea...and I cant afford the $2000.00/ sq ft special acoustical super tiles for the whole place either. I can however line it with 703 if that would do the trick? (in other words, I can spend a little money, but not alot since its only a hobbie studio.) ;)

Thanks for reading, and your input to those who respond. ;) I hope to start building within a couple weeks.

Peace
Aj :cool:
 
You can accomplish what you want if with framing if you pay attention to the details.

Make the exterior walls 2x6 and insulate them well. Double drywall the inside.

Plan on a hallway around the perimeter on the sides where you have neighbors. This will allow you to do doors now and not change later - you'll need to get around anyway. Optimally, you'd have a hall on 3 sides - or at least a long wide storage area for extra isolation

Frame out the barrier to the inner sanctum. Build the inner room on a floating floor and double drywall with RSIC/GG on the inside - double with GG on the outside of the outside wall. Minimally, a staggered stud wall all sitting on the floated floor.

Separate ceiling joists. DD/GG

If you can swing it, since you're going to do your doors now, brick the outside on top of the Celotex, 2x6'x, insulation, double drywall.

I'd also suggest maybe rethinking the distribution of space. I know a nice size tracking space is nice to have but think about the little space that will leave for mixing.

There are other ways to attempt this but IMO this will give you about as good an isolation factor as you can get without increasing the cost by a factor of 10.

Bryan
 
Thanks Bryan,

I like the hallway idea, and also making a bigger Control room. I did have a commercial studio engineer here by the house the other day, and he said there was no need for me to make a floating floor (said it wasnt financially justified for what I am building),,,also said I didnt need a seperate foundation for the control room since this is a "project studio" and not some "world class recording studio" etc etc. Whats your thoughts?? :confused:

Also I went to your site to check out prices. When you say to "insulate the exterior walls good", and also the interior walls, is that just rolled out regular type fiberglass insulation, OR are you talking somethign like 703 all around??

Also, is it more beneficial to use 2 sheets of drywall (say 1/2" thick) as opposed to one sheet of thicker (say 3/4")

Finally, will I notice a difference in sound absorption (on the outside) if I build a 3ft hallway all around the tracking room, as opposed to just like a 6 or 8" air space between the double walls?? Would there be a big noticable difference between the two??

Sorry for all the questions, I just wanna do it right. I just ordered Rod Gery's book on How to Build a Studio like the Pros. I hope that also helps. ;)

Thanks again
Peace
Aj :cool:
 
You can indeed get decent soundproofing with stick construction. You do not have to go with 2 by 6 on the loadbearing (exterior) wall unless code requires it. Studs don't add to isolation, the size of the air gap does. And you don't have to stuff it full of the fluffy insulation. You need enough to keep the air gap from resonating. The amount you might consider putting in for thermal insulation is fine, just don't use faced insultaion as you might normally because the facing will act like a third leaf.

As for the windows, why would you want a windowless building? Build your windows like you were building a window between a control and live room. Two thick solid panes. one in each wall, the inner one slightly tilted.

Remember to carry the box-in-a-box concept to the ceiling.

Doors are a common problem area. My suggestion would be to build a vestibule and think of it as a wide spot it the air gap betweent he outer and inner leaves. That makes it easier to have two well-sealed doors that won't be an impossible juggle to open while carrying something.

Ventillation is your biggest challenge. If your neighbors are likely to hear you it will be because of your ductwork and attic ventillation, which act as big holes in your carefully constructed leaves. The double irony is that big ducts with slower moving air has less fan and wind noise but the bigger hole in your isolation. Since you can't really treat it as an isolation problem you have to treat it as an absorbtion problem. Give the air path enough twists that the sound does not have a direct path and line it with enough absorbtive material that the sound has been killed before it gets to the outside.

Oh, and since you are building new go with taller than eight foot ceilings, ideally sloped too.
 
Hi Aj,

More than 8’ ceilings yes if I may insist!! This is a major problem in home studios. Because when we are sitting at the mix position, our ears are at 4’ from the ground. This is exactly half way between the floor and the ceiling, where the worst standing wave boost and dips will occur.
Also plan a sufficient length for your CR.. enough not to be sited at the center of the length.
Mike
 
newatthis said:
Well the time has come. :D I am afraid that IF I build this building out of block, then modifying it later to the "pool house" will be a real bitch (cutting in doors and windows etc).
Click to expand...

Not a problem if you use precast 4" concrete about 7' up. Bam, your infrastructure is there to support windows, doors, AC units, whtever cut-outs you need to make in the future. Funny, this is kind of my situation but my room is much smaller and is being built onto the back of an existing structure. Anyway, when you get 10 courses up or so, you buy this precast 4" beam of concrete at Lowes or Home Depot or wherever you order your block from. You mortar it in just like block. All you need to do in the future is make a couple of cuts in the block to score it, knock out the block, and install whatever you may want in the future. Wish I had that kind of space for mine!
 
Good advice about the walls but don't forget the celing. A lot of low frequencies make their way out up there. If you don't treat the overhead areas, they will act like a big resonator and the vent ports will become tunnel reflex speakers, (your neighbors will love this... not!)
 
BIG CHANGE in plans due to the local officials and the local Building Codes. Please take a minute to read my other post I have on here titled:
Help Me - Building New Studio - Sound Isolation!!

https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=205647

it is in reference my "new" studio proposal, (and why it had to be changed) and if you can, maybe answer some of the questions I have there.

Man I hope this thing gets off the ground soon! :( I am tired of having my Studio in the basement of my Brothers house. :o

Thanks again for all your replies, and Peace
Aj :cool:
 
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