My budget studio build... (pics!)

[statictrash]

Hey ya'll home recording nerds. Here is the start of my studio build. This is the 3rd floor of an old historic Milwaukee building that use to function as a big shoe factory. Our whole unit is 2200 sq. ft. being used as a video/audio production studio.

Here's a shot I found from the 5th floor into the courtyard area:

The double steel doors to our unit:

This is a shot from the big room. Behind this wall is my drum room and control room. This wall will feature a huge painted green screen. I added this second layer of drywall to the outside. It goes as high as the green screen will be and as high as my studio ceiling will be. 9' 8"

Here's a shot of the room that was already there I am using as the drum room. I tore down the inside drywall to continue frame structure, seal cracks and prepare to fill with insulation. Then resilient channels and double layered sheetrock will go up.

A shot of caulk sealing and the beginning of my frame structure wrapping around the big pillar.

Beers consumed. Screws drilled.

Shot of the door opening going into the control room. I found this heavy solid core door (36"x80") in the empty wing next to ours. Saving $$$$$$ already. No door knob or hole. I'll just install a handle.

A shot of the door after framing. The wall between the drum room and live room will be a double frame with a additional door.

I'll keep updating this thread as my progress continues. The drum room will end up being roughly 300 sq. ft. when complete.

A few months back I scored 9 packages of mineral wool for 70 bucks. 2.5 inch thick 2x4' sheets. I built 16 5" thick bass traps but might end up pulling those apart to use as wall insulation since I will be building new traps in the new structure anyways. I don't think I'll find room to use these otherwise.

Down the hall in a storage room there are 3 or 4 big cube partitions I might try to sneak outta there and use for something eventually.


Is it safe to use standard R13 insulation from the local hardware store in walls/ceiling for sound insulation?

 

[Rich Smith]

Perfect

Perfect. What a GREAT setup.

Guys in the burb's get spare bedrooms, or 20x20 garages if they're lucky. Then they hafta prevent sound from getting OUT and p.o. the neighbors. Rural guys get Barns or Outbuildings and hafta wrestle with ambient noise getting IN.

You... I'm so jealous.... get a bloody Brick FACTORY!!! Good show!

As far as insulation goes, R-13 batt won't help a lot. What are you trying to do? Isolate your rooms? Prevent sound from getting OUT of the space? Getting INTO the space? The ceilings and floors may be the most difficult to deal with in your factory building unless you've already got 3"-4" of concrete. Please define your needs.

Rich Smith

 

[statictrash]

Most tracking will be done after business hours and on weekends so we won't be pissing off the A/V company below us. There is photographer above us who lives there but is fine with what we plan to do. He's not suppose to be living there anyways but I want to do my best to isolate sound from his suite.

I mainly want to keep as much drum sound in the room as possible as to not bother other people working on video and prop building in the other room.

The floors are about 5" thick wood planks. This room rests on 3 huge joists. Two which are 18" square and one which is about 8" square.

Amps will be either tracked in the live room along with the drums or in isolation cabinets I will be building depending on the band.

 

[stealth_prod]

Fellow Milwaukee native here. Good to see this coming in milwaukee. Ill have to come check it out when you guys are done. Looks good so far.

 

[Rich Smith]

Soundproofing is Difficult

Most tracking will be done after business hours and on weekends so we won't be pissing off the A/V company below us. There is photographer above us who lives there but is fine with what we plan to do. He's not suppose to be living there anyways but I want to do my best to isolate sound from his suite.

I mainly want to keep as much drum sound in the room as possible as to not bother other people working on video and prop building in the other room.

The floors are about 5" thick wood planks. This room rests on 3 huge joists. Two which are 18" square and one which is about 8" square.

Amps will be either tracked in the live room along with the drums or in isolation cabinets I will be building depending on the band.

Soundproofing is difficult. Let me give you and example:

I worked with an acoustic engineer to soundproof the design of a one-story industrial building. This was new construction. Concrete floor, concrete block walls, and metal roofing. The objective was to reduce the predicted 120 dB interior noise level to less than 55 dB, when measured 50-feet outside the building. 55dB is still very noticeable.... it just doesn't deafen most people. Seems simple enough.... Ha!

The weekest link in our building system was the sheet rock ceiling and metal roofing. We originally planned on wood-truss ceiling joists with 5/8 sheetrock on the bottom with 6" (R19) fiberglass batt insulation above it. This was inadequate to meet our 65 dB reduction goal.

We ended up with 3-layers of 5/8" sheetrock below the ceiling trusses and 6" batt insulation above it; then a 12" air gap above the insulation; then another 3-layers of sheet rock above the air gap; and another bed of 6" insulation on top of that. It worked... but just barely meet our goal.

The second problem was wall/ceiling penetrations or openings. Basically, you can't have any. It was explained like this to me: "A hole the size of a quarter in an exterior wall will increase sound tranmission by 10 dB."

Heating and air-conditioning vents are another big source of sound escape. If you have them, they will transmit sound unless you put BIG EXPENSIVE sound attenuators in the ducting system.

What I'm trying to say is that genuine Soundproofing is difficult and expensive. It usually takes a lot of dense, heavy, material like concrete or earth to achieve it. Don't expect a lot of reduction on the cheap. Focus on the most obvious elements and cut yourself some slack. Live with as much noise as you can.

In your case, don't forget your floors and ceiling. 5" thick wood planks over wood beams could act as a drum head. If it does, a few inches of concrete over the planks would probably fix the problem. I suggest you find out what your upstairs and downstairs neighbors will hear NOW. Test it before you go much further with your build. Hey... this can be fun! Have a loud Party Now!!!!

Rich Smith

 

[statictrash]

Thanks for the replies!

Well, as of now my plans are to finish up this one room to record drums with hopes of achieving enough sound proofing to at least quiet the drums some. I already have 9 packs of 2.5" thick mineral wool I got for 75 bucks. That's already 2300 sq. ft. of insulation for cheap as hell. Will that size work ok? I mean, the thickness? The room's walls measure out to something like 1000 sq. ft. roughly.

My biggest concerns are the floor and ceiling. I would like to try to do something with the floor if I can find a solution that works.

For the ceiling, I was planning on the same as the walls. 2'x4' trusses, batt insulation with (2) 1/2" layers of sheet rock on both sides. I would also like to use resilient channel strips on all walls and ceiling since it seems to reduce the db levels by a few but I am having trouble locating any around here and don't want to spend a lot of cash on them if they aren't going to be worth it enough.

 

[statictrash]

Oh yes! Milwaukee!!!!!!! I'm excited to get this done!

 

[statictrash]

Ok, so the door is in between the control room and live room. My plans are to build a two wall double leaf system for this wall and this wall only. Then I will install yet another door on the inside wall.

The question I have is about windows. To the left of the door (from the pic above) is where I want to install the window. Assuming I will need two of them (one for each wall), I need to know what kind of window/glass I need and how to install it best for max iso between the two rooms.

Is this something that I frame myself or should I get windows pre-framed?

Can some help explain the cheapest way to get this done?

thanks!

 

[dodgeaspen]

Looks like the start of a really nice set up. Good job so far. Are you planning to have any analog gear? Would be a nice addition to your studio.

 

[statictrash]

Thanks, yeah... I am excited to have it finished eventually.
I have a Yamaha 8-track tape recorder but it will mostly be digital unless I find a good deal on a good working reel to reel sometime.

I found this local listing. This guy is selling these pieces of glass. He'll sell me two of them for $50 bucks. Is this something I can work with?

http://milwaukee.craigslist.org/mat/1395017861.html

 

[pandamonk]

As far as insulation goes, R-13 batt won't help a lot. What are you trying to do? Isolate your rooms? Prevent sound from getting OUT of the space? Getting INTO the space? The ceilings and floors may be the most difficult to deal with in your factory building unless you've already got 3"-4" of concrete. Please define your needs.

Rich Smith

For isolation, R-13 batt insulation will be fine. The difference between it and rigid fiberglass, for isolation, is minimal and does not reflect the price difference. For acoustics, however, rigid fiberglass/mineral wool is very important.

 

[statictrash]

Thanks for the info. That makes a big difference knowing that i can just pick up batt R13 from the local Menards on the cheap and use that.

I really need help with my window though. This is something I need to do very soon.

 

[pandamonk]

Thanks for the info. That makes a big difference knowing that i can just pick up batt R13 from the local Menards on the cheap and use that.

I really need help with my window though. This is something I need to do very soon.

Well think of the window just like the walls. Two leaf structures are best, with as much mass as possible, as big a gap as possible and completely decoupled.

This should help. Read it all.

 

[statictrash]

How do you completely decouple two windows?

 

[pandamonk]

How do you completely decouple two windows?

Have no franking path between the windows.

 

[Weasel9992]

How do you completely decouple two windows?

Do you mean two layers of glass or two windows on the same wall?

Frank

 

[statictrash]

I posted this over at gearslutz this morning:


I realize there's a window thread right below this one but this weekend I want to install these two windows.

So, I picked up two Interpane sealed glazing units on craigslist for 25$ each. Measurements are: 46-5/8" x 20-1/2" and 1" thick. These are suppose to be high performance glass units.

These windows need to be installed from my control room to my live room. I need to frame these in (horizontally) this weekend and I need to know how to do it right.

After these are installed I will still be adding sheetrock to both rooms around them. My walls are single frame 2-leaf system except for the wall between the live and control room. This will be a double frame 2-leaf system.

If someone could explain or point me to a step-by-step process of how to do this that would be great.

Oh, and yes.... follow my build here:
http://soundsokstudiobuild.blogspot.com/

The area where I want to install the window unit is left of the door, where the ladder stands in one of the photos. I'll be moving that power box outta the way of course, then installing another frame to divide that room from control room.

 

[pandamonk]

I posted this over at gearslutz this morning:


I realize there's a window thread right below this one but this weekend I want to install these two windows.

So, I picked up two Interpane sealed glazing units on craigslist for 25$ each. Measurements are: 46-5/8" x 20-1/2" and 1" thick. These are suppose to be high performance glass units.

These windows need to be installed from my control room to my live room. I need to frame these in (horizontally) this weekend and I need to know how to do it right.

After these are installed I will still be adding sheetrock to both rooms around them. My walls are single frame 2-leaf system except for the wall between the live and control room. This will be a double frame 2-leaf system.

If someone could explain or point me to a step-by-step process of how to do this that would be great.

Oh, and yes.... follow my build here:
http://soundsokstudiobuild.blogspot.com/

The area where I want to install the window unit is left of the door, where the ladder stands in one of the photos. I'll be moving that power box outta the way of course, then installing another frame to divide that room from control room.

So that's two double glazing units. That makes a 4-leaf system which will be no more effective than 2 single plane windows installed the same way. You could probably even smash the outer layers and hear no difference (theoretically). But for the price, it shouldn't matter.

What do you mean by a "double frame 2-leaf system"? Essentially that is the correct way to build, as long as you leave the inner sides of the frames unsheeted (Sorry if you know this, just worried you'll treat it like the windows).

 

[statictrash]

Yes, I am doing the wall between the control/live room like that. I will leave the inner walls alone.

I have these two windows that were cheap. I am just wondering the best way to use them. Should I just avoid the double frame 2-leaf wall and do a single frame 2-leaf using only one window?

I will be installing resilient channels.


I just want to know the best way to install this window(s) in my current build. Hopefully by tonight so I can work on it.

thanks.

 

[Wolfram]

Budget build......my arse!

For me this is the most anticpated build I have seen on here in ages.

Can't wait to see this develop. Good luck.