Anyone done this?

[Sky Pilot]

I am in the beginning stages of studio building,
and while meeting with my builder / father inlaw,
he brought up a good idea that I am giving serious
thought into.

We have aquired a house on 5 acres east of Portland Or
and thought first of building the studio from scratch.
His new idea was to look into buying a pre-fab office building
and finish the inside. They are like modular homes in
the sense that they can be moved, but the celing height
is 9ft, and dimensions are 28'x32'.

Has anyone ever hear of this being done before, or
reasons why this isn't a good idea?

Having a large part of the construction already done
is very apealing! The whole building in great condition
"used" is right at 20k.

Any opinions welcomed,
Sky Pilot


oh yea, how the heck do you guys post jpg's to your posts?
I would like to post out layout plans for opinions too

 

[goran]

i can help only with this "post picture". so when post replay, on the left, below "Your Replay" and "Options" there is "Attach file".. just Browse for image, and after finishing text... Submit Replay

 

[knightfly]

I've heard of this being done a couple of times - you'd need to assemble the prefab with your goal in mind (extra caulk, extra layers of sheathing where possible, extra layers of inside wall board, modified entrie(s) with sound lock double doors, etc -

The thing is, you get better sound proofing with just two leaves on walls (inner and outer, the inner on Resilient Channel) than you would with putting RC on an existing inner wall and adding a couple more layers of sheet rock. (A leaf in this case would be ALL the layers of sheathing that touch each other on ONE SIDE of the framing - meaning, if you had 2 layers of sheet rock on one side of the studs, and 2 layers of sheet rock with a layer of MDF sandwiched in between them on the other, that would be just two leaves.)

Plus, if you're using metal studs you DON'T want or need RC at all - the metal studs are flexible enough to de-couple the inner leaf of the wall from the outer one.

I live Southeast of Salem (out in the boonies), and the other question that pops up is, what about flyovers? Are you under established flight patterns from PDX? If so, you'll either need to time your recordings between flights or do a LOT more mass in walls, floors and ceilings. The extreme low frequencies a jet emits are really hard to overcome without SERIOUS soundproofing techniques.

As you work at accomplishing sound PROOF, you need to keep sound CONDITIONING in mind - room ratios (height, width, length) of each room need to be chosen carefully to avoid uneven modal response, which can require lots more treatment for just a mediochre sound.

When you get ready for that part, there are spreadsheets available including a simple one I wrote about 12 years ago - there are already links here, or if you can't find them I can re-post.

Now that you have the info on posting pics, go ahead and put some up so we can all make fun of you :=) (Just kidding)

Also, John Sayers and his (former?) SAE site are a wealth of info, be sure to read everything here

http://www.saecollege.de/reference_material/index.html

The other option I've been looking at is a foam/concrete shell, made with 16"x48" form sections, poured using a concrete pump - one company claims 52 dB STC rating with a single layer of drywall inside, full earthquake rating, 33% lower heating/cooling than 2x6 stud construction, etc... Can't remember the name of the company right now, and apparently didn't save the link - I do have paperwork from them, so when I find that I'll re-post the info if you're interested. They claimed to be just slightly more expensive than contractor-built 2x6 construction, whatever that means... Steve

 

[Michael Jones]

Somebody here is doing something similar.
Dan Merril was it?
Had a pre-fab metal building erected, and finished out the inside.

Nice to have a weathered in place to start construction.

 

[longsoughtfor]

I think resident guru/wizard Harvey Gerst (see the mic forum) has a studio made up of a couple of double wide trailers.

Kevin.

 

[Sky Pilot]

Thanks guys. I appreciate the help & info a lot.
As for how close we are to the Portland airport & noise concerns, thats not a problem at all. We are actually out in Sandy Or, with an incredible view of Mt. Hood. Clients will be able to get away from the city, and even stay for a weekend session if desired. Also thanks for the help on posting pics! Hopefully attached is our plan for the layout! I'd appreciate any feed back on those too... is John Sayers in the house?

Thanks,
Sky Pilot