New Studio Design - Horizon Sound

Hello all, I've been working on a design of my own, after reading this forum at length. Now i've been given (wife) approval to go ahead and build it, as there will be an addition to our family in six months :lol: , and i have to get my gear "outside the house" - a common occurance for many on this forum i believe. Anyway, here are the details... It will be a newly built structure, a bit smaller than a double garage. Due to council regulations, it must match the house and therefore be of brick veneer, with a colorbond (tin) roof. An engineer designed slab is needed. Luckily I work next to a bunch of registered civil engineers so I can get that part done for nil. The plan is to get the basic shell framing and roof trusses prefabricated, then i'll add in all of the tricky internal walls. General construction will be of double layer 10mm sounchek plasterboard, and soundstop insulation, with an isolated ceiling (using those rubber rondo mount things). Attached is my first floor plan. It consists of a control room with large window (1.2 x 1.8m) into the live room, and also a small amp iso room. There is an external window in each room which i am thinking of turning into false windows, blocked off on the inside, but looks like a window to the outside. I saw someone do that in a thread somewhere. It would be nice to get natural light, but the cost could be prohibitive. I've got six months to get this up and going.. Any comments from those in the know, to tell me if i'm doing something drastically wrong, would be appreciated. Cheers, anthony.

As far as I can tell it looks neat and solid. Only worries I may have could be: _the window being in the back of the control room. General policy seems to point out in the direction of deadening the rear third of the control room space _ little piece of parallel wall in the live room Cheers, Sigert

thanks for the comments. i was thinking about making some sort of acoustic panel that fits into the window frame and can be removed to let natural light in (at the expense of isolation). guess that would help out on the first point you made. anthony.

guess that would help out on the first point you made.

Well, it would partially. I wasn't worrying much bout isolation. That one can be fixed without leaving out a window. My main worry is sound absorption for acoustic reasons, or more specifically the lack of it should you not cover up the window while working in the room. I suppose you'd like sunlight while you work. who doesn't. But, if this means having a highly reflective surface in the back of a small control room (like most of our control rooms are), that could be quite bad for acoustics.

you can just use a very heavy drape over the window. you can also get clear treatment panels from RPG and angle them or create a poly with it over the window.

Hey, Sorry, Thread Hijack. Glen, you said in my thread that RPG make clear panels. Is RPG only an American company??? I'm in Australia. Are RPG the only company that makes the clear panels??? You didn't mention about being in a corner being not so good. Would it be best to move the mix position or just get clear panels?? No disrespect to Kendale. I just need the cheapest and less work option right now with TIGHT budget and very young family so I don't have a heap of time right now. We plan on moving in 5 years so my next purchase will be with a purpose built studio in mind. :D

Hey Willo, Fair call on RPG. Is there an australian equivalent out there? If you're looking for glass, an old friend of mine runs his own business (i get at cost prices!), and donated all the glass for the RRR studios when they moved. His company name is Fishbone, and is located out in Bayswater. I had some iso booths made a while back, and he supplied 1800 x 900mm, 10mm and 6+3mm laminate cut and ground to size. I guess I could get him to do something special on my windows in the new design. Cheers, Anthony.

You don't sound like you are too far away from me. When you are in build phase, can I pop over and have a look?? How have you gone with sourcing rigid insulation (703) equivalent. I have got a number of a tech specialist for a insulation manufacturer but haven't rung yet.

hey willo, yeah sure. no probs. could be a little while getting through planning permits and the like. got enough money at the moment to get the slab and frame up. a while back i found someone who could do a 703 equivalent, but they were up in sydney i think. cheers anthony.

I looked everywhere for ridged (semi-ridged) rockwool. I found a guy in Sydney too. Contact this guy: Paul Oakes www.kayaulsoundtreatment.com [removed]

Willo wrote:

Glen, you said in my thread that RPG make clear panels. Is RPG only an American company??? I'm in Australia. Are RPG the only company that makes the clear panels??? :D

i would guess flexible polycarbonate panels could be used for polys, but i think RPG sells worldwide. although glass (esp for angled windows) may be the best bet for your needs if its something more affordable or easy to get.

you forget to add the .AU on the web address....on australia day too! www.kayaulsoundtreatment.com.au looks like a good lead to getting this stuff.

why not just move the window to the front of CR that way you keep the natural light and fix the potential acoustics problem