trying to make huge space into great studio: have concerns

Hi, The Story: I've been running my studio, Russian Recording, for 5 years from the same location. I've been renting it for this entire time. And although it's pretty small, I've gotten some good results and business is finally booming. I've decided to quit my full time job and pursue this full time (well it currently is full time in addition to my full time job... but I've decided I only have time for one full time job). I found a really excellent place in Bloomington, IN (my current place is out in the woods about 20 miles east of Bloomington) where I can live and construct a studio. It's zoned commercial and residential, and already has two bedrooms, full bath and kitchen. The New Building The entire building is about 4000 sq feet, with 17 ft ceilings throughout with the exception of the second floor living area and the first floor below it. One half of the building is sectioned off from the other half, I'm only building into the first half, which is about 2000 sq feet. I will be renting the other half out, with the potential to expand into it later on down the road. So I've been doing a lot of research by lurking here, and reading Rod Gervais' book. I've put together a pretty accurate 3D rendering in sketchup, and I feel pretty good about the design, with the exception of some issues that I am unsure of, mostly concerning isolation (surprise). The idea is to basically divide the recording space into 4 separate rooms, while leaving a large area for a lounge/recreational area and the living area on the second floor above it. The recording rooms and their dimensions: A) large live room -17.27’ tall, 20.8’ wide (average), 26’ deep B) moderate sized control room -12.3’ wide x 14’ tall x 17.1’ deep C) medium/small live isolation room: -9.8’ wide, 10.5’ deep (average), 12.8’ tall D) small dead room -8.4’ wide, 9.5’ deep, 11.6’ tall I've worked it out so that each of the rooms have ideal ratios (all of them are either Sepmeyer's first or Louden's first, with the exception of the live room which is Louden's 5th). The Live room and the Live Iso room have splayed walls, and I took the average width when working out the numbers. I am mostly concerned with having the best isolation in the control room and the lounge/living area. I have created a link to download the sketchup file if that helps, but I've also attached some snaps as jpgs... It's pretty involved, so being able to navigate around it helps. sketchup of building as it is Sketchup with construction plans Construction Plans So my plans for isolation walls construction are as follows: The splayed wall of the live room that runs into the front wall of the control room is a double frame, with 2 sheets of 5/8" drywall with 3 tubes of green glue for each side, and and a 1" gap between the the frames. I am most concerned with getting really good isolation in the control room and the recreational/living areas. The control room will have an independently framed ceiling and also have a sand filled floor with a layer of 5/8" drywall, green glue and 5/8" plywood (as will both isolation rooms). The entrance to the control room is on the other side of the live room wall by the staircase, so there is no door directly from the control room to the live room. The live room walls opposite of that wall, which are also the front walls for iso booths, are similar, but I'm only using 1/2" drywall and 2 tubes of green glue to save money and because I'm not immensely concerned with complete isolation in those rooms... I typically like to let things bleed anyway, but it would be nice to have a certain degree of isolation if needed. Concerns I plan on investing a lot of time and money in to these walls, and i want to make sure that I am not throwing it away because of how the original floors and ceilings of the building are constructed. The main floor, which is going to be left "as is" for the live room (all the other rooms are getting sand filled floors like the control room), is pretty thin and has a 3 or 4 foot crawl underneath it, which runs under the entire building with the exception of the recreational/lounge area below the seocond level, which has a basement underneath. The crawl is convenient for running my audio cables, but I'm worried that it might also be a weak link as far as sound isolation. Will the sand filled floors help prevent sound transmission from the live room? Also, I plan on keeping the original 17' ceiling for the live room, which is most likely just one layer of 1/2" drywall. Above the ceiling is a pretty large attic space that is wide open over the entire building. Since the control room and both iso rooms will have independently framed ceilings built the same as the walls, i imagine that sound leakage from the ceiling into those rooms it shouldn't be a problem... am i right? However, will it be a big source of sound leakage to the living areas on the second floor? I am trying to figure out if the walls I am building are overkill when considering the existing construction of the floors and ceilings of the building. And if so, what steps should I take to help prevent sound transmission via the floor/crawl and the ceiling? I thought about adding a layer of green glue and drywall to the original ceiling layer facing down into the room, and then going up into the attic and adding two layers with green glue along the joists. The problem with that is that it's a 2000 square feet of ceiling! I have also considered building the big wall (between the live room and the living area) straight down through the crawl and straight up through the existing ceiling up to the roof. That seems like a lot of work so i just want to see if it's really necessary. any guidance and advice is greatly appreciated best, mike

if you only put the isolation ceilings (heavy ones) on the CR, and the 2 iso rooms, then its less work. in the live room you can reduce the amount of work since you're location is already remote - except if you have rain or hail which can cause impact noise... so maybe you do need to do it all... also, have you considered reversible treatments in the iso rooms so you can be more versatile than just live or dead... perhaps a rock wall in the live room and a absorptive wall in the dead room, but then the rest could be reversible poly/absorbers to alter the room...

Hi, So im only 3 weeks away from starting my build. it's crazy. Anyhow, i think I've finally come up with a plan for my floors, but i just want to make sure this is my best option. So, as you can see from the pics above, im basically making one huge space into 4 separate rooms... a control room, a live room, an isolated live room and an isolated dead room. My plan is to put the walls up on the existing floor, and then to but in new subfloors for each room. Keep in mind that the entire original floor is above a crawl space. This is what I've come up with: 2 x 4 floor joists (maybe 1 x 4?) fill with sand install auralex sheetblock along top surface of joists 5/8" plywood 3 tubes green glue 5/8" plywood 1) Does this seem like a reasonable way to minimize sound transmission between the rooms? I am mostly concerned with keeping sound from getting into the control room. 2) Are there any cheaper/better alternatives to Auralex Sheetrock? 3) Will this be an absurd amount of weight? Ill be hiring a structural engineer to check it out, but i figured i'd ask here just as well. thanks, mike

what are your options for building some partitions in the crawl space? this way if it turns out the floors cannot handle the load from a decent floating floor, you might be able to get underneath and build some partitions to block off the sound. you'll still have to consider the flanking through inter-connected structure - like shared floor joists etc.

Hey there. Can't offer any real advice on construction, but I thought I'd chime in with my thoughts since I've come across your studio before (looking at Oktava mics I think!), and what really attracted me to it was the "vibe". The place in the woods has so much character and I'd imagine a very nice "experience" for clients. Its out in the woods in a building with a lot of character and must be quite conductive to creativity. Just thought I'd put it out there that sometimes looks DO matter and would hate for you to not get the same kind of enthusiasm for your studio if it was "just another studio", if you get what I mean. IMO something to keep in mind :D Good luck on the work! Looking forward to seeing how it turns out. Gareth (PS, really like that Trio In Stereo song - remember hearing it when I stumbled on your myspace page before :D )

gareth.h.rees wrote:

Hey there. Can't offer any real advice on construction, but I thought I'd chime in with my thoughts since I've come across your studio before (looking at Oktava mics I think!), and what really attracted me to it was the "vibe". The place in the woods has so much character and I'd imagine a very nice "experience" for clients. Its out in the woods in a building with a lot of character and must be quite conductive to creativity. Just thought I'd put it out there that sometimes looks DO matter and would hate for you to not get the same kind of enthusiasm for your studio if it was "just another studio", if you get what I mean. IMO something to keep in mind :D Good luck on the work! Looking forward to seeing how it turns out. Gareth (PS, really like that Trio In Stereo song - remember hearing it when I stumbled on your myspace page before :D )

Hey Gareth, thanks for the kind words! Yes, many people have brought this point up, that the vibe of my current space will be lost. And it's true, it won't be quite the same, and I will miss it, but I am building this place from the ground up, and it's going to be pretty awesome only in a different way. The current space is actually much smaller than it looks online (I used a wide angle lens to get the whole space in the shot). The live room is only 10 x 20. and the control room is basically 10 x 12, same with the dead room. I've made it work though, and because of the unique ceilings it sounds pretty good. But it's too small and too far out of town. I'm moving all of the art and sculptures from the current place, and im even using the same floor that I built for the live room in the new iso live room. Im also having an artist friend paint murals in all of the rooms... so it will still have a very "cool vibe". I can't work in a place that isn't cozy and unique! Oh and by the way, construction started today!