Beginning of the Beginning... Still choosing the room

Ok guys, so i'm the newbiest newbie around here and i have a ton of questions!! Oh, and also, forgive me if the old english is a bit rusty. I havent been using it a lot lately :( I am a musician and i do a lot of recording at home. Recently, me and another guy from my band decided we'd start a small comercial studio, focused on rehearsal (i dont know how common this is in the rest of the world, but here in Brazil there's a lot of these, as equipament and everything else is not exactly cheap) but i'll also use it for my recording. Considering that it will have some basic acoustic work in it, i believe i might be able to record some real drums instead of v-drums and some actual amps instead of my Line-6 Pod XT :D So as you see, i'll spend more money on treatment for rehearsal and pretty much be satisfied with whatever recording quality i can get for now, as budget is a major concern. SO, here it goes: 1 - Since we'll be renting a small commercial room, what should i be looking for? There's all kind of options, but in my understanding, it would be better to find a room thats underground or at least that has nothing else under it as i wont have to worry about isolating the floor, right? is it better nothing under or nothing above it? 2 - I've attached a basic sketch of most of the available rooms we've found. What do i do about the restroom in a room like that? do i isolate it? do i need an acoustic door just for the restroom? 3 - The blue line is a wall that i would build to create some sort of a control room, any thoughts about it? 4 - As for isolation, after reading from a lot of sources (including this very forum, thank you very much :wink: ), i was thinking about builiding the second wall, as shown by the red lines in the sketch, but i couldn't figure if i should use rockwool between the walls, should i? or just leave the gap? if i use rockwool, should i still leave a gap? what distance? how thick should the inner wall be? bricks or can i use anything cheaper?? 5 - as far as isolation, is there any more material or suggestions you guys think i should follow? I dont know if this is the right strategy, but what i was thinking is i'd build all the walls and everything and then get to the rest of the isolation and acoustic treatment once this is done. Guys, sorry for such a long post and so many questions but i'm trying hard to spend money wisely and get a decent result for my own band and other musical projects, as well as my future customers. Thanks a lot! EDIT - Some additional info: Walls in Brazil are made of concrete instead of wood or dry wall as its common in the US. And yet another question :? panels and bass traps are meant to help with reverberation inside the room but play no part in isolation, right? thanks again!

" least that has nothing else under it as i wont have to worry about isolating the floor, right? is it better nothing under or nothing above it?" /quote Both. Ideally you want to be in a position that the >building or the inhabitants< do not create sound issues. Flanking noise can be generated from many things as simple as the walking in an above apartment to loud music that brat below you in apartment 2A is making :) You want to eliminate all unwanted noise before it begins. But "ideally" is a lofty notion and leaves much to be desired. Still when you eliminate these undesirable elements you also increase what you can do with your money. "rockwool between the walls, should i? or just leave the gap? if i use rockwool, should i still leave a gap? what distance?" /quote This is the Number One recommended link at this website: REFERENCE AREA - Useful threads/links http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2125 This may also be of some use to you guys if you find yourself in a less then desirable situation: http://irc.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/pubs/cbd/cbd051_e.html

thank you very much, i´m reading the articles!

Ok, after reading the much appreciated material, i'm considering going with drywall + rockwool i found a drywall company here in brazil that even has a video showing the process: http://www.gypsum.com.br/videos/10.htm i know its in portuguese, but since it actually shows the process, could you guys tell me is this is a decent choice? also, if it works, what should i be careful about, any recommendations? thanks again!!

The video shows a typical staggered-studd wall with wool in between and 2 layers of GB on each side. That's one way of building a wall. If that's your choise then, yeah, the video's a good example. (it shows in general how to setup a wall) But if you've got space to build a double, separated wall, then do so. Better iso than stag.stud.wall. But you'll prolly know that already since you sure have read this forum and Rod's excellent book. The vid shows how to setup metalstuds using a tool instead of screws. I've used it myself and works wonders. Much quicker and easier ;)

thanks a lot for the reply Ro! just one question, what do you mean by "better iso than..." iso as in isolation? wouldnt the GB boards with rockwool work as isolation? one more thing about the video is that they're building a wall to separate a room right in the middle, thats what is seems anyway. my GB walls would go right next to the room's brick walls just so Pissed Off Neighbour 1 and 2 as shown in the picture n the first post wouldnt be as pissed off :wink: the GB/rockwool would go where the pink (supposed to be red :x ) line is in the drawing any good? hehehe i tried to find as much as i could in the forum, mas couldnt get Rod's book here in Brazil :( the currency takes its toll also! thanks a lot for you guys' patience and everything, the info i've gathered from the replys and from looking around the forum is leading me to believe i might not have to spend as much money as i thought i would. After everything's done, there's a beer on me! hahaha thanks