Control Room Design

Hi Guys, I posted my first post several days ago with all of the pertinent data in it here. I have updated my design and built a 3-D Model. Am I on the right track? What would you do different? Any help or opinion is greatly appreciated!

Looks good but, how big is it? HxWxL Where is it? What are you trying to achieve?

Hey, sorry, looks like exported without the measurements on... The total interior room size is 18'6"w x 19'6"l x 9'6" h... I'm designing a garage conversion for the home that i am closing on tuesday. I posted the whole full of detail post here (viewtopic.php?f=1&t=11483) but didn't really get a response. I'm already re-thinking the design though. I really wanted just to be able to have a great control room for mixing and mastering with the ability to do overdubs and some vocals but now i'm thinking i may redesign and try to add a place to record drums. I just think that's it would prove to be a better return on my investment if i could skip going to the studio where i work and paying the freelance fees and just record drums all at the same place.

This is what i'm thinking of going with instead of the large CR this way i have a decent amount of space for a drummer if need be.

It is a better usage of space. I would angle the wall between the vox booth and drum room a bit more. It might aid in the sight lines from the control room and make the vox booth a little lest square.

Hang on what about the wifie! No storage in this design? :wink:

Ahhh, you noticed, i didn't mention that i got the permission to use the entire garage. I'd like to keep some storage for things like guitar cases, blank media, etc. but it's not my top priority. I actually closed on the house today so i'm hoping to have the framing started by the end of january. I'm excited. Here's the slightly updated version of this design (been busy to work on it). My main question is: do you feel i'm utilizing the space for what i want to accomplish in this area? Second question: i'm coming up on the searches with mixed answers to the roof=a leaf question. If you have Roof + Air + Drywall does this count as two separate leaves even though the roof is not airtight. I want to add an additional ceiling on each of my finished rooms which would make my scenario Roof + Air + Mass + Air + Mass. Logically the roof would be mass but it's not airtight so i can't rely on it to help reduce sound transmission. What is the lesser of two evils? Can someone point me to a discussion with the right answer or spell it out for me?

tgauge wrote:

If you have Roof + Air + Drywall does this count as two separate leaves even though the roof is not airtight.

Yes. Read the link for an experiment you can repeat yourself if you wish to confirm that airtightness is not necessary for a leaf for MAM resonance to occur. http://forum.studiotips.com/viewtopic.php?t=1198 Andre

Thank you Andre... I read that experiment. I understand now that it doesn't have to be airtight to become and "amplifier" if you will. So does this sound like the best answer to my common scenario? Am i getting it? tear out the existing drywall ceiling, use it to build up the mass on the roof, hang bass hangers in a dense pattern from the exposed rafters, build my rooms with independent ceiling, and then just pray the neighbors don't get upset about the gorilla in the tracking room? this would give me a two leaf system with an unsealed outer leaf. another words: this is what i have: vs. what i should have:

tgauge wrote:

tear out the existing drywall ceiling, use it to build up the mass on the roof, hang bass hangers in a dense pattern from the exposed rafters, build my rooms with independent ceiling, and then just pray the neighbors don't get upset about the gorilla in the tracking room? this would give me a two leaf system with an unsealed outer leaf.

Close. In case it has not become obvious, seal the roof. Use sound baffling ducts for required ventilation in the space. Then you can scratch the praying for understanding from the neighbours. Andre

Thank you again Andre!!! On this topic... The garage door... I want to leave the door but take down the mechanics of it. No big deal. Leaving it on though means that unless i attach something directly to it to make a single mass out of the door then it will become the dreaded third leaf. I've read several people on here talking about building a frame inside of the wall cavity, affixing a 6-8mil barrier and filling the space with a dense filler so that it would act as a single leaf. Is this the best answer if i want to leave up the door? I know the best would be to take the door down and build a solid single leafed wall, but it is a compromise i have to make. Once i figure this out i have got a great understanding of where to start on the shell of the garage and can start focusing on the inner rooms.

tgauge wrote:

I've read several people on here talking about building a frame inside of the wall cavity, affixing a 6-8mil barrier and filling the space with a dense filler so that it would act as a single leaf. Is this the best answer if i want to leave up the door?

Yes it is. Keep the space between the door and the new wall as small as possible. Before starting the filler wall, stop all vibrations/rattles in the door. Andre

I can't say thank you enough for your time... This forum is a goldmine of information. What are the consequences of soffit mounting my two nearfields and then deciding to switch over to a 5.1 system? If the other monitors are not soffit mounted is it going to cause problems?

You may want to visit this link to understand better what this ventilation system does and some of the pitfalls surrounding modifications: http://www.roofhelp.com/ventilation_main.htm It is not going to be as easy as it may at first glance be. ;)

tgauge wrote:

What are the consequences of soffit mounting my two nearfields and then deciding to switch over to a 5.1 system? If the other monitors are not soffit mounted is it going to cause problems?

It will be terrible in LCR matching. If you are seriously considering surround in the future, which I highly recommend if you are considering going commercial with the studio or your work, make arrangements for flush mounting the centre channel also in the future. The norm these days is for the rears to have different acoustics around them to be quite acceptable. Plan your monitoring circle appropriately. Andre

xSpace wrote:

You may want to visit this link to understand better what this ventilation system does and some of the pitfalls surrounding modifications:

Great point and great link! Andre

@ xSpace: Thank you for the link... That's what i was nervous about. If i seal it off completely i run the risk of the problems stated in on that site. I think that i may have less risk if my garage is sealed off from the rest of the home though. That way the moisture and heat and all of the things that may cause problems is just what the studio is creating rather than a home with a dishwasher, showers, sinks, washing machine, etc. That side of the home will still vent properly but the garage will be sealed. I am going to do quite a bit more research on this issue. @ Andre: I think that i will plan to soffit the center channel but hide the hole until i step up the system. Funny thing is that what is my 5k studio budget is actually my saving for a new set of monitors.

Maybe not your cup of tea, but here is a paper on unvented roofs. The paper gives some information on what it takes to bring the roof into the interior envelope. BSD-149: Unvented Roof Assemblies for All Climates

Thanks again xSpace... So i guess i can completely seal off my roof as long as i do it properly. I think i will just do what i had posted yesterday where i would seperate the attic over the garage from the rest of the home and the use this or a like product and seal off the entire outer shell. If the shell of my garage is brick on three of it's sides, do you think that is a sufficient leaf or should i try to build up the mass in some way?

Maybe a power vent or turbine type, installed on the house part of the build close to where the proposed blocking off point will be, would help to regain the air flow space that will be removed if the attic is blocked off. Your drawing shows a gable end, so that vent will be lost if modifications are installed.

Thank you guys for all of your help! I've been moving in to my new home and have been out of the loop. Ran into the first snag. Well not a snag, but a bit of a change in plans. I thought the that the garage was brick all the way around and the original contractor had just put siding over the brick on the sides. Well, the entire home is brick and the garage is just plywood and siding, with the face of the garage (with the garage door) being brick. I'll have to do a bit more work than i originally anticipated with my mass building of the walls. Once i tear down all of the drywall on the interior of the garage i will be building up the exterior leaf and enclosing the attic space to create a tight shell. I will be researching the ventilation tonight to see what else i might need to do before i start actually building. Once i finish my move i am going to start a construction thread to document my progress. Hopefully mid-to-later january. Last questions for now... 1) My design... are there any red lights you see in what i've built here? does it look like the best utilization of my space to be able to track drums on the occasion but have mainly just a solid mixing and mastering control room? 2) Where would you put the resonators in the live areas? 3) Is it possible to utilize the rafters of the existing garage in these rooms by using resilient channel on the ceiling or should i plan to build an isolated ceiling for each room? That's it for now... I would appreciate your opinions, and thanks again for all of your insight.