SW Ponte. Loft Studio design.

Sound Weavers Ponte We are going to relocate our recording studio. We are in the planning stage with construction expected to start in March. The new location is attached to my newly built house. These are the dimensions: Length = 8.7m Width= 5.05m Ceiling height (in front) = 5.45m Ceiling height (back) = 6.36m The new location is already built. All concrete walls (8" to 10" thick). The front side. - Front (steel) door opens up to the open garage (6.5m setback from the street). - There is a sealed window on the desired Control Room area. The left side has 2 awning-type windows. The back side (sharing concrete wall with the house) has a door to a pocket garden and one tall awning type windows (on the desired Control Room area). Attached is the 2D of the Sketchup model that I've been struggling with. On the top left corner is the comfort room, the left side is the Live Room, to the top right is the SoundLock, the Right side is the Control Room. Notice the stairs to the Loft. Here's the sketchup file with the dimensions and my idea for division of space for Control Room, Live Room Please don't laugh at the Sketchup file (well, go ahead and laugh, I know I'm that BAD) HOW LOUD AM I? - The loudest we get is when recording drums and bass. We also record complete bands live especially during pre-production stage. Usually the bassist and vocalist are in the Control Room. We are in a residential area. Minimal foot traffic. Average vehicle traffic (in its current state I can hear cars passing by). The studio shell is setback 6.5 meters from the street sidewalk (between the sidewalk and the studio is our gated but open (no roof) garage. We are usually at 85dB to 90dB in the Control Room (mixing and recording). EXISTING STRUCTURE. The shell is concrete all around (8" to 10" inches of concrete). There are two steel doors to the outside. There are 3 awning-type windows to give natural daylight (we will be installing sealed windows on the inside wall). The floor is cement (steel reinforced). There are concrete footings, columns and beams supporting the shell. SLANT/Sloping CEILING HEIGHT. The ceiling has a slant/sloping height, 5.45m in front and 6.36m at the back. The current roof is steel sheets with ordinary type of foam blanket only. COMFORT ROOM. There is a comfort room inside the shell. My experience in building studios. I have co-designed and co-built 3 other recording studios, 2 with low-budgets and 1 with decent budget. I know and understand wall systems, isolation and acoustic treatment. By experience, a LOT of reading (Alton Everest, Mike Shea, Rod Gervais, John Sayers site) and stints at other studios. I have learned about ineffective decoupling and isolation shorts by experience. My co-hort is an architect friend who has now migrated to Australia and thus is not available to help, thus I turn to you guys on this forum for help on the design. OUR BUDGET for the construction is US$20k tops (P900,000 in Philippine currency). We consider this a good budget especially because we plan to re-use as much of the old studio materials that we can (rockwool fillings, acoustic panels, mid-band absorbers, laminated floors, mini-split air conditioning units). WHAT WE WANT TO ACHIEVE within the new shell is a Control Room, Sound Lock, and Live Room and a LOFT above the Control Room area that will have an Edit Room. Our biggest challenge in the past month has been finding a Structural Engineer who can design steel decking to be built in the shell without causing much damage (we are very close to getting a signed plan). Thus the loft will be concrete on steel deck, steel columns, beams and joists. For the Control Room we thought to go with Sepmeyer ratio H=1 W=1.28 L=1.54 . The ceiling height of the Control Room should be no less than 10', if so will have a length of 15.4' and width of 12.8 feet. The mix position will be at 7' from the front wall. We can have 1' depth for bass trapping on the back wall. We would like to implement 5.1 surround in the new Control Room, the speakers will be on individual speaker stands. Surround speakers will be JBL 4326 and a JBL 4312 sub. We would also like to have soffit-mounted midfield monitors, a pair of Focal Twin6 Be. We will have a Toft ATB 24 mixing console and a console desk with racks on both sides. Isolation between the Control Room and Live Room will be via Double Walls (2x gypsum on metal studs). We will also treat the gypsum with Green Glue (we found supplier in nearby Singapore). There will be a Sound Lock between the Control Room and The Live Room. The Live Room will utilize the full height of the ceiling. We swill put up walls (double layer gypsum on metal studs), the back wall will be splayed to counter the parallel walls. Acoustic treatments installed later based on test/sound results. We want to have a live sounding room but the area near the Control Room will be deadened for vocal tracking. We want to have as high as possible isolation between Control Room and Live Room so we know how "live" of a sound we are recording. Knowing that our Live Room will sound live due to the high ceilings, we want to be able to have precise and quick control on mic placement, compression and instrument placement. ON THE LOFT. The Edit Room will not occupy the entirety of the loft, it will only be 3.m wide and 3.8m long. The rest of the LOFT space will be usable air space part of the Live Room, the open floor area will be used for mounting microphones high up on the loft when getting really serious and crazy with "room sounds". The Edit Room Walls will also use double wall construction. AIR CONDITIONING will be via ductless mini-split systems. The condensers will be mounted on a wall outside the studio shell. Inside the studio, air handlers will be housed in casings with vents to further bring down the mechanical noise of the fan motors. (we will re-use/recycle 3 mini-split units from our current studio). AVAILABLE MATERIALS. Standard construction items are available, metal studs and tracks, ceiling systems (C-channel, purlins), gypsum board, rock wool blankets and boards (50kg, 60kg, 80kg, 100kg), Green Glue (via Singapore supplier)... I will need to import neoprene isolators. Fabricto be used for panels are fire-rated poly acrylic. QUESTION TO THE FORUM. I need help translating these ideas into Sketchup. Given the information provided, I am looking to you guys for alternate treatments and use of space, best if n Sketchup layout format. thanks in advance guys. I won't be able to sleep tonight awaiting your replies and designs.

I sure whish glenn (gulfo) was with us.... the man had some brill ideas and is an artist in SU! If I could, and had the time, I'd draw up a floorplan for ye.... sorry. Why don't you give it a try yourself?

Ro wrote:

I sure whish glenn (gulfo) was with use.... the man had some brill ideas and is an artist in SU! If I could, and had the time, I'd draw up a floorplan for ye.... sorry. Why don't you give it a try yourself?

Thanks for the comment Ro, I'm really just not into SU. Anyway, I've gotten in touch with StudioPeople for the design.

I was thinking about soffit mounting JBL 4326's as well, how did you find if they will work? Please share!! :D

Converting an idea in skp sounds like a paying job! :D Maybe you should ring John?

NativeLuv17 wrote:

I was thinking about soffit mounting JBL 4326's as well, how did you find if they will work? Please share!! :D

I will not soffit mount my JBL LSR4326's. I will soffit mount Focal Twin 6 Be's

lilith_envy wrote:

Converting an idea in skp sounds like a paying job! :D Maybe you should ring John?

Indeed, it is a paying job. I rang John but his fees is out of range at the moment.