New studio Construction

Hello, I have moved my small studio to a new industrial unit and am currently planning the design. I thought I'd post to see if anyone had some good suggestions for my layout and also for a bit of advice for beefing up the soundproofing in the live room. The space was used before me as a 'recording studio' but really it was never built out in any proper way. The live room leaks sound in a few places., however I can see penetrations in the heavy walls and poor sealing around the perimeters of the walls The unit is on the ground floor. The floor is the foundation slab as far as I can tell. It is of heavy concrete beam construction with concrete block and brick partition walls. You would think this would be pretty solid which it is but you can hear the odd bang through the walls. They seem to resonate a little bit. The ceiling is of some kind of poured concrete beams but it's not very tight fitting and there is still remnants of the wooden shuttering used. There is an old style raised access computer flooring in both the live room, the corridor and the control room. This really resonates. Im not bothered about this in the control room and corridor as I can fill the cavity and maybe even use it as close coupled space but I would want to remove this in the live room so the floor will be the concrete slab with a wood/ Carpet finish. I am torn between making the live room smaller so it includes a couple of booths or make the control room smaller and add a booth at the back of the control room. I was thinking about adding a booth in the corridor between the 2 rooms. Soundproofing of the live room is my 1st priority. I was thinking of either rendering the ceiling to fill the voids between the beams or adding bonded layers of plasterboard to add some mass then using isomax clips and the correct hat channel adding a de-coupled ceiling below this. For the walls I wanted to make good the voids and seals around the perimeters then I had thought about adding a resiliently mounted plasterboard wall hung on RC1. I want to stage this so I'd do the live room 1st (I need to keep mixing in the control room) Then do the control room. Thanks for now. COD

Here are some more pics. Thanks COD

I should also add I have 9 heavy BBC acoustic doors which were removed from their studios in Glasgow. Budget, For the live room which we will tackle first maybe £4-5k for materials. I have the labour sorted out (mostly)

hi, I can't imagine that you be getting mixes that translate well from that control room? There's no treatment. The space above the false ceiling could use some hangers. Whether you put the vox booth in the live or control, you need to lose the non-symmetrical area in the back of the control room. Make it a booth or a storage room.

Actually You'd be surprised how it sounds in there. Its not that bad but ive only just moved in and not really had the time to do anything much. Its really the live room I need to start on though. I cant record drums in there as there is an office directly above the control room and part of its footprint is over the live room too. There is a small terrace about the rest of the live room. I might do a few adjustments to the control room soon. My monitors are free standing so I was gonna do a heavily trapped front wall and maybe do some kind of modification to the Jensen room idea with Angled panels at the side with front facing fabric vents. Ceiling would be made completly dead I think the booth at the back of the Control room is the way to go. In fact if planed right there could be a large booth and a small amp room back there. COD

I was thinking also about using the machine room space in the corridor as an exchange chamber for the air con. Currently there is nothing in there and the control room has no ventilation!! There are computers and a large euphonix audio tower in the corridor already which need a bit of cooling. I have a split system I could probably fit in there easily and run a fresh air line in also. Is this a bad idea? COD

Actually You'd be surprised how it sounds in there. Its not that bad but ive only just moved in and not really had the time to do anything much.

I can't see how it would sound any good at all: it's asymmetrical, so it can't have much accuracy in stereo imaging, and there is no treatment, so it must ring like ride cymbal, but at a whole bunch of modes at once, and you have a resonant floor, to boot! Like Lil said, I doubt that mixes will translate well out of that room, even if you make them sound good inside it.

I cant record drums in there as there is an office directly above the control room and part of its footprint is over the live room too.

so it seems you need to start by building a proper MSM wall and ceiling for your live room, and another one for your control room, to solve that issue.

so I was gonna do a heavily trapped front wall and maybe do some kind of modification to the Jensen room idea with Angled panels at the side with front facing fabric vents.

What do you mean by "panels at the side with front facing fabric vents"? Are you talking about panel traps with fabric covered fronts? If so, have you already measured the room response to see what frequencies you need to tune the panels too? Or are you talking about something else when you say "panels with fabric vents"?

Ceiling would be made completly dead

That's probably a good idea, assuming that you mean the inner leaf ceiling. In your case, it looks like you have plenty of height to do a good inner leaf ceiling with decent separation from the floor above, and still have space below it for good treatment. You might want to consider "inside out" construction for that inner ceiling, as it will be easier to make it completely dead like that.

I was thinking also about using the machine room space in the corridor as an exchange chamber for the air con. ... Is this a bad idea?

It sounds like it should work, if you do it right. Have you done your HVAC calculations, to determine what size of split system you need, and how much fresh air you need?

Thanks for your help. It is appreciated. So, Just to get away from the control room issue which Is shortly gonna be addressed, The concrete walls and the ceiling in the live room... I was thinking of RC1 and a couple layers of 15mm Gyproc on the control room wall and the exterior wall and on the other 2 walls build a full 2nd stud wall for a bigger air gap with 2 layers 15mm again. The reason for this is that on 1 side there is an office and on the other a guy who makes bagpipes and there is a bit of leakage from him. Not that bad though and nothing that has a lot of LF content. The RC1 walls are an outside wall and the control room wall. The framework is already in place and it would be quicker than reframing the wall. For the ceiling add mass to the existing concrete beam's either, A Render it with browning or other plaster finish or, B Attach a couple layers 15mm Gyproc I would then use Isomax clips and hat channel then 2 15mm layers Gyproc for the internal ceiling. above the live room is predominantly a flat roof/ Balcony but there is part of the footprint of an office above it also. Hence the ceiling work!

Or Should I just move out and find another unit!! :D COD