New studio in the mountains for songwriter

Hello, I have a nice plot of recently leveled land on which to construct a studio, up in the hills of Washington state. Before I pour any foundation I'd like to get some input about a single room design following the 1:1:26:1:59 ratio, or thereabouts, say 30'x24x19. As I don't know the building codes for a 19' high structure, nor the weight requirements for the foundation, I'm looking into that now, so if anyone has ideas about that lemme know. Are post beam foundations a terrible idea? How bad would it be to have a single large room instead of control room / live room, etc? I have a drum kit and guitar amp for my main high sound level gear, no neighbors to speak of, but I do want the best possible room sound I can manage. Oops forgot to post my budget (as per the sticky rules), which is floating right now. Enough for a foundation at this point, since I have no idea as to the materials cost (cept 703/ultratouch/roxul stuff), and I have people to help me build. Just starting out in this crazy business of acoustics, thanks -robo p.s. one more edit: I'm in a canyon facing North to South, and the evening winds often kick up quite a bit, so that will have to be a consideration for the structure rattling.

hi and welcome, As a song writer, the one room option would be the way to go. other wise you will have problems hitting record and then running into the live room to play. Though this has been a recent subject in the forum, with a very simple solution. Budget wise it will cost you less to do 1 room. 19" !? 5m tall? wow thats a big room. will you contract out the work? I'm using those ratios, but at 3m (9.8ft) and trust me I nearly popped something lifting that wall! Your concrete guy will be the best person to asked about loading.

Haha yeah you'd need a crane for that. Probably would go 10' and vault the ceiling like a barn, to fit the location (and keep people from wondering what the building was for). But again, I really don't know. That figure was from the room mode calc ratio :D -robo

My friend, Unless you either have the knowledge, experience or even the TOOLS (or machines ! ) to build a house/room whatever from stratch, I suggest you get in touch with professionals. Thats unlikely a DIY for sure! First you must pour a solid concrete foundation, and then decide (within your local building codes / culture) how you want to build the house. What do you normally use? Wood and drywall? Concrete? Brickwalls? Also, thats going to be expensive. So first get in touch with a contractor/builder and get a quote for the dimentions you are wishing for Furthermore, if you don't have any neighbours and you just want one room, maybe you could save some money from building a MAM room, because if you create a thick enough (concrete?) structure, it will hopefully get you pretty isolated from the outside world. Do you have storms? How loud is the ambient noise there? Dogs? Cows? Lightings? You must know these factors in order to determine which kind of construction you're aiming to. If your land is pretty quiet, like i said, with a solid concrete or brickwall building you could be good. Now, about if you want two or just one room. Who can answer that question if not YOU? You are the only guy that know what YOU want. In my case, I KNOW that i want two rooms, because it works for ME. and not because it will sound BETTER or be COOLER. So, in conclution, first think what you want, what are your needs (are you going to record a drummer? are you going to work completely alone? are you going to record LOUD guitar amps? Personally, recording a loud guitar amp next to me, using headphones.. SUCKS, so you will definately need another room. On the other side, if you only want to compose songs, play with midi stuff, record some guitars here and there with guitar rig, make cool songs you know etc, so then you need just one room. Cheers -Javier

Oh sorry, I will definitely not be pouring my own foundation, and naturally will consult professionals as to the construction minutia. There's numerous people to help me, and now thanks to this board many more to help with acoustics. I'm not about to dump a load of concrete in a hole and nail framing to it. As for the room layout, I'm very much for the idea of a single room, because that's how I am used to working wherever I go, however opinions and insight into a control room / live room layout are more than welcome. I am a drummer and guitarist, those will be in the room with me. The noise level outside is 60db or so, more on windy days and we have many animals. Occasional storms and lightning, that's all in the local building codes and I wouldn't dare violate that for want of insurance. Normal building materials for this area are lumber and drywall. First though I have to get a county inspector to test the soil and frost line. I have a contractor to consult about the foundation, and he's coming soon so I want to be prepared. Thanks, robo

Why don't you buy a shed or barn kit from a pre-fab company. Then just fit out the inside.

Is that feasible? Most are post-beam foundation (treated lumber in concrete), so I wondered about resonances. The other thing is most of the modular kits are rather small that I've seen. I'm into having a cool live room for drums of decent size, not to mention the vibe of such a room for writing. -robo

What about brickwalls? How much these cost there? With a single brickwall building you could get many times the mass of drywall I'm amazed how these things isolate and how rigid the structure is Also, a shed could be an option like Lil said, but again, consult a professional because if there are electric storms and such, you need a safer building

While bricks themselves are relatively cheap here, it will be hard to find a decent mason. I'm totally open to bricks, just saying it will take me awhile to find someone capable, whereas with timber I know several able professionals. Another possibility, though even less likely is straw bale construction which has many positives. Mostly though I'm looking for "ideal" building dimensions to discuss with a contractor, I want that live room dangit and I'm pouring through books for ratios. I don't want to make a mistake here and regret that I needed two inches more width or something. As to the acoustic properties of the building materials, etc., anything is possible until someone tells me "no!", or I am unable to locate a suitable professional, and even then they're likely to laugh when they hear I want double walls and adhesive mounted drywall. "What's a resilient channel?" "That's a lot of glue!"... So far as environment and weather go, that's all in the local building codes in regard to lightning and such. I want to concentrate on getting the acoustical terms down to discuss with people who have no idea what I'm talking about, so I can communicate that the structure's purpose is for music and why it's a little different. This I know is going to be the toughest battle, but I have adapted to people having no idea what I'm saying. -robo

Do you have sketch -up yet? Start playing with some designs. there are heaps in the forum. Find the design that will fit your budget.

Ok thanks I'll get sketch-up and grab that file!

Then build a room with suggested ratios. Now, how big it will be? Its up to you (or more likely, to your budget) Any reasonably large room by those ratios, will work. Now, you must decide if you want a 5m ceiling, o 3m. After you get a quotation for that room (rectangular), You should build an inner timber structure to splay walls to a certain angle, support insulation for slots or bass traps, space for ducts /HVAC etc. Here is thousands of ideas and already designed studios with splayed walls, so you must spend a few days eating this forum to get your mind full of creative ideas. For a starting point, splay your walls 6 degrees each, as long with your ceiling.

Awesome thank you I'm on it!

robo wrote:

Awesome thank you I'm on it!

I would look into a big square building. You haven't mentioned bathrooms or things that you may need that you haven't fully thought out yet. Then inside the big square building, I would sub-divide this into the rooms needed with the ratio you think is best for your situation. The ratios you are searching for are going to apply to the interior boundaries of the room surface anyway, so it isn't as important a starting place as you may be thinking. But the tall ceiling idea is great and will become one of the numbers in your chosen ratio anyway. Does that make any sense?

Yes very much thank you. I had been wondering if the ratios applied to the exterior or interior per partition. No bathrooms as it's near my house, but it's probably a good idea. Maybe a mini kitchen / lounge. I'm going through the existing designs for ideas. -robo