New studio in private home, need tips and help.

Hi there guys 'n girls, I've been browsing these pages for years now and have already, succesfully I might say, built a studio from scratch. This time, I'm forced to do so, again, but in my own home. I'm living in this remote cottage where I can make the top floor of the house into a control room and a transformed garage into a live room. I'm still in doubt about how to set myself in the control room, and how to adapt the inside to improve acoustics. The ceiling is slant and I can't make it anything other than that. So my main question is, what would any of you propose on doing with the given room. Where to put diffuseds, bastraps, resonators.... I've made two pics of the rooms and one in which I've placed an extra wall (Wall F), on which I'd put a sliding door to seperate the lounge from ctrl room. Also I'd like to make the floor of the ctrl room floating... and wall A would need to have a second one next to it to isolate noise towards the private hallway..... As for the live room, I'd like to make the wall that's just underneath the staircase (wall C) isolated, so the noise towards the living room/private area, is reduced... I was thinking to build another wooden frame and fill it with insulation, put some drywall and wood on it..... Then put in a second door to the living room... But if you don't isolate the rest of the room, is this in any way doable and how do I then make that wall airtight?? Same applies for wall A in the ctrl room.... How would you improve acoustics in the live room.... which wall would need absorption, resonators and diffusers.... I was thinking of making the new wall I'd put diffusive and making some basstraps in the corners on the opposing wall...... I'm a bit lost here...... I'd appreciate any comments, tips, help..... Cheerz guys, keep up the good work on this forum !! Ace

Overall the idea sound cool. Nice cottage btw :) Making the CR symmetrical by adding that wall is good. Sliders in-between; fine! I'm not like Stuart and gonna give you the full length, so I'll keep it short :) You need to acoustically dress the rooms anyhow. Start with bass trapping and work your way from there by listening and measuring the room

can you ask your girlfriend to make a living room upstairs and keep the ground floor for the studio?:P which studio has a nice fire in the control room?wouldn't that be unique...

SERGEI wrote:

can you ask your girlfriend to make a living room upstairs and keep the ground floor for the studio?:P which studio has a nice fire in the control room?wouldn't that be unique...

hehe, Sergei, you funny guy !!! Have you been there perhaps ??? :wink: Guess you already know that's not an option, I mean, in the 'convincing the girlfriend' part .... :? Thanks to Ro for your opinion..... it's a nice house and an excellent location for noise-making, which is what life is all about now ain't it ??!!! Anyways, as I was reading my post, guess I asked too many questions I planned on asking.... My main concern is; How should I treat the slant ceiling in ctrl room.... Sound is reflected downward from speakersource, and I don't quite know if this has to be treated just like side-walls...... Would they need resonators, or some diffusing....? Or, as I personally might guess first, they can just stay the way they are..... Maybe just add some wood for sound coloring.... Gipsum tends to sound pretty crappy in my ears..... Secondly, I wanted to soundproof two walls adjacent to the private area of the house... Since I won't be doing any other walls in those rooms, would isolating just one wall with an extra insulated, wooden frame on rubber, ten cms from the original wall, covered with two layers of gipsum and one layer of wood (for acoustic reasons) and then sealed to ground, adjacent walls and ceiling, .... be a reasonable solution....? I'm doubting this because they're still gonna be a lot of sound transmitting through surfaces that are still in contact... (floor, wall, etc.....) Have searched the forum but haven't quite found the answer, gonna keep looking... Think I'll just start with the acoustic adaptations and then see what could be improved..... Let's start the building..... I'll post the progress as soon as I'm ready with the first stages...... Cheerz and stay tuned.... Ace

Since I won't be doing any other walls in those rooms, would isolating just one wall with an extra insulated, .. .... be a reasonable solution....?

Short answer? No. It wouldn't help much. Isolation is an "all or nothing" proposition. If you don't do all six sides of the room, then your isolation will only be as good as the WORST side of the room. Think of an aquarium: it only holds water (and fish) if all the sides and the bottom are in place. Take out one side, and you don't have an aquarium any more. Same with isolation. If one side of your room has poor isolation, then that's how good your total isolation will be, no matter what you do to the other five sides.

I'm not like Stuart and gonna give you the full length, so I'll keep it short...

:lol: :shock: :D :!: :!: :shot: - Stuart -

Thanx there Stuart, for the short but very convincing reply. Guess I'm kinda screwed then.... Building a room within those rooms, especially the live room is gonna be a hell of a job and expensive.... It's just that I don't really need isolating noise to the outside world, only towards the private areas of the house.... which happen to only face one wall of the room.... I'm gonna have to discuss this with the misses..... she has to live with it, I'm deaf already, so ..... :? I'm gonna try some different setups for my desk and listening position, just to see what the best possible solution would be, soundwise, keeping the slant ceiling in mind..... Thanx for the info guys.... Cheerz Ace

Hi guys, I've been busy tearing down my old studio and home situatione in order to make the place ready for construction of the new one.... I'm still in doubt where to put the listening position in the ctrl room. Things that concern me are; - If I'm sideways in the room, the length is better but the ceilingand sides aren't symmetrical..... and in that position, it's harder to make the back wall absorbent and basstrap heavy, since there need's to be a door in between the two rooms. - If I'm positioned to the front or back (in comparison to the house that is) , then I'm having issues with the slant roof. A good speaker placement kinda makes me lose a lot of space in the room... and I still don't quite know how much space I should leave in between the back of the speaker and the slant ceiling. And will a window ,behind a speaker, present much problems? Maybe one of you guys have seen a room like this before and found a solution..... I'll include the three different positions I deam possible, and also the SKP file in case any of you should have a better idea... Thanks guys, praise this forum !!!!

Hi Ace. To me, your third option "CtrlRm facing Side.jpg" seems to be the best. The other two are going to give you strange issues with those angled ceilings.

- If I'm sideways in the room, the length is better but the ceilingand sides aren't symmetrical.....

Try to get it as symmetrical as you possibly can, then treat the non-symmetrical part to make it better, That would be my suggestion.

it's harder to make the back wall absorbent and basstrap heavy, since there need's to be a door in between the two rooms.

Put the door in the middle of that rear wall, and cover it with a sheet of 703. Put the bass traps on each side of the door, as big as you possibly can.

and I still don't quite know how much space I should leave in between the back of the speaker and the slant ceiling.

You either want your speakers right up against the wall, or at least 2 meters away. Anywhere in between will probably give you comb filtering effects off the wall.

And will a window ,behind a speaker, present much problems?

Yup! :) (Windows are transparent to light, but the are excellent reflectors for sound...) - Stuart - (Still trying to keep the answers short, so that Ro has a chance to give his usual LONG version...! :) )