I had meant to jump in here long ago. Long time lurker of this forum. Anyway, I'd like to share the photo history of my construction journey in the event someone might find if useful. This project started off around October of 2007 and we completed it in December of 2008. My father and I did all of the construction with the exception of trusses, shingles, and final drywall mud/texture. The general purpose of this space was for my own greedy purposes (non commercial) as well as serve as a home office (write offs woohoo!). The basic idea was to build a budget conscious structure while obtaining enough sound damping properties to allow me to work back here effectively any time of the day. As you'll see we did some things that would be considered pretty bad for sound isolation (mainly the peer and beam foundation) but I'm happy to say that the building has more than exceeded my needs for sound isolation. I'm not certain this would hold up when mic'ing a cranked SVT Head and cab but I don't really have a need for that level of isolation. The weakest link is the entry door even with second door closed though it can be improved I believe with a little additional weather striping or the like.
My little project pails in comparison to almost everything I've seen here. Major kudos to all the amazing photo blogs on this site. It was a major inspiration for me.
Total size of space is 25'x26'
Staggered stud construction through out.
outer layer is siding and OSB ply
Inner walls is a layer of sound choice fiber board and 5/8 rock. No green glue, etc.
Insulated using blown in Rock Wool (walls and attic) - it was cheap and works great.
Total cost of project (including electrical and HVAC) was roughly 15k. Having lived in the space for the last few months it was a bargain well spent.
I'm more than happy to answer any questions if ya got em.
Swamp House Studios, Austin TX - Photo Journal
Originally posted at johnlsayers.com, topic 13208.
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getting close to the end now.
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The final shots. This is pretty much how it looks today. There are still some minor things to do. Install a door knob to the closet and the ceiling lights turned out to be low power 60 watt bulbs. There is a nice ambiance here but at times it's just a little darker in the rooms than I'd prefer.
WOW!!
so your a guitarist then?
Nah Just kidding. Looks fantastic. Thanks for sharing.
Nice looking work JLynn, as good as any I have seen here or anywhere else. And for the price, you just can't go wrong in any language ;) Thanks for sharing, BrienMy little project pails in comparison to almost everything I've seen here. Major kudos to all the amazing photo blogs on this site. It was a major inspiration for me.
Great build. why didn't you poor a nice concrete slab btw?
Thanks guys.
Ro, I was getting quotes of around 5k to poor a slab. Believe me I wanted one. I think it was only around $400 to do the same thing with wood at that time. OSB was really cheap and we even did 2 layers of it. I wasn't trying to be a cheap skate but that was too large of a savings to ignore and allowed me to put that money elsewhere. Looking back I'm glad I made that choice. What little bleed through from the floor that is getting out is well below the legal decibel levels by the time your at the edge of my yard.
The only thing I'd do differently now is have the entry into my mix room instead of the live room. At the time I didn't think I'd want guys carting gear through my mix/office...I still don't but I think it would have been a better in the long run. A) better isolation of course and B) It makes it difficult to step in or out when you've got someone tracking in the big room.
It's not that a wood floor flanks too many noise to the outside, it's more of a matter of resonating inside the room what's gonna bug you.
What a job you have done. The atmosphere looks great, nice and relaxed color choice.
Just curious - how close are your neighbors?
-Doug
I haven't noticed any resonance from the floor yet...so far I'm very happy with the sounds I'm tracking in that room but then again my ears are new to the "engineering" role. I was just a guitar player up until about 6 months ago ;) My ole man claims we overbuilt that floor - using 2x10 and a 19 1/4 spacing so there is no 'bounce' on the floor and that may have cut the vibration down from a typical wood floor.It's not that a wood floor flanks too many noise to the outside, it's more of a matter of resonating inside the room what's gonna bug you.
Thanks Doug, when I bought this house the neighbor thing was a big part of what I loved about this neighborhood. For Austin our lot size is pretty big (.75 acre). Looking at google maps it appears I'm somewhere around 175 feet from the closest neighbor. I've already quizzed both my neighbors to see if they noticed any sessions going on and both had not. That was good news. I had this amazing drummer Brannen Temple in here 2 weeks ago just killing the drum kit so if they didn't hear that I think I'm all good.Just curious - how close are your neighbors?