Brooklyn Build

Hi all, This is my first post, however, I've spent the last couple weeks reading through this and other forums so hopefully none of this is too redundant. I've also read the Rod Gervais book and some questions are pertinent to that source. I've located a one story building in brooklyn and am about to lease it starting Sept. Its unique to my neighborhood as it does not connect to any other building and is ground level. It was built probably in the 50's as an iron works shop. Its roughly 900 square ft. It has no plumbing but does have 2 phase electricity coming in with several outlets and lighting. The dimensions are roughly 35'X25'X11' (the current tenant has shit everywhere and I couldn't get the measure straight across anywhere in the room). The walls are cement blocks covered in plaster resting on a single concrete slab. 4 steel beams run the width of the ceiling with wood planks resting on them. The space is completely open except for a 5'X8'X7' stud/drywall tossed up as a storage for the landlord. It is rarely used and has a separate entrance from the south (35') wall about 10' from the west (25') wall. I'm intending to build one "room" at 25'X20' (ignoring the storage) and the control room facing it at 10'X20' (unless this is not a good idea). We record on a 24x18 soundcraft 6000 onto an a800 2" 24 track. Primary live based music focusing on jazz, rock, and pop. The need for a "live" and large tracking room is paramount. We have a steinway upright, B3 w/ leslie, wurly, and rhodes that all have to fit with a kit and potentially up to 10 players. Some questions I still can't seem to find answers for are as follows: 1.) Since I want to create a 2 leaf system and one leaf is the foundation cement block wall already in place, do I want to use the pins specified to hang insulation from the foundation wall? Or can I more simply create my new stud wall [insulation, dywall, greenglue (hopefully!) drywall) 1" off the foundation? 2.) I've worked in, been inside, and seen many studios (RCA B, Goldstar, United Western B) that use perforated tile (gypsum?) on walls and ceilings. If I use perforated gypsum adhered to the layer of drywall with greenglue is this better? I realize two different materials creating one leaf is superior to two of the same materials but do the small holes of perforation create air between the tile and drywall that I'd want to avoid? We used perforated board directly in front of oc 703 for gobos, but I realize this is something much different in function. 3.) There is the existing conduit, lights and outlets which will have to come out before the new walls/ceiling go up. Should I keep the two leg power and safety ground and throw money at a pwr balancing unit or Star ground with the already new outlets. (I'll have to run all the conduit again anyway) I have a friend at Studio G who did the star grounding there who could help. 4.) I realize on the concrete slab there's no reason to float the floor (for iso purposes) but I wanted to float a floor in the control room in order to run cable to outboard gear and tape machines. After reading dozens of posts for floating a floor on concrete is this right?... ...wood joists (cross joists if over 8'), pvc between joists for cable runs, sand filled between joists, OC 705, 5/8"CDX, 1/2" MDF, flooring? Several posts listed neoprene at some level, should this supplement any of the above materials? Also, dumb question, does the 705 just lay on top of the joists? Where the floor meets the new wall should I use some sort of insulation? 5.) To gain height on the ceiling can I pull down the existing wood planks and use the iso clips from the steel beams and the new walls to make supported staggered joists that extend past the height of the planks? In other words angling into the rafters for another foot? There is approx 1 1/2'between the planks and where the roof starts. Do I need to add mass to the roof to do this? I don't quite know what materials are used for the roof yet. An example could be the united western ceiling. This also would reduce parallel structures as I've seen in many studios and acoustically designed structures. That's what I can think of for now. I appreciate any input and sorry I can't post pics (I don't have access to a camera at the moment) Thanks

hi, 1) If you have the money to lay insulation against the external wall, then it will help. But if you build far enough from the external wall then, maybe no. 2) Gluing perforated platerbord to regular will do nothing! the purpose of perforated plasterboard is to allow some sound into the glasswool behind it. then behind that, on the other side of the frame, would be another layer of regular thick plasterboard. It's using similar science to a slat res. 3)I doubt you will get clean power out of the existing power runs....??? 4) sand filled will work. Don't think of it as a floating floor, it's just a raised floor for the purpose of cable runs. So the answer is MASS MASS MASS. the last thing you want is to mix on a giant drum head. the other guys will tell you more about 703.

Thanks for the responses. So if I choose to hang insulation am I still using something like R19 (pink fluffy stuff) or a different type than whats in the new wall? If I don't insulate then is 1" enough air between the new wall and foundation wall? Is the perforated board in front of insulation better is anyway compared to the drywall? I would imagine there is better high frequency absorbtion. Why was is so commonly used 50 yrs ago? The pwr here in brooklyn is pretty dirty. I'd rather do something now to address common issues than have to go back and redo anything. (I have to pull the existing conduit anyway to get the outlets on the new walls)