UK, Studio in garage, wall fabric & internal advice

Hello all. First post on this rather excellent forum. I'm in the process of building a small mixing/overdub studio in my garage. It's a mainly roughcast structure so it's currently being bricked up form the inside, door and windows removed and rough casted to maintain the externals. Due to the limited space i'm going to have (after brick and soundboard/insulation up i'm gonna be left with 5m long x 3m wide), parallel walls are unavoidable. To combat this, instead of doing the normal Brick/frame/insulation/drywall, I was thinking of doing it this way - Brick/drywall/frame insulation and then covering the frame and insulation with fabric, thus in theory deadening the room and avoiding having to spend extra ££££ on bass traps etc. Would this work? Also, does anyone know where in the UK I could locate a suitable fabric? Much thanks in advance for any help, I'm diving head first into this and could really use some advice.

First, please read the stickies, or you won't get much response here. :)

It's a mainly roughcast structure ...

What do you mean by "roughcast"? Can you be more specific?

...so it's currently being bricked up form the inside

So you are building a brick wall just inside whatever is on the facade of the building? If that "roughcast" facade has much mass to it, then you will already have two leaves after you add the brick wall, so adding a third (drywall) leaf inside of that might not be a good idea, especially if low-frequency isolation is important to you! but you didn't say what you are trying to accomplish, nor how much isolation you need, so that's hard to judge...

i'm going to have (after brick and soundboard/insulation

Why use soundboard when drywall is so much cheaper, kilogram for kilogram, and just as effective in stopping sound? Sound waves don't care how much you paid for each kilogram of mass in your wall...

...instead of doing the normal Brick/frame/insulation/drywall, I was thinking of doing it this way - Brick/drywall/frame insulation and then covering the frame and insulation with fabric,

I'm not certain, but it SOUNDS like you are talking about building your inner-leaf inside out. Correct? If so, then yes, that will work very well, and this forum is probably "the home of the inside-out studio" anyway, so you are in the right place! However, you still need to leave an insulation-filled air gap between the brick and the drywall, of at least 4 inches. (Unless, of course, that drywall would have been your third leaf, in which case you don't need it at all, and your room will end up being brick on the inside, which WILL need lots of acoustic treatment).

in theory deadening the room and avoiding having to spend extra ££££ on bass traps etc.

Dead rooms are a bad idea. They sound... well ... errr... "dead"!!! :) So if you want to build inside-out, then use some of John's designs and ideas, such as his slot wall, so that the room is not too dead. You'll probably still need bass traps anyway, since that is a small room.

Also, does anyone know where in the UK I could locate a suitable fabric?

Pretty much any fabric would probably work for that purpose, as long as it allows free passage of air. If you can blow through it easily without feeling any resistance at all, then it should work. The acoustic properties of the fabric probably aren't too critical in that specific application.

I'm diving head first into this and could really use some advice.

You are in the right place, then! This is (arguably) the best forum on the internet for home studio design and construction. Just look around, and start learning. There is a huge wealth of solid, sound, scientific information here (unlike some other places that are full of myths and legends and half-truths). So dig in, and start reading. I've been doing that for a year now, and I'm still going... But read the stickies first. - Stuart -

Stuart, many thanks for the reply. Have read through the stickies and am a bit more clued up.

What do you mean by "roughcast"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roughcast - It's about 1 inch thick with (not a very strong structure) hence the decision to brick up from the inside. There's going to be a few layers to the structure when it's finished - Roughcast/brick/drywall/frame/insulation/fabric

you didn't say what you are trying to accomplish

Basically i'm resigned to the fact that it's unlikely i'll be able to record drums in there due to the residential location so i'm looking to build a decent room for mixing and for it to be soundproofed enough to record bass and vocals inside the booth.

Why use soundboard when drywall is so much cheaper

I'm using http://www.british-gypsum.com/products/ ... dbloc.aspx Which I thought had a larger mass than standard drywall?

I'm not certain, but it SOUNDS like you are talking about building your inner-leaf inside out. Correct?

Yes. Not sure at what stage you add the fabric though (may seem dumb but I am completely DIY illiterate) Do you add the fabric as the frame is being put up or can you just do it after the structure is in place?

Dead rooms are a bad idea. They sound... well ... errr... "dead"!!!

It won't be completely dead, the ceiling and the booth will have the drywall on the outside so there will be some reflections. Apologies for the scattered and possibly ill-informed nature of my posts. I'm in the situation whereby I've had very little time to prepare for this (the garage has now been bricked up and the joinery and electrician start work tomorrow morning ). The labour is costing next to nothing due to one reason or another but the downside is they had to make an immediate start giving me very little time to plan. Much thanks for your help.

Hi Ramsay, fabric supplier in UK: Bradbury, really nice and beautiful 'acoustically transparent' fabric range HERE - it says it's for upholstery application but you can use it on walls (they also have a wall range HERE)my mates at Music4 did and it's absolutely stunning, I will too. Hint: if you mention that you're trade and specifying a studio, price is halved to around a tenner for the range I posted a link of. Nice.