Myriad Productions - Another Studio Building Journal

Background I just recently completed recording my very first full length album with my band. Although I have dabbled in recording for years, this was my first undertaking of a large project. I’ve been through various stages of gear lust and over the years of recording demos and single songs…and now the album…I’ve decided that I want to provide a service to bands in my area and farther, if I can reach them. I am computer guy by trade so I’ll have a full service studio that provides tracking, mixing, and SOME mastering. I’ve done all of those things but I’m most comfortable with tracking and mixing. Mastering, not so much…but in a pinch, I’ll do it. I will also provide photography for bands, band management if necessary, and web design. That being said, me and my wife just recently sold our home to help me realize my dream, which has been on-going for quite a while despite my short story above. We came in contact with a builder that is very good at what he does, is willing to take direction, and loves challenges. Location I am in the beautiful landscape that is the Northwest Arkansas metro area. As I have stated, I sold my current house and we are building. The new house and studio are in a subdivision on a large lot. The lot happens to be pretty secluded within the subdivision and I have a nice view of some rolling hills, pastures, and even some deer in the distance. That being said, there is a house directly to the right of my lot (when looking at my lot). I’m respectably far from any main road and the subdivision itself is not located directly on a main road. Across from the subdivision itself is an elementary school. Purpose for Posting Honestly, I’d just like to share in my build with pictures and ramblings and also get some much needed help along the way. I have Rod’s book and I have been overloaded with information from this forum and others that have been so kind as to give me advice. That being said, I’m sure I have forgotten some things that I have read and so I’d like people to chime in where there are deficiencies in my plan/build. Current Plan Like I have said, I’m building a house and a studio on the same lot. The studio that I have planned out is approximately 1,400 sq ft. It contains an office, a lobby, a full bathroom, a live room, a control room, a second smaller live room, and an airlock. My plan is attached in PDF form so feel free to view that. Ignore the lot placement stuff as we have already chosen the lot. The house is also on the plan but ignore that as well. The outside of the studio is to be all brick, with the membrane (is that the right word?) wrapped in a moisture barrier (Tyvek or the like). The entire studio will be built on a concrete slab and will use a 2 leaf system for the sound rooms with the office, lobby, and bathroom being a traditional system that is connected to the perimeter frame. I'm assuming this will be okay. The airlock will share a wall with the lobby. This 2 leaf system is not reflected in my 2d drawing because that drawing was a rough up on my 3d drawing. That being said, my 3d drawing wasn't entirely accurate either but I'm going to be going and doing a 3d render will by builders draft guy and I'll hammer out the 2 leaf system then. On the sound rooms I will be doing 2 layers of 5/8” drywall with Green Glue between them. I thought about doing it on the entire structure, but I thought that would be overkill on the office, lobby, and bathroom. Thoughts? The ceiling in the CR will slope as close to 12 degrees as I can manage it. The maximum ceiling heights will be 12 ft with the exception of the lobby, office, etc. Between the walls, I plan on using just the standard R13 batt or whatever it is. The HVAC thing I have finally decided on is a variable speed 2 ton system with flex duct. Plenty of S curves for the ducts and then I can modify them with silencers down the road if need be. One area I’m stuck on right now is fresh air exchange. I’m not sure if the typical closing and opening of doors will provide enough fresh air exchange so I’m open to suggestion there. I just really fear the repercussions from an isolation standpoint with that. But, I also don't want to suffocate to death, either. On flooring, I’m going to be doing wood laminate in the entire building except the bathroom where there will be ceramic tile or some other kind of tile. I’m contemplating whether or not I need to use QuietGround Rubber Underlayment from Sound Isolation Store or not under my wood floors. Thoughts there???? For doors, I’m going to be using single solid core wood doors on the airlock and control room. For the room where the two live rooms connect, I’m using double solid core wood doors. In addition to this, I’m thinking of putting these door seals on all of the doors. Not only that, but I'm going to try my hand at making my solid core wood doors into Rod's super doors. We'll see how that goes...ugh. Electrical, at the point, gives me a big question mark because, honestly, I’m scared of it. I don’t know the first thing about it and all I have told my builder is “plenty of clean power”. The entire studio will have its own security system and networking. I have recently read about 3 phase power thanks to a post in this thread. I've told my builder about it and also linked John Sayer's site where he references that. Other than that and earth grounding, I think I'm okay on electrical. Thoughts? How Loud Well, I’ll be recording loud rock bands. If my band is any indication, that’s pretty loud. I haven’t ever taken a reading of how loud we get but I would count on a full rock band tracking at once with tube amps and heavy hitting drummers. I’m concerned about disturbing my neighbors and I’m concerned about sound getting in. However, the size and location on my lot in the subdivision does work in my favor a bit. The houses aren’t crammed real close together. Budget The studio build itself has been calculated into my house build and I like the estimate I was given. It includes everything…all the drywall, doors, flooring, etc, etc. The thing I have left is the acoustic treatment after the fact. This includes the door seals and any 703 that I put up (clouds, bass traps, etc). I don’t really have a budget for this per se, but I would like to keep it around 2,500. I also need money for cabling and I’m thinking about 2,000 for that. This, of course, is all in USD. If I’m dreaming, please let me know. I’m kind of shooting in the dark…I’ve asked around about budgets for this stuff and haven’t really received any straight answers. Rough Plan Like I have said, I attached the PDF below. I’m meeting with the draft person next week or the week after to “supervise” while he works on the detailed drawings and 3D model. Thanks all! I don’t think I skipped anything. I always have to review the posting sticky before I start a new thread so I hope I covered everything well enough. This thread will also serve as my picture journal for the project and in the interest of visuals, let’s move on to the PDF I’ve been promising.

An important read that was penned by JohnSayers is in the link in my sig. I highly recommend you read it, it is a great collection of information older then a lot of people on this board ;)

xSpace wrote:

An important read that was penned by JohnSayers is in the link in my sig. I highly recommend you read it, it is a great collection of information older then a lot of people on this board ;)

Very cool, thanks.

We came in contact with a builder that is very good at what he does, is willing to take direction, and loves challenges.

Probably the first things I'd check about your builder is his experience with building studios! House-building experience isn't that important here, but experience with building decoupled MSM walls sure is!

My plan is attached in PDF form so feel free to view that.

I'd really suggest that you do it in SketchUp, since that is what practically everyone here uses. PDF is 2D, SketchUp is 3D. If you want help from folks here, they need to be able to rotate your model all which ways, look at it from any angle, zoom in and out, fiddle around with layers, insert and remove walls, windows, furniture, equipment, etc. You cannot do that with 2D. SketchUp is cheap (as in "free!"), easy to use, and powerful. It's kind of the standard on this forum.

The outside of the studio is to be all brick, with the membrane (is that the right word?) wrapped in a moisture barrier (Tyvek or the like). The perimeter of the inside of the studio will consist of a 2x6 staggered stud plate on a concrete slab.

I guess I'm not getting the picture here. So your outer leaf is brick: that's good. That's lots of mass. Seal it well and it will make a good outer leaf. ( It sounds like you plan on building that wall on a separate foundation, not on the same foundation as the slab? ) So you have a brick outer leaf: But then what is the purpose of doing staggered studs within that for the inner leaf? The way I see it, you don't need staggered studs: just a bunch of single stud frames with several layers of drywall on only one side of them. In any event, I don't see any staggered studs on the PDF plan you posted.

The sound rooms (LR1, LR2, and CR) will consist of a 2 leaf system that separates them from the other rooms.

Once again, that isn't apparent on the plans you posted. All that I see on there are standard walls: 2x4 with drywall on both sides. That's nowhere near what you'll need for internal isolation.

I’m thinking that we’ll attach the perimeter walls to the sound room walls, but I’m not sure if that would 100% negate isolation.

Yes, it would. Attaching inner-leaf to outer-leaf in any form whatsoever, even with a single nail, severely damages your isolation. You builder must take extreme care with this, which is why experience in building MSM walls is rather important. if he doesn't understand the concepts and the reasons, then he will most likely screw it up: you'll end up paying a lot of money for very little isolation.

I think I’m also going to double up on the drywall on the ceiling but I’m not sure if it’s necessary. I would venture a guess that it is.

Yep, it sure is! If you have 2 layers on the walls, then you need 2 layers on the ceiling as well, or you might as well not bother. The idea is to keep the same mass density all around the entire structure, including doors and windows. So if you figure (for example) that you will have a density of 25 kg/m2 on your walls, then that is what you need for your ceiling too. And your doors. And your windows. If you deviate from that at ANY place, even a small area, then that will be your weak point, and your isolation of the entire room will only be as good as that one place. In other words, if you build all six sides of your room to an STC 70 rating, but then you put in an STC 25 window, well then your entire room is now STC 25, and you wasted an awful lot of money! Once again, your builder needs to be very, very aware of this, or chance are he will screw it up, by forgetting to seal a small crack somewhere and thus destroying the isolation of the entire room.

For doors, I’m going to be using single solid core wood doors on the airlock and control room.

Then that will be your weak point. You will need to make those doors as heavy and tightly sealed as possible. Go with Rod's "superdoor" design. Very massive, triple-seals, door closer, extra heavy duty hinges, etc. Anything less will not do teh job.

Electrical, at the point, gives me a big question mark because, honestly, I’m scared of it. I don’t know the first thing about it

Then it might be a good idea to hire an electrician who has done several studios before, successfully! One who understands star grounding, ground loops, isolation transformers, separating technical power from service power, etc. All your electrical work (plugs, switches, conduit, ducts) should be surface mounted on the finished inner-leaf, if possible: you don't want to go poking holes in your fantastic MSM walls, floor and ceiling except where you have absolutely no choice: Each hole is a potential destroyer of isolation, so avoid them like the plague. Any holes you do make will have to be done very carefully, then equally carefully isolated, beefed up and sealed, back to the same standard as the rest of the wall.

Well, I’ll be recording loud rock bands. If my band is any indication, that’s pretty loud.

So you'll be producing around 115 to 120 dBC in there. Which means that you will need HEAVY isolation between rooms and to the outside, if you plan to track well with no bleed.

However, the size and location on my lot in the subdivision does work in my favor a bit. The houses aren’t crammed real close together.

So your big problem will be outside noises getting in, and noise transmission between rooms. That works out to needing about the same amount of isolation in all directions as if you had a sleeping baby just outside... Anyway, take a look at the link that xSpace posted: Most of what I outlined above is mentioned in there, and explained in more detail. - Stuart -

I actually do have a sketchup of the studio. That PDF was a prelim drawing that thebuilder gave me. We're doing a 3d model next week that the builder will use for the build. Unfortunatley, there aren't any real studio builders close to me. My builder has some experience in home theater building which is the best it's gonna get in my parts. He's willing to do whatever I ask him to do, but this will be a learning experience for both of us. I'm doing what I can with what I understand. I've read a TON of information but I can't retain all of it because I have yet to apply it. I'm definatley not shorton the research end.

A typical brick facade with a wood framed wall is, ah, typical construction here in the USofA. Problem with a typical brick facade is that due to the binding together of the brick and the framed wall via brick ties, essentially this is one leaf. To even consider a staggered stud wall at this part of the build is an immediate compromise and should be reconsidered to installing a completely decoupled double framed wall. I wrote an article earlier this year for RainRecording that you can read easier then I can re-type what it is that I am want to say here in reference to your build, the importance of the wall design as Stuart is also referencing: http://www.rainrecording.com/pro/studio ... dproofing/ Bottom line is, there is a lot to consider. I have built a house or twelve in my day and I would rather have me doing the work, as a builder, then the kids down the street with know earthly idea of construction. So your house builder guy is a good candidate for doing the job, but there is much to learn, much to consider and if a person in the building industry tells you that they can do it another way, better, you get references and supporting documents before you proceed.

M_R, When you say brick wall - do you actually mean brick veneer - with straps tying it to exterior sheathing - hence the staggered stud wall (plywood on the exterior face - drywall on the inner face..... Or is it really a double wythe brick wall - structurally independent of the inner frame? Rod

I wrote an article earlier this year for RainRecording that you can read easier then I can re-type what it is that I am want to say here in reference to your build, the importance of the wall design as Stuart is also referencing: http://www.rainrecording.com/pro/studio ... dproofing/

Nice article, Brien! Lays out the basics clearly and simply, in a way that anyone can understand. Good job! - Stuart -

rod gervais wrote:

M_R, When you say brick wall - do you actually mean brick veneer - with straps tying it to exterior sheathing - hence the staggered stud wall (plywood on the exterior face - drywall on the inner face..... Or is it really a double wythe brick wall - structurally independent of the inner frame? Rod

No, I mean brick. Like, regular house red brick. Being that we haven't yet broke ground, I can still stipulate changes. And it's not that the 2D drawing wasn't considering a 2 leaf system...it's that it was simply a rough draft done by my builder just so he understood the angles and such. When I go do the 3D drawing with his drafting guy, that's when I'm going to specify the 2 leaf system, etc. I just tried posting my SketchUp File but it's WAY too big to upload. It's a little over 3 megs.

Myriad_Rocker wrote:

I just tried posting my SketchUp File but it's WAY too big to upload. It's a little over 3 megs.

Look here: viewtopic.php?p=94780#p94780

Eric_Desart wrote:

Myriad_Rocker wrote:

I just tried posting my SketchUp File but it's WAY too big to upload. It's a little over 3 megs.

Look here: viewtopic.php?p=94780#p94780

Thank you, sir. My SketchUp file is still too large to post directly on this site. It comes in at 1.85MB and even zipping it up doesn't get it below the 500K mark. So, even though it's a general no-no, I had to put it on MediaFire...but I'll leave it there. Here is that file. I had Rick "Fitz" do this for me to help me out. We had discussed doing everything as a staggered stud system, but I'm now considering doing just the sound rooms as 2 leaf systems and leaving the office, lobby, and bathroom connected to the 1st leaf of those rooms. At least I hope that's how you're supposed to say it. I'm not totally down with all the lingo yet. I understand more than I know how to say in words. Thoughts?

Anyone care to comment on or suggest a different layout?