Hello, I have just discovered this excellent resource and am learning constantly whilst browsing the forum. I would like to hear your opinions on the viability of converting two barns into a usable recording space, hopefully this is the right forum for this. This would be a two stage process: the first, to build a live room suitable for recording and rehearsal of live bands (including drums); the second, to convert the second barn into a control room. Below is a floor plan of the available space:
There are a number of issues that I would like to resolve before considering possible designs. First, is the floor space of the live room an adequate size for my intended uses? It is difficult to tell at the moment as it is neither clear nor level.
Isolation is the next issue. The barns are about 40' from the house, and all walls are at least 18" thick stone with limewash. There are no neighbours for about a mile. I cannot judge the walls' effectiveness as sound comes easily through the doors. The roof is made of slates attached to 3" thick beams with no internal insulation. Isolation between the two rooms is obviously vital but absolute silence outside is quite as important.
My first step is to put a wood floor in the live room and build an inner door frame to house a soundproof door to accurately assess what is needed. If this is sufficient soundproofing, I will leave the walls and roof as they are. The barns are part of a listed building so modification of the external structure is not permitted. This also means that the three original doors must be kept (although they may be blocked up from the inside).
Finally, the SketchUp shows that the intended control room barn has a lower ceiling (8'2") that forms a loft space above. Does this allow for optimal room dimensions? My limited understanding and experiments with room mode calculators suggest that it does. The live room's walls are 11'3" high, with the roof peaking to 16'3"; there is a large beam 7' high across the room, as shown in the SketchUp.
If I am successful in converting the live room adequately, my distant plan is to divide this space into a control room and an isolation/vocal booth adjacent. As the walls cannot be modified, visual communication to the live room would have to be via tv screens. Is this a bad idea? I appreciate that these are a lot of naive questions but I would like some advice from experienced designers before I start making plans for an unsuitable space.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Suitable for a studio?
Originally posted at johnlsayers.com, topic 14250.
Hi "JBS", and welcome!
Just a couple of comments for now:
:shock: What a dream! I'm drooling with envy. Your wall is 18 inches of solid stone, all around? That's probably enough to silence pretty much everything short of a hand grenade explosion! So your inner leaf could basically be thin cardboard, and you'd still have good isolation! Sigh! People here would happily kill for such a wall around their room.all walls are at least 18" thick stone with limewash.
Clearly, doors are your big problem. I'm guessing you mean "barn doors"? As in huge flat things that would make good substitute wings for a 747? As in many, many feet high, and many, many feet wide? Those will indeed be a problem. They make your 18" stone walls worthless, unfortunately. I reckon your first order of business is to figure out what to do about those doors. What about windows? Are there any?I cannot judge the walls' effectiveness as sound comes easily through the doors.
I'm thinking that "blocking up form the inside" might be a good way to go. The blocking will have to seal up tight to the stone walls somehow. Are you allowed to cut a smaller access door in those, about the size of a normal door? About 2 meters high by maybe 90 cm, wide, for example?The barns are part of a listed building so modification of the external structure is not permitted. This also means that the three original doors must be kept (although they may be blocked up from the inside).
What ind of floor do yo have now? If it is concrete, then just leave it like that. Or if you like wood, then maybe laminate laid directly on the concrete would work for you. But try not to build anything that has air underneath it: that could end up resonating like a drummmmmmmmmmmm....My first step is to put a wood floor in the live room
That shouldn't be a problem: it's been done successfully. - Stuart -As the walls cannot be modified, visual communication to the live room would have to be via tv screens. Is this a bad idea?