Building small rehearsal/recording space - advice needed

Hi everyone, I've had a good read through the forums trying to get together the info I need and was hoping someone could give me some advice before I drive myself crazy!! I'm looking to build a small rehearsal/recording space in my garden for my band. The garden is roughly 10 metres by 10 metres and we were planning to build it in one of the far corners from the house, which would put it furthest away from us and the neighbours All I really need is a simple rectangular shed type structure without windows that I can soundproof enough for a rock band to make noise in, and for us to record our music without disturbing the neighbours. In terms of internal floor space, 4 metres by 3 metres (after all the internal soundproofing etc) would be big enough to fit our four piece band in, and my recording PC. Budget at the moment is around £7000, and i'll be getting a builder friend of the family to do most of the work, so hopefully I can get enough info to present a specification to him. I've checked all the planning and building regs and we should be ok there. I have the following questions I was hoping someone could help answer: 1) What would be the best wall structure/materials to use for this? 2) Would a pitched or flat roof be better for keeping the sound from getting out? 3) Our soil is not in danger of subsidence / flooding or anything else. Which foundations should I be using for damping the sound? 4) I'm not looking to get anything fancy like air con etc but what kind of air ducting should I be using? 5) Is there anything else I need to consider when planning this out? Thanks very much Jon

First i would have a look at the link below: http://johnlsayers.com/Recmanual/index.htm Use the left hand construction section as reference.

Would a pitched or flat roof be better for keeping the sound from getting out?

i believe this would be more of an acoustical difference rather than a sound transmission. From my understanding a two leaf, decoupled system with insulation between leaves (within the air gap) is probably what your looking at.

Our soil is not in danger of subsidence / flooding or anything else. Which foundations should I be using for damping the sound?

(from my research of this) I had read that it is very difficult (or takes a lot of effort) to vibrate a concrete slab, that is built on the ground, due the soil below it. For this reason a floating floor is usually not required in a lot of studio designs. For these reasons i don't personally know why a concrete slab for your structure wouldn't be sufficient.

Is there anything else I need to consider when planning this out?

more information on what you plan to do. what levels do you typically play at? Get a db meter and check those levels to see what your dealing with.

I've checked all the planning and building regs and we should be ok there

does that mean that your building something like a shed for example? if so do a search for shed on this site. I remember reading a thread about someone adapting a garden shed for practicing in. As this maybe built something similar, it may give you and idea of what you'll be working with.

Hi, Thanks very much for the advice. I had a good look around this site and pieced together what i needed, and found that johnp did pretty much what I wanted to do in his thread here: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9556 I took a lot of the ideas from there and adapted it to my needs, and completed the build a couple of weeks ago! It works really well for keeping the noise from escaping, and I had my first band practice this week which was great! I'll put up some photos and what I did later in case it might be helpful to others. I just need to make some bass traps etc to treat the room for recording and i'll be in music heaven!! This forum had been a real life line for me and i've learnt a lot! Cheers Jon

Congratulations! Andre