Upstairs Studio Questions, Please Help

Ok so my fist post wasn't well structured and didn't comply with forum "rules"...so I'v tried to be more compliant this time round. My name is Brendan, from ireland and Im just finishing secondary school (High school). Im interested in pursuing music production as a career and will be taking courses in that field in due time but for the time being Im interested in getting a basic studio set up for myself and kinda need some help with design. I havnt got any equipment as of yet but I'll be buyin all that over the summer. I wont be recording anything very load...just singers, acoustic guitar (and other acoustic instruments), probably elictric instruments aswell but they will all b conected directly through a line in so no loud sound problems. Also my house is totally detached and neighbours are AT LEAST 15meters away on either side of the studio and noise polution is really a problem with anyone anyway. So here's the info: Basically its an upstairs bedroom that I want to convert. The floor is some kind of wooden construction, and quite frankly EVERYTHING can be hear both up and down stairs. The height at the center of the room is around 8' and slants down to 3' 11" at either edge. All existing walls are stud walls except the "window wall" Iv attached drawings of both the existing space and proposed design, As Im a newbie, Im not sure if the design is solid or not so more than anything I'm looking fo someone to say, "Yes, this is fine and will work reasonably well..." or "No, this is a terrible design...Go start again.." (lol) This is a basic overview of the construction Im planing: - New stud walls, (maybe staggered constuction) insulated with Rockwool, to make control room, vocal booth and "air lock" entrance. This should complete a two leaf construction. - Floating all Walls and maybe the ceiling using the "Genie Clip" system. (To help isolate the entire studio) - If i need to float the floors then I would use Auralex U-Boats. (Again to help isolation and prevent sound i/o through floors) - Auralex Wedgies for absorbtion in the vocal booth - Im going to make my own bass traps, (maybe some suggestions?) I think thats it. So to conclude: - Is my design useable/good/stable? or Should i do something else? (Suggestions?) - Should i float the floors? (I'v seen threads say about min/max weight of the floor to make the floating system actualy work and for that reason it may b better not to float it at all...Does this apply in my case?) - Should i use any different materials or are my suggestion fine? - Is the vocal booth too small? - What absorbtion and/or difusion should i use in the control room? - And how much of it? If theres anything else anyone would suggest or offer different ideas I'd b hugely gratefull. Thanks everyone, Brendan.

I forgot to add my budget... Frankly i dont really have a budget tbh, but id like to keep the construction costs under 1000 if possible.. also labour costs arent an issuse...so that 1000 "budget" is only related to the materials needed!

I'v come up with another design option that i think might suit the space better. What do you guys think? Same original questions apply, 1) Should I float the floors? Auralex U-Boats? (Considering its second level with only wooden floor/ceiling) 2) Is Genie clip a good idea for the walls? (or resilliant channel) 3) Would i need to do anything special with the ceiling, (i.e. Genie clip/resiliant channel) 4) Absorbtion or Diffusion or Both? 5) Will either of my designs work? 6) If yes, which is better 7) If no, what should i change? P.S. If there's a reason that no1 is replying to me it'd be helpful if someone could point out why so that i can fix whatever the problem is. Thanks. Brendan.

Brendan - you have more walls than you need. The netrance sound lock doesn't need the additional walls. Also use the space at rear for trapping.

Hi Brendan. Welcome! Just some thoughts, in no particular order: 1) "If i need to float the floors then I would use Auralex U-Boats. (Again to help isolation and prevent sound i/o through floors)". Hopefully, you won't need to do that, since you say that you won't be making much noise anyway. Apart from that, floating a floor needs lots of mass (weight) and your existing floor might not be able to support it. That might be an issue anyway, with the rest of the structure you are planning: it all adds up to a lot of mass. Once you have your plan done, you should probably get a structural engineer to take a look at your plans and your existing floor, to tell you if you actually can do it without collapsing everything into the room below! Here's an interesting thread on floating floors: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8173 2) You said that you plan to build "New stud walls, (maybe staggered constuction) insulated with Rockwool, to make control room, vocal booth and "air lock" entrance. This should complete a two leaf construction.". Correct. But then you say: "Floating all Walls and maybe the ceiling using the "Genie Clip" system." You don't need both. Genie clips and hat channel is one method of decoupling, and building a separate stud wall is another method. But doing both does not gain you anything. Once the drywall is decoupled, then it is decoupled. Decoupling it again isn't useful, and just wastes space, time and money. 3)

Im going to make my own bass traps, (maybe some suggestions?)

Superchunks work great. So do hangers. So do large thick panels of 703 across the corners. 4)

What absorbtion and/or difusion should i use in the control room?

Your room is too small for diffusers to work effectively. Stick with absorption and slot walls. 5)

And how much of it?

How much can you afford? :) Small rooms need lots of bass trapping. 6)

but id like to keep the construction costs under 1000 if possible..

Then you can definitely forget the idea of floating your floor! That takes quite a bit more money to do it right. I doubt that your budget is going to be enough to do what you want, even without floating the floor. 7)

Would i need to do anything special with the ceiling, (i.e. Genie clip/resiliant channel)

Ideally, your inner-leaf ceiling should only be supported on your inner-leaf walls, without there being any mechanical connection at all to the outer-leaf. If you want to use either genie clips plus hat channel, or resilient channel, then do be aware that you will still have to remove the existing ceiling in the room, since the clips or RC should be mounted directly to the joists, and you do not want to have a thin airspace between the existing ceiling and the new one: that would create a three-leaf system with a high resonant frequency, which would be pretty bad for your isolation. So regardless of how you decide to do your ceiling, you will need to remove the existing drywall if you want good isolation. The same applies to your existing walls: the drywall will have to come off, if you want good isolation. If you leave it on, you will have a 3-leaf. 8)

Will either of my designs work?

Your second one looks much better, to me! (As modified by John!) 9)

If there's a reason that no1 is replying to me

You probably just got unlucky! Sometimes this place is like that: People didn't notice your post, or are busy on other things, or expected that someone else would answer. Or the moon was in the wrong position relative to Venus.... :) Don't sweat it if you don't get a response immediately: if nothing happens after several days, then do what you just did: bump your thread, with a polite comment, asking for response. - Stuart -

Great guys thanks a million :D John, that's perfect, ill start working on a 3d version to see where i stand 8) Soundman, Ok, floating floors idea is out the window. So that means that some sound might leak through the floor? it'l hardly be enough to cause any problems i spose. But should i still build a non-floating subfloor? Also, genie clip / RC ill scrap aswell. I'll just stick to the two leaf construction.

Stick with absorption and slot walls.

what do you mean by wall slots? is that slot resonators yea? I was planning to put bass traps in all 12 corners of the CR, (provided i can afford it) :lol:

I doubt that your budget is going to be enough to do what you want, even without floating the floor.

The "under 1000" idea was just my ideal option...Im willing to go over budget to a max of 3times I'd much prefer to pay the money and get it done right. I just want to get it as cheap as possible without sacrificing too much quality... So i think ill go ahead with that design then, (as modified by john). Oh, one other thing. Is it a bad idea to make kind of a raised platform for the sofa and/or mixing area? or should i just keep the floor level throughout? Thanks again, Brendan.