Key posts: My long, one-car garage studio, construction phase

Substantial posts by Bigsby, who started the thread, and by the forum’s most active contributors. 79 of 137 posts are listed.

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Bigsby, 28 December 2010Well, I've been pulled away from this project for several months, now (I hate how work and family etc, etc tend to do that). However, I'm getting to the point where I…
Bigsby, 28 December 2010I forgot....here are some sketches of what I ended up with in the design phase: New Studio side by side III overhead.jpg New Studio side by side III CR angle.jpg New…
Bigsby, 30 December 2010Thanks, Glenn. Yeah, I've been thinking about that; I just thought I'd get a better RFZ for the mix position the way I have it designed. However, another thought I've…
Bigsby, 30 December 2010Glenn--thanks so much for the input. I like the idea of the removable slats or your drape idea--much easier for tracking (and seeing while tracking)! And that was my…
Bigsby, 2 April 2012Well, it’s been more than a year since I’ve posted on my build; progress has been painfully slow, but I’ve been chipping away at it. My exterior leaf is now essentially…
Bigsby, 12 April 2012I've started building the walls for the interior leaf, one at a time. Waiting for a shipment of green glue to arrive before I can attach my second layer of 5/8" drywall…
Bigsby, 8 May 2012Well, I've had a little time to focus on framing in the live room. I framed the two long walls on the floor, and then added two layers of 5/8" drywall with Green Glue…
Bigsby, 29 May 2012Making progress--drywall in the live room is finished. I've now started working on the silencers for my fresh air. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the fresh air…
Bigsby, 30 May 2012Thanks, Stuart, for all your advice! I'm kind of multitasking right now, working on silencers, door seals and my treatment plan for the live room. My plan is to have…
Soundman2020, 31 May 2012Your overall plan makes sense to me, and seems sound (no pun intended!). For a room that size, theoretically you need about 500 Sabins of absorption, meaning roughly 500…
Bigsby, 13 March 2013Well, I haven't posted here for a long time, but I have slowly been chipping away at this project. First I built a "duct" to go from my silencer which lives outside the…
Bigsby, 13 March 2013So my first question for this phase of the project pertains to Helmholtz resonators and the vapor barrier: To review, my wall construction is mostly inside-out on my…

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Soundman2020, 13 March 2013I'm not sure quite how, but you seem to be confusing your isolation with your treatment. I can't quite put my thumb on what it is exactly, but that seems to be the…
Bigsby, 13 March 2013Well, I have a bit of a pit in my stomach now. I hope you guys can help me out with all of this. Here's why I'm feeling sick: My inner leaf walls are already up, and…
Soundman2020, 13 March 2013Maybe it's just the angle that the image is taken, but to me it sure looks like there is drywall on there, in the cavity: Image not preserved: vapor-barrier-01.png It…
xSpace, 14 March 2013True that does seem to be a conflict. The bigger issue is that you have to take the Perm rating of the materials involved in the construction into account to decide if…
Bigsby, 14 March 2013Thanks for the reply, Brien! I'm not sure about perm ratings, but I can describe for you the construction as it currently exists: Outer leaf: cedar siding, 7# siding…
Bigsby, 15 March 2013Yeah, I see your point, Brien. This product could definitely be dangerous for someone painting their wall who doesn't know if they already have a VB! But in my case,…
xSpace, 15 March 2013Your paint should be in the class of "vapor retarder". A vapor barrier, a true Class 1 barrier is indeed aluminum which is why I use the aluminum can reference. Your…
Bigsby, 16 March 2013Hi Brien-- Sorry if I'm beating a dead horse here; I'm just trying to understand this. Are you saying that I should not apply the vapor-retarding paint to the room side…
Bigsby, 18 March 2013Ok, well, after obsessing over this vapor barrier issue for a few days and doing a bunch of homework, I've decided to move forward. I'm confident that I'll be okay as…
Bigsby, 15 April 2013Making slow progress, as usual. I primed and painted the CR for my vapor retarder per Brien's advice, and have built most of the framing for the treatments: slats and…
Soundman2020, 30 April 201338%? Or 38°? Two different things.... :) That's fine. 38% isn't a "rule": just a good starting point. There are designs for soffits that allow you to replace the speaker…
Bigsby, 1 May 2013Stuart, thank you so much for your reply--I can tell you're working overtime on this site (not to mention having a life), so I always really appreciate your feedback! A…
Soundman2020, 1 May 2013Do you mean angled vertically, or horizontally? In other words, tilted forwards so the top is out of line with the bottom, or angled sideways, so the left edge is out of…
Bigsby, 1 May 2013Hi-- After your last Apple comment, Stuart, I became determined to get my Housebuilder plug to work! :) And I finally realized that I had unzipped the files in the wrong…
Bigsby, 11 June 2013I've made a bit of progress since my last post; getting close to being able to start testing the room! I built silencers for the control room: 2 layers of 5/8 OSB with…
Soundman2020, 11 June 2013If your meter has a direct analog out from the mic, then that should work OK, but a good measurement mic is also a good option, plus it means you then have another mic…
Bigsby, 11 June 2013Wow--thanks for the quick reply, Stuart! I'll probably end up getting the mic...we'll see. At this point I just need to install my glass and start testing! Or more…

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Bigsby, 10 July 2013Hello again-- Well, I've downloaded REW, so I guess it's time to do some baseline testing, before any treatments go in. The soffits are built, but there's no insulation…
Bigsby, 10 July 2013Ok-- I've attached a simplistic, but very accurate model of what the CR looks like. I'm embarrassed to be posting such a crude model on a forum with so many talented…
Soundman2020, 10 July 2013Great! Did you calibrate the system correctly? Not just the sound card (interface), but also the SPL levels. The REW manual has some guidelines for that. Or I can PM you…
Bigsby, 10 July 2013Wow--Stuart--you are the best! Thanks for the quick replies!! A couple responses.... I had trouble with this. I set up the loopback connection according to the…
Bigsby, 11 July 2013Back again. I figured out what I was doing wrong when I was trying to calibrate my interface, so I ran tests again, this time with the calibrated interface as well as…
Soundman2020, 11 July 2013There's still something wrong there: It is now showing that you conducted the test at a level of 160 dB :shock: :!: :ahh: If that were the case, your house would be in…
Soundman2020, 29 July 2013Right! :) Because what I'm seeing on the REW results is not very pretty right now! OK, first and foremost: the data is valid, and that's great, but you need to measure…
Bigsby, 30 July 2013Hi again-- Yes, Stuart, I have a treatment plan, at least for the absorption part of the plan. I was hoping to determine slat sizes and gaps for the side wall resonators…
Soundman2020, 30 July 2013It's always a god idea to test the room again after each round of treatment goes in, to see what it did and what still needs to be done. It just takes a few minutes to…
Bigsby, 9 September 2013Hello All-- I've been away for a bit, but I'm now working on the treatment for my soffits. I have what I hope is a quick question. My soffits are quite small, and I'm…
Bigsby, 19 September 2013Well, I decided to go ahead and do hangers for my soffits below the speaker plane. The final dimensions of the hangers were 7" x 25" for the center hanger and 4" x 25"…
Bigsby, 1 October 2013Ok--time for a soffit update. I went ahead and closed up the soffits, so hopefully they look ok!! :shock: I did make sure that all the hangers swing freely; they do not…
Bigsby, 1 October 2013Just as a reminder, here is my treatment plan. I'm thinking of Roxul Soundstop in the stud bays, sandwiching the fluffy insulation which will be stacked in the…
Soundman2020, 1 October 2013That's fine. They aren't very big, so the effect won't be very big, but as long as you see something then it shows that they are freely hanging, and somewhat in…

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Soundman2020, 1 October 2013By the way, I should have mentioned that, if anyone doubts the effectiveness of John's soffit system design, your build has demonstrated definitively that it Sure Does…
Bigsby, 2 October 2013Wow, Stuart--I'm flattered! Thanks for even considering that! :D The only issue with that is that I have my fresh air duct cutting through one of those soffits, which…
Bigsby, 3 October 2013Thanks for your kind words, Stuart, and thank you, John, for the sticky and this wonderful forum! I would be so lost without it! :) I've now completed the next round of…
Soundman2020, 5 October 2013which seems to be a significant improvement, :D That's the understatement of the year! :) Let's take a look at a few "before" and "after" pairs...: First, the waterfall…
Bigsby, 5 October 2013I was hoping you'd say something like that! :D A couple questions: One of the reasons I was thinking about doing a cloud with a hard back was because of my vaulted…
Soundman2020, 5 October 2013The idea is right, but you don't seem to be having much of that problem right now. There are some reflections at around 5ms which might be coming from the ceiling, but…
Bigsby, 10 October 2013Hello again.... Stuart, great idea regarding installing a "non-vapor barrier." Your advice is always so appreciated! Quick question on that back super chunk wall: I will…
Soundman2020, 10 October 2013Nice looking cloud! A couple of other suggestions: On those square patches of wood around where the lights will go, you might want to bevel and round off the edges so…
Bigsby, 10 October 2013Thanks, Simo and Stuart! Stuart--great idea about easing the edges of the square patches where the lights will go--I'll do that. And good point about my hooks--I'll swap…
Bigsby, 11 October 2013While I'm waiting for some feedback on my latest REW measurements, I thought I'd get started on the finish layer of my bezels. I picked up some 3/4" maple plywood for…
Bigsby, 22 October 2013Hello again-- Time for a bezel update. Before I start that, Stuart, I'm hoping you'll have a chance to review my most recent REW test (with new, improved descriptive…
Soundman2020, 10 November 2013Sorry about the delay Bigsby! Been fully occupied the last few weeks trying to fix some acoustic ... errr ... "oversights" in the design of a meeting room for 250…
Bigsby, 14 November 2013Hello all-- I've been busy the last couple of weeks, so it's time for an update. First of all, Stuart, regarding my last REW tests: I think Mike was right (by the way,…
Bigsby, 14 November 2013…continuing…. More photos of the cloud: Image not preserved: cloud cloth batten 2.jpg Image not preserved: cloud cloth complete.jpg I decided it couldn't hurt to add…
Bigsby, 14 November 2013Ok--last installment of this update…. My next step will be to cover the back wall, which currently looks like this: Image not preserved: finished back wall.jpg My plan…
Soundman2020, 15 November 2013Just keeps getting better and better! There's a dip around 1kHz that I can't quite figure out, and it appeared with the "walls" set of data, so that's hard to explain,…
Bigsby, 15 November 2013Simo and Mike--thank you! I really appreciate the encouragement. It's been such a long road--4 1/2 years since I began this project by building an addition to my garage…

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Bigsby, 28 November 2013Hello All-- Time for a short update. I have now completed the back wall to the control room along with the frames for the cloth in the front of the room. Here's a couple…
Soundman2020, 30 November 2013It looks terrible! The only solution is that you dismantle the entire room and ship it to me, so I can re-assemble it in my garage and analyze it for, oh I dunno, maybe…
Bigsby, 5 December 2013Stuart--thank you so much for your kind words--it means a lot coming from you! :D I've adjusted the A7X's as you suggested, although I already had the low shelf at -6. I…
Bigsby, 9 December 2013Stuart, that is music to my ears, as they say! While it's been a lot of fun building this room (in a sort of masochistic sort of way :) ), I'm thrilled to be able to say…
Bigsby, 10 December 2013I just saw an announcement that John posted that definitely applies to me: I have to second what John says above about Stuart and this site in general. It's been a long…
Bigsby, 31 December 2013Happy New Year, All! Here's a quick Live Room treatment update. I decided to cover almost all of the live room ceiling (except for about a 10" perimeter all the way…
Bigsby, 11 February 2014Well, I've made more headway on the live room, so here we go… Once I had "dry-fit" the clouds I took them back down and installed the Roxul Safe 'n Sound: Image not…
Bigsby, 11 February 2014…some more wall treatment shots…. Image not preserved: LR all slats.jpg Here's the finished resonator wall: Image not preserved: LR resonators 1.jpg Image not preserved:…
Bigsby, 22 February 2014Hi Folks-- A quick question (I hope): I've been building a desk for my control room and I'm wondering about the potential for reflections off the top. I've got a couple…
Soundman2020, 22 February 2014Simo is spot on! It's not just the desk, but also what goes on top: usually the console. Angling the console (or even angling the desk itself a bit in extreme cases) is…
Bigsby, 23 February 2014Thank you, Stuart and Simo, for the quick replies. I should have posted a bit more info to show how the desk will be used, so I'm attaching a few more photos. The frame…
Soundman2020, 3 March 2014As long as the fabric is "breathable", that's fine. There isn't much airflow through there: just convection flow, due to the warm air rising from the rear of the…
Bigsby, 3 March 2014Hello--I've been a bit busy with work, so haven't had any time to think about my desk, much less do anything about it! Thank you for your reply, Ryan. I did the mirror…
Bigsby, 5 May 2014Hi Allen-- I just used neoprene from an old scuba wetsuit, about 5/8" thick. I think that it would have been more proper to use solid neoprene from a roll (or however…
Bigsby, 6 May 2014Hi Everyone-- I've finally gotten around to doing REW tests with and without my desk in place--the concern being that the desk is so close to the speakers that first…

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Soundman2020, 7 May 2014It's looking pretty good, Mark. Better than I expected. By the way, your "With desk left" measurement is all messed up: no use. something must have happened while that…
Bigsby, 8 November 2014Well, here is a long, long, long, LONG overdue conclusion post. Sorry for the delay if any of you have wondered if I ever finished (Perhaps I've been long forgotten!)…
Soundman2020, 9 November 2014Mark, I'm looking in the dictionary but not finding the right superlatives to cover what you have accomplished! "Amazing" and "Awesome" really don't quite go far…
Bigsby, 15 November 2014Stuart, I'm humbled by your kind words--thank you. As I said before, this build would have turned out much differently without your advice, and I'm eternally grateful.…