Need input and help with a home recording studio design

Hi fellas, this is the design that I came up with to build my professional home recording studio. It's far from ideal, and that's why I'm sharing it here so the experts can help me refine it :D MAIN DETAILS: 1. A new floor and a new roof will be constructed for the recording studio. That means, the floor to ceiling distance is not fixed right now. Supporting wall and floor structure is definitely concrete but I don't know about the ceiling yet, because I have to first consult an architect or an experienced contractor about the safety of my design. 2. My budget is limited but I can't say exactly how much (very sorry!!!), but building material and labor is cheap here. 3. My house is a concrete structure. 4. I have a plan to install a 5,500-6,000 BTU single split air conditioner and an air purifier in the sound lock vestibule, so that I can implement a dead vent system to exchange air between there and the rest of the rooms (except storage) LIVE ROOM DETAILS: 1. I want it to be spacious and lively enough to record a mini orchestra and a large drums kit, yet the RT properties can be altered from lively to less lively using portable acoustic screens. 2. The room will sit on a floating floor, with laminated plywood finishing. 3. Bass traps will be installed at possible corners. 4. Will mount some 1D and 2D quadratic root diffusers. 5. Slat Hemholtz resonators will be installed on the side walls. ISO BOOTH DETAILS: 1. Need input for the RT properties. Short or very short? 2. The room will sit on a floating floor. Finishing is open for suggestions. 3. Bass traps will be installed at possible corners. 4. Slat Hemholtz resonators will be installed on the side walls. CONTROL ROOM DETAILS: 1. I have in mind to angle the side walls by 12 degree, and maybe install a slat Hemholtz resonator on each wall. 2. I have in mind to install two or three acoustic clouds, to give my clients an impression that the ceiling is sloped, hehe :D 3. Still debating with myself whether I should go for 60 or 90 degree monitoring angle. 4. Bass traps will be installed at the front and real wall corners. 5. A pair of 1324 1D QRD will be mounted on the rear wall. Depth is 170 mm (6.7 inch) 6. Distance from the rear wall to its entry door is approximately around 150 cm (5 feet) 7. The room will sit on a floating floor, with laminated plywood finishing. 8. Communication with iso booth is using cheap color CCTV solution. 9. Triple glazed window is 6 mm thick/glass. 10. Will be using both near-field and soft-fit mounted monitors. Near-field is a pair of Genelec 1029A with its sub, the 1091A. Passive room monitor is open for suggestions ;) I think that's about all I can remember. Please forgive me if my post somehow violates the forum rules but I sure hope it's not though. Just in case it does, please let me know so I can correct it. Thanks! :)

welcome! are the two toilets already there or just planned? what is your neighbor and noise situation? if you're going to record large groups you will want that room pretty quiet. if you put say 20 people in there, you'll need more AC than what you have planned, maybe consider a forced air system. given its a new construction, plan on 3.5m for the CR ceiling and 4.5m for the live room ceiling if possible. don't go less than 3m. if you can do a complete concrete shell for the outside, and even float concrete floors for the inner rooms, that would be very good. maybe block walls on concrete floating floors?

Hi Glenn, thank you for the quick reply and suggestions! Let me recap some of the details. The only loud and noisy neighbor is my 5 year old nephew and 6 year old niece, screaming and running around the house, which is why I decided to build the recording studio on a new floor, with a staircase access outside the house. And I want to open my studio 24/7 because the area is surrounded by 24/7 business premises like fast food restaurant, local food restaurant, and mini mart (5 minutes walk from my house is a city shuttle bus service that runs 14 hours everyday starting from 4AM, and 15 minutes from there is an exit and entrance for a 60-120 minutes drive interchange toll highway to travel to and from the capital city) Anyway, this is the result of a long and simple test I conducted on a similar concrete structure using 85dB frequency test tones and a SPL meter. Deviation from test equipment (+/- 4dB) is not included. 24" (60 cm) thick, sand filled, metal mesh reinforced concrete floor (not shown in the picture): STC 72 approx. 33dB reduction @ 40Hz approx. 38dB reduction @ 60Hz approx. 40dB reduction @ 80Hz 6" (15 cm) thick, sand filled, brick concrete wall (thick black lines in the picture): STC 60 approx. 18dB reduction @ 40Hz approx. 23dB reduction @ 60Hz approx. 28dB reduction @ 80Hz 6" (15 cm) thick, metal stud staggered dry wall partition with insulation (green lines in the picture): Wants approx. STC 40/42 (at least 12dB reduction @ 40Hz) 12" (30 cm) thick, metal stud staggered dry wall partition with insulation (blue lines in the picture): Wants approx. STC 44/46 (at least 14dB reduction @ 40Hz) Metal stud is composed of a solid aluminum with ASTM standard of zinc alloy coating to protect against oxidation. I prefer metal stud compared to timber stud to avoid vicious termites attack. As this moment, I'm leaving out the ceiling because like I've written in my initial post, I don't know what kind of ceiling I'm getting until I talk to an experienced architect. However, I'm inclined to believe that for a safety reason, he/she will choose a light weight hanging dry wall ceiling to reduce the building stress load. How thick? How good is the isolation? Will see :roll: The two toilets you asked, don't exist yet. I put them there, because it's a good spot in term of aesthetics, imho :mrgreen: The proposed height for the control room and iso booth is 410 cm/4.1 m (13.5 feet), and for the live room is 600 cm/6 m (20 feet). Anything else, you want to know? :)

just seems like a lot of toilet for a small place... it sounds like this is a commercial venture. any considers for handicap access, fire safety, load-in/out for professional bands / orchestras (besides carrying it up and down stairs)? as a busy commercial district, it might also make sense to consider the traffic sounds etc creeping in through a light weight ceiling. what about a kitchen and lounge area?

Two toilets because one is for men, and one is for women. The size of each toilet is 5' (W) x 5' (L), enough for a toilet seat and a washing basin (and a mirror of course). Handicap access, and emergency system in case of fire, yes. Busy traffic sound, no. Kitchen, and lounge, no. I originally had a plan to put a water dispenser machine so that my clients can make a hot coffee or a tea (on the house), and a mini fridge for the soda suckers, in the corridor/hallway leading into the live room. Unlike the major label artists you have in The States, the ones we have here don't have the luxury to call up a personal 5 stars hotel chef to cook up a meal in the studio's kitchen. And so, the solution for my no-kitchen problem, I have a copy of the menu from each one of the nearby 24 hour restaurants and food stalls instead. My clients can pick what kind of meal they want from the menus, and order it by phone. However, I'm very much aware as you are that I should have a dedicated space for a waiting area, where my clients can sit and relax while they're enjoying the meal, hence, a few hours ago, I was still busy drawing more sketches :) I'm stumped..., and starting to feel that my plan is just a wishful thinking.

I'm stumped..., and starting to feel that my plan is just a wishful thinking.

Then you must be doing it RIGHT! Welcome to the wonderful, logical, rational world of studio design. It's so easy! After all, you only need a couple of walls and a door. How hard can that be??? :) :shock: Seriously, that seems to be the way it goes... How much of that space is already built, and which walls absolutely cannot be moved? - Stuart -

The space where my studio will be, doesn't exist yet, but when it does, the dimension is 30' (W) x 42.5' (L) x 20' (H) or 9 m (W) x 12.75 m (L) x 6 m (H), with permanent 6" (15 cm) concrete walls and 24" (60 cm) reinforced concrete floor. Considering the floor has to withstand a lot of weight, I think there's gonna be some 12" (25 cm) x 12" (25 cm) concrete pillars elevated from the ground to support it. Kinda like the Level 2 house I previously owned.