Bushido Audio Productions, version 2

Hello again guys!, it's been a while So the project is in full throttle now, working on getting the construction permits right now. Here's a snapshot of the basic blueprints of the studio. My problem now is air conditioning, I've been reading the threads here and my budget is on the 2 mini split thing but I'm concerned about the fresh air problem. I have a kind of hallway to the left that leads to the outside, would opening it from time to time solve the problem? I was considering opening a vent to let fresh air come in....but since I'm too close to the highway my isolation is critical... don't want to ruin the isolation. Thanks for your help! Juan Pablo

Bumpity bump

I have a kind of hallway to the left that leads to the outside, would opening it from time to time solve the problem?

To be honest? Nope! Just opening a door or window won't make air move in and out of the room. There has to be a reason for the air to move. And since the studio will be a double-isolated double-sealed system, there isn't any reason at all for air to move. You have to make it move, with a fan. So say you put a fan in the doorway, blowing air in. Once again, it is a double-sealed envelope, so the air you blow in has no place to go! So you need ANOTHER fan somewhere, facing out, blowing the stale air back out of the room. So you have the situation where, every five or ten minutes throughout the entire day, you need to stop working, get up, open the door, get out our two fans, set them up in the doorway with one blowing in the other blowing out, wait five minutes or so until enough air has moved in and out, then take down the fans, put them away, close the door, and go back to work. For five minutes, then you need to repeat that all over again! Doesn't sound like an efficient work-flow plan to me! :) In any event, you are in Costa Rica, right? So you'll be blowing in hot, humid air (not to mention dust, insects, etc...) , which your air conditioning system then has to cool and dehumidify. So all day long, you'll have sudden wild swings in temperature and humidity in your studio: do you really want to do that to your equipment and instruments? Some condenser mics, for example, are sensitive to temperature and humidity changes. So are most acoustic instruments. You'd be constantly re-tuning everything after each "door cycle"! I'd strongly recommend that you should build a proper ventilation system, with two ducts, silencers, fans etc., correctly calculated for your room, and get it all designed properly to maintain a constant temperature, humidity and airflow. - Stuart -

Thanks Stuart, that was my guess, I'll contact a profesional and see how it goes. Thanks again! JP

Ok so I contacted a profesional for the Air conditioning problem, I´ll be hearing from him soon. Another question that I have is about the thickness of the slliding glass doors. The guys who sell them have either 3mmx3mm (6mm) laminated glass or 6mmx4mm (10mm) laminated glass. Since I´m using 2 doors on independent frames and walls, as the forum recommends, should it be enough with the 2 doors being 6mm? or should I use the 10mm? they have not gave me the price for each yet but they told me that the 10mm is much more expensive than the 6mm. Thanks! JP

Well, thicker glass is always better. no doubt about that! But the real question is: what do you need? The rule of thumb is that the glass should have at least the same surface density as the wall, and the air gap between the two leaves of glass should never be less than the air gap between the two leaves of wall. The idea is to keep the entire wall, including doors and window, at the same level of isolation. So if you can post a quick reminder of how your wall is built (number of layers of drywall and/or other materials on each leaf, plus thickness of each layer, plus distance between inner leaf and outer leaf), then I can do the math for you, and figure out which of those options you need. - Stuart -

Thanks a lot Stuart! My walls will be 2 layers of 1/2 inch drywall-fiberglass-10cm gap-fiberglass-2 layers of 1/2 inch drywall. I got the prices from the door guy....they´re between $3500 and $4000 for the 3 doors....this is too much for me, way too much. Is there any other kind of glass that´s cheaper that may work? or should I go for regular doors with a window?. Since my space is very small I would prefer the sliding ones of course....I desperatley need advice on this guys, thanks a lot! JP

My walls will be 2 layers of 1/2 inch drywall- ...

I don't recall how much isolation you need for your studio, but 1/2" drywall is not recommended in general: too thin, too flexible, mass too low, resonant characteristics not so good, etc. It is much better to go with 5/8" drywall.

I got the prices from the door guy....they´re between $3500 and $4000 for the 3 doors....

That sounds about right: about 1000 each seems to be the going rate for that type of sliding door. But if that is outside your budget, then simple solid-core wooden doors with small glass windows in them would be a good substitute. Build them yourself to save money. Build them in several layers of high density materials, and put in the biggest piece of glass you can afford. That would be my approach. - Stuart -

Thanks man, that was my guess. Yeah 5/8 will be the thickness of choice then. "If" I would still go with the sliding doors, what thickness would you recommend due to my wall characteristics?

"If" I would still go with the sliding doors, what thickness would you recommend due to my wall characteristics?

Laminate glass is very roughly three to four times as dense as drywall, so you need about one third the thickness to maintain the same surface density. Two layers of 5/8" drywall is about 32 mm. One third of that is about 11mm, so you'd need the "6mmx4mm (10mm)" glass to maintain the same surface density as the rest of the wall. - Stuart -

damn....hehe ok ok, so I´ll check my budget and figure this out! thanks again Stu. Cheers! JP