from shed to studio?

Ok this is not to scale but please critique placement of everything..

I would replace the slanted absorbers and flat one across the top of your drawing with just flat 2" rockwool panels (cloth covered but NOT backed) and spaced so that the rockwool has about 2" air gap behind it (a 4" wide frame will do this) - this will give you more usable space, and the slanted stuff on the opposite side will kill any flutter between that wall pair. Same with the slats on either side of the door; not necessary, may or may NOT need any absorption there so try without it first; you can always add more absorption if the room's too live, but space is at a premium here. If you're not doing any critical mixes in there, but mainly just practice, I wouldn't worry much about symmetry; you'll never hear it with a couple of drum kits and a metal band playing in there. I would also build the slats behind your drum kits with the lower of the two REVERSED in angle; in other words, peaked in the center with the shallow parts of the traps at the outer edges... Steve

I do plan on recording/mixing and whatnot, but i'm sure I can also add/replace later. One other question, we are tuning everything to around 300hz, what about the highs? With the wood flooring and the traps at 300hz, I still think some of the highs will be loud and ear piercing, will the traps also get rid of that or what? In actually putting the measurements of the absorbers in the real world, I tweaked the corner traps for 12" depth from wall, 24" would have taken up way too much space. For the side wall absorbers, I'm going to have to build four for each wall and stack them so I can get them high enough right? Unless 4' ones will do. In the diagrams, John varies the slat width, how do you know what freq it will be absorber when you can't use the calculator for that, should I even worry about that or just stick to my orignal plan with one slat width? Edit: Crap, I just read some more posts (always more to read) and from other comments, the corner trap won't work effectivley if it's any smaller than 24" from end to end? Thats just too big for my room. What should I do? I wanted to get them all done today at my friends shop because it's my only day off, I hope i'm not making a mistake.

Short on time, but here's an idea; no slats, just basic absorbent across corners; this will take care of more highs, and is easier to build. shifting the panels at the bottom of the drawing will kill flutter without using so much depth. Best part is, you can just lean rockwool panels up against the walls and see if you like the sound, before you commit to building frames or anything... Steve

So in a nutshell, 12" corner traps work or don't work? Is the absorber behind the drum set slatted or just a big panel? How big are these panels? 2x2? 5x5? I'd still like to build the resonators and I think we had a good plan before, i'm just unsure on the corner traps. Ok, going off www.realtraps.com I bought 1x6x8 pine, some screws and some fabric to cover it. Build a 2'x'4 frame/box for the wall panels and 2' by how tall my heart desires for the corner. Simple enough? Insulation with fill 3" which will leave actually 3" gap from the wall. Does this sound ok? I looked at various web sites/posts/links and they all may use different materials but all in all, just insulation stuffed in a box, some with a gap in the back some without. What is the freq range these will be absorbing? Another question, I like the ease of building these, is it possible for me to use panels through out the entire room? Instead of using 1x6 to build the frame, use 1x8's to widen the air gap between the wall and insulation and make a huge one, or connect a bunch of them to cover the entire drum wall? How would these work as a drum shield, or seperator? Possibly build 3 and hinge them together so they swivel? Worth it?

If you mean 12" along each wall, that will give about 18" width of absorbent; it will do SOMETHING, but not enough, or at low enough frequencies - a 24" along the wall measurement gives about 34" wide absorber, with about 17" depth at maximum; this is reported to work pretty well in almost any room. If you have 24" wide batts, you could put them across the corners and see how it works; that would be about 17" along each wall from the corner, and would stick out 12" into the room (bisecting the corner angle that is) Absorption frequency; check out this http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3378 For inch/feet use, change 344 to 1130, that's the speed of sound in feet per second. Answers will be ALSO in feet. Your 6" total depth would get you down to about an octave below 1/4 wavelength, or around 220 hZ; deeper by a little for non-perpendicular incidence of sound. Your frame idea, deeper behind the drums, will work fine; generally, people recommend that you use at least the same depth of air behind an absorbent as the thickness of the absorbent. HTH... Steve

Ok, I got the door seal the other day, I plan on putting it in this weekend. I need to install the AC and Stucco and thats it!! For the AC, from backtracking through this thread, Foam insulation for the attic, on the roof only, with the facing against the sheathing. Have the AC blow cold air into this room, with a fan somewhere blowing into the ceiling. I can't figure out a feasible way to duct straight from the outlet of the AC into the ceiling.

See if this helps -

Maybe i'm a little out of it right now, but I don't seem to understand the diagram. This AC has been a pain in the ass and I haven't even done anything with it yet.

What part is confusing you? And you're right, the AC stuff is a pain in the A$$. This is one area I'll probably hire someone to do for my room.

Hey dietcookie, Perhaps you missed the fact that the two illustrations are different perspectives of the same layout: the first one is a side view, whereas the second one is a top view. The second illustration shows that the ducting goes through a couple of 90-degree turns, which will help prevent sound from escaping a bit. I had to look at the illustrations a couple of times myself to pick up on the difference between the two views. Hope that helps...

Sooo, D-C ??!? You need more clarification, or did Aaron and Keith get you going? (Enquiring, mindless, sleep-deprived, demented, aimlessly wandering psychotic robots wanna know... :? )

Ok I get it sort of, but Is the AC just blowing freely into the attic or is there actual ducting from the AC? So there is no fan in the cold air duct pushing the air into the studio?

Right; the entire attic is a "cold room" - the AC unit cools the attic, the fan in the RETURN duct pulls warm air out of the room, the decrease in pressure inside the room causes the cool air at the BOTTOM of the attic to drop into the room through the lower duct, and the AC unit re-cools the air in the attic as necessary. Actually, the upper, warm air duct and fan, should be as near the TOP of the attic as you can get it, at least where it dumps into the attic air space... Steve

Ok anything I should keep in mind, should the cold air duct end be somewhat close to the cold air outlet at the AC? and the hot air duct air as high as I can get it and far away from the cold? Different subject here, but on hanging the rockwool panels, plastic anchors with hanging wire ok? Whats the best way to do this without loosing too much STC?

Ok anything I should keep in mind, should the cold air duct end be somewhat close to the cold air outlet at the AC? and the hot air duct air as high as I can get it and far away from the cold? Right on all that - the diagrams are pretty much to scale. Different subject here, but on hanging the rockwool panels, plastic anchors with hanging wire ok? Whats the best way to do this without loosing too much STC? For ceiling, I would use long pan-head sheet metal screws into your RC - no worse STC than the regular drywall screws that are already there. You may be able to find some "U" brackets to screw into the RC, which would leave you a hanger point; then, some fender washers and picture hanging wire, threaded through the panels 3" in from corners and one in the center. Kind of like this... Steve

Sorry for lack of updates, been putting on chickenwire for the stucco..I was going to get the stucco going today but April showers came in ...

Well, Stucco is done and everything is in. I built 16 of the rockwool panels. 1x6 framing with the insulation batts in it. Takes up alot of room, makes the room tiny but its perfect for just recording and band rehersals. The panels make the room sound amazing, it's dead sounding but then lively. I am very satisfied how it came out. On the subject of "sound-proofness", the door was warped sitting outside so it's not flush with the door seal, but you can barely hear anything about 30ft away. Inside the house, forget about it unless someone is banging away at the double bass. At night, i'm still unsure if I can play I havent had a chance to test the sound with my neighbors yet. It's not completely soundproof (nothin is right guys?) but good enough for me, time and money was a factor so from what I have spent, I am defenitly not dissapointed. Thanks to all that helped, especially steve, pics and sound clips to come soon.

Now that you're experienced, you could always build the original plan beside this one and compare the two :wink:

dietcookie, Do You have any pictures of the finished room? I thinking about doing a 12x36 shed to studio plan, and would like to see how it turned out.

yeah, this is exactly the thing i'm going for! I'd love some pics one very important question. i'm gettig a really good deal on a box of evo-stick silicone sealant (a box of 25 tubes for 50 euro). to do the caulking. am i wasting my time and money on these in terms of airtightness. in other words is it imperative to purchase ACOUSTIC caulk or is it a sham. thanks.

Acoustic caulk is definitely NOT a sham; first, every type I've seen comes in the large contractor size tubes, which are 3 TIMES as much as the "home-owner" kind (29 oz. vs. 10 oz) - with a bit of looking, these large tubes of acoustic caulk cost just a little more than the SMALL tubes of regular caulk. Next, about the only "regular" caulk that won't shrink and crack (leaving you with leaks in your construction that will weaken low frequency isolation) is GE's "Silicone II" stuff; a 10 oz tube of that costs AS MUCH as a 29 oz tube of OSI, or USG, or any of the other acoustic caulks. If you plan on your construction being together (and functioning as a studio) for more than about 6 months, I would NOT bother with the regular stuff, or you'll wonder why after 6 months to a year your neighbors are complaining about the noise, when they didn't notice it before... Steve

dietcookie wrote:

. . . sound clips to come soon. . .

It's been a couple of months and we're dying to see the photos! :)

sharward wrote:

dietcookie wrote:

. . . sound clips to come soon. . .

It's been a couple of months and we're dying to see the photos! :)

make that 1,5 year!....

First post in this thread from dc was Apr 28 2004; last post was on May 23 2005. A year-long project.... and still no pics 3 yrs later :(