New build small studio in hillside

I'm considering building a studio, or rehearsal room, at the bottom of the garden. I've attached a photo of the site I've got in mind. This is between 50-100m from the nearest houses (on one side; on the other it's about a mile of woodland). There was previously a barn on the site, but this is long gone. The plot is approximately square (and could easily be adjusted as trapezoid, or non-parallel walls, etc), extending beyond the kid's Wendy house at the left hand side. I'm going to be using it mainly for rehearsing drums and electric guitar, and a priority is preventing sound leakage. I'd like to record as well (ie. the acoustics should actually be good!) but it can be just one room inside, for now. The major drawback is that I'm on a very tight budget. I'll be doing as much as possible with found or reclaimed materials. The obvious route seems to be to use the existing back wall, and build up the sides, getting as much solid mass around the studio as possible. I'm considering digging down a bit, so you walk down steps into the studio, then using the removed earth to create a living roof. This would leave me with solid earth on three of the sides. I'd most likely build up the walls with breeze blocks, and whatever other mass I could find, and add a couple of layers of double glazing at the front (I'm thinking of second hand PVC windows) and two sets of PVC doors for entrance/exit. I'd need a ventilation system with baffles as well. I quite like the idea of the studio being almost invisible from the outside, as if it's built into the hillside. Hopefully this will be enough to prevent sound leakage, which would leave just the acoustic treatment to deal with. The next step is drawing up some plans in Sketchup, which I've yet to learn, but I thought I'd put this up now in case anyone has comments, there's anything I've overlooked, and so on. Thanks for listening!

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Thanks! I think I did get most of those, apart from the country I'm in (Britain, near Manchester). To recap: it's a new build site, in a hillside. Some of the work is already done, since there was previously a barn there (see picture, which contains measurements). I'm not sure if it's much like any of the studio setups shown, since having one wall of earth already there makes it a bit like a cellar, but the other walls (and roof) not being built yet makes it more like a freestanding building. And I'm free to make the remaining walls out of anything I like (eg. the roof could be covered in earth) and in any shape (eg. not rectangular). I'll be using the room mainly for rehearsals – electric guitar/bass, acoustic drums, vocals. I will do some recording as well, but there's little need to subdivide into live room and control room at this point (although it would be nice to keep the option open for later). Maybe I need to set up a vocal booth though? Finally, there's a little isolation needed due to neighbours: on one side (the side where the Wendy house is in the photo) is about a mile of uninhabited woodland/marsh, and leakage in this direction is unproblematic (eg. the door could go here). But on the other sides are houses, about 50-100m away. The budget is my main difficulty. I want to do as much as possible using second hand or reclaimed materials. I've already got most of the building equipment (eg. cement mixer, scaffolding, workshop with the usual items) I'd need.

m-ga wrote:

To recap: it's a new build site, in a hillside. Some of the work is already done, since there was previously a barn there (see picture, which contains measurements). I'm not sure if it's much like any of the studio setups shown, since having one wall of earth already there makes it a bit like a cellar, but the other walls (and roof) not being built yet makes it more like a freestanding building.

Actually, what you have is a situation while different in that it has a reduced noise level interference from external noise due to the unique positioning...it doesn't change anything. Since what we see is only an abuttment on one side. If It had this on all four sides there might be some cause for celebration. But you are still going to have to pour a slab, stand some walls and build a roof. And most likely do a room-in-a-room type build.

I can see that, but I'm also thinking of digging down a little, maybe 3 feet. This will create headspace. This then gives me something close to solid earth on all four sides. Two sides slope anyway, so I can build up earth around those. And I can also make the roof out of earth. I'll have plenty of earth to do all this with after I've dug down. If I make the side walls (ie. on the sloping section of the hill) very strong, eg. from breeze blocks or something similar, they might be massive enough to attenuate the sound (particularly if I build up earth on the outside of them). I'll probably have to do this anyway, since I'm going to need something like a girder to support the earth roof. There might be a patio on the roof as well, concrete slabs. This leaves me with only one wall, which will be positioned nearest to the viewer in the photo, which will be difficult to insulate. This is where I'm intending to put the windows and the door system, and the ventilation would also work out of here. Building in this way, maybe I can eliminate the need for room within a room? I can just build a single false wall where the doors and windows are. It'll be easier to see what I've got in mind once I've drawn up plans, but the idea is to build up solid earth all around the structure apart from a 3-4 foot high section where the windows and doors are. The door section will have to go a bit higher than the rest, but this would be separated from the rest of the room anyway (ie. you'd go down some steps then through a second door).

I've had a go at Sketchup (my first time using it) and have attached a very rough plan, no windows/doors/stairs etc yet, but it shows the kind of thing I've got in mind. The model in the top left is from a similar angle to the photo. The roof would be covered in earth (the earth removed during the excavation) and the sides built up with earth. From the outside, all you should see is a window at the front, and perhaps a bit of wall. I've added the little room at the back to avoid an L-shaped main room; perhaps it could be used as a vocal booth. Comments on the above, and the following, would be appreciated:

• I've avoided a square room. Is there an optimal non-square shape I should go for?
• Where is most of the sound leakage likely to come from? For example, is it likely to be through the door, through the window at the front (I'm thinking of a false wall here with two sets of double glazed windows) or through the bit of wall at the front of the top left hand model?
• I'll need to treat the inside of the room acoustically. How much space is this likely to take up?
• I've got the main room fairly tall at the moment, but it might not need to go that high. However, I was thinking of a slanted ceiling (ie. so it's not parallel with the floor), would this be worthwhile?

"This then gives me something close to solid earth on all four sides." I appreciate your situation but digging down 3 feet doesn't change anything. In order for this to be the most effective, with your line of thinking, you have to dig down as far as it takes to put the walls totally below grade. Again, you are in a unique situation but do not let it fool you in that you can skimp here and hold out there and you will still get whatever isolation specifications you are trying to achieve. When all is said and done, the roof will be the weakest link, and this is again the most common area in the breakdown of isolation. But I do look forward to your continued progress, I think you have a very good chance to hit whatever mark it is you are attempting to achieve.

I could also arrange like this (see picture). I think this might make the sound insulation better in the main room (and worse in the vocal booth, but that's less important), at the expense of daylight. Maybe, though, I am thinking about this the wrong way. I've got the idea that if the walls are thick enough concrete, little sound is going to get through. I already know I don't need to worry about the back wall or the floor (if sound could somehow be absorbed here, it would be an advantage) so my major sources of sound leakage will be the side walls and the roof. If I put the staircase at the front, I've got less side wall to worry about. For the roof, I'm thinking of covering it with something like patio slabs (and pouring concrete between them), and then putting a thick layer of earth and grass on top (the earth I've excavated). What am I missing? Will it be possible for me to build the walls massively enough to stop the sound? Or am I better off abandoning this, building the structure more lightly, and constructing a room within a room?

you might consider a concrete roof as well to make a complete concrete bunker. then add in treatment walls and ceiling to address the air exchange. given the distance to your neighbors and the earth damping involved, you should have a pretty high degree of isolation. you might make some tests outside as-is to determine how much sound actually traverses the landscape. i would make the walls straight and the ceiling angled. then add inner treatment walls for angles, absorption etc.

Yes, I was thinking of paving slabs for the roof, but could just pour concrete. Then I was going to cover it with earth and grass so it looks nice from outside, people can walk on the top, and so on. Could glass bricks be an option anywhere? It would be nice to get some natural light in, maybe via the roof or front wall. What kind of sound attenuation do they offer? Would it be better if I used a double layer of them with an air gap?

you could set up "light pipes" in the roof to sit above the earth grade to allow light in as well as some strategic placement of glass block around the perimeter to let in light.

But once you install something of this nature, you have to either install a fence around it or somehow make it unaccessible to foot traffic since the potential to fall into the room is heightened.