¡Nunca he ido a Guatemala! Lo mas circa ha sido Panamá, creo. Si alguna vez voy por allá, definitivamente iré a visitarte!
Yo have the right idea about the design, for sure. If you were to hire John or one of the other people here who design studios, yes, you would get a design with attention to all of the details, or as many as you want. (The design fee would depend on how much of the design you want them to do.) I'd suggest that you should e-mail or PM John directly, and ask for his quote for designing your studio. I heard he is busy with a large job right now, so if he can't take on your job then let me know.
But what I was talking about with getting hung up on the details of ratios, is that you don't need to do that anyway: ratios are only part of the whole design concept, and only apply to totally rectangular rooms anyway. If you have any angled walls, then ratios become meaningless and you need to use FEM/FEA to analyze the room, which is a lot more complicated. And ratios are only a guideline, to get you started. They help to get your design in the right general area, but beyond that they are not important. Yes, many internet web sites do tell you to go crazy with ratios, and get them correct down the last mm, but that is NOT necessary. For those of us who actually understand the basics of acoustics, it is clear that you ratios are not what makes a studio great or lousy: they are a part of that, but if you just design a studio to a perfect Sepmeyer or Bolt ratio, without paying attention to all the other details, then it will most likely work out pretty lousy. What I was saying is: ratios are not the most important thing. Just use them to stay away from bad ones, and get close to a good one. It's like the so-called "38% rule": that is also not written in stone, just a good guideline. The same for "splay your walls 6°". That might or might not work, depending on may other things.
Designing a studio is not just about following a set of fixed, rigid rules: if you did that, you could still end up with a lousy studio (and very likely would). Designing a studio is a lot more than just a handful of rules. And in any event, no matter how much you follow the "rules", you will STILL need to actually test the acoustics once the basic structure is complete, in order to see how it REALLY behaves, and so you can design the real treatment. If you designed the treatment based only on prediction, I can guarantee that it would turn out pretty bad, because even minor variations during the building process can have major effects on how it actually works. It will never be exactly as predicted. So you always need to run an acoustic test before treating, and normally you treat in stages, running several tests in between each stage and the next, to "tweak" the room until you get it right. Reality seldom matches theory.
If I were to paint my car myself, I know I'd have to leave out some details because I'm no pro at that. But if I take my car to a professional painter, I'd expect a near-perfect paint job, and is up to me to mantain it that way. Is that how things work?
Exactly! That's the way it works with studios, too. If you want it done right and don't have the time or inclination to learn how yourself (it takes years), then you hire someone who already knows, to do it for you, and let them worry about all the little details that you might not even think of. And there are LOTS of details like that! Changing what seems like a minor detail in the design can have major repercussions somewhere else, that you never even considered. That's why you might want to hire someone who knows, to do it right.
I'm really not trying to be an ass or anything. I just don't want to build my studio the "latino" way (no offense to any other latinos here) where most things are done just until they are OK, not until they are perfect. I see a lot in my country and I would be proud of a studio that would stand out among the rest.
Not an ass at all! Rather, I'd say you are being very smart about your approach. I'm Australian, but I've lived in Chile for nearly 30 years, so I know EXACTLY what you are talking about with the Latino mentality. It's very frustrating, sometimes. You never get used to it, even after so much time. I totally get what you are saying!
So here is an important point: the design might be fantastic, but the actual BUILD is just as important. You will need to either do the work yourself, or hire an excellent contractor to do it, and even then you'll have to be all over them, all the time, double checking everything. Just like with the design, lack of attention to detail in the actual construction can damage or destroy the isolation or acoustics of your studio. For example, if the maestro forget to seal under one of the walls, and there is a tiny crack, just 2 mm wide and meter long, then the isolation of that wall will be cut in half, or worse: it will not isolate at all. Simple, tiny mistake, major consequences. Or if your design has tuned slot walls in it, and the maestro doesn't bother to measure the gaps between the slats, or uses the wrong thickness, then it will treat the WRONG frequencies and will NOT treat the right ones, so the acoustics will be terrible. Or if the design has a panel trap that needs 6mm plywood, but the maestro doesn't have any on hand and decides to use 9mm instead.... well, that destroys the entire purpose of the trap: it will no longer absorb the frequency it was designed for, and instead will absorb one that does not actually need absorbing at all! Etc. So attention to detail in the construction is just as important as attention to detail in the design. You will need to supervise carefully, and each day send lots of photos of the build in progress to the designer, so he can check that the maestros are doing things right, and not trying to cut corners or do it the Latino way. That's why we always insist on so many photos here. It's a good way to spot problems and errors in the build, before it is too late.
If you compare two live rooms, do you consider better the one with more natural reverb?
That depends on what you are trying to do, what your design goals are, and what type (genre) of music you will be recording. If you plan to record Baroque orchestras, pipe organs, and 200 person choirs singing Handl or Bach, then yes, you'd need a place with 2, 3, or 4 second longer reverb times, or even longer. On the other hand, if you are recording soft, breathy, sexy, romantic Jazz vocals, then you might want reverb times under 400 ms. Plus, it isn't just the
total reverb time that matters: it is the reverb time
in each octave or frequency band that matters. There are guidelines and "rules" for the RT in each band, for each of the various types of music and sizes of room. It would be a bit complicated to go into all the details here, but the guy who designs your studio should know all about that, and will ask you detailed questions about the type of music you want to record, the types of instruments, types of vocals, how many at a time, etc. He will also probably suggest more than one live room if you have diverse needs, such as maybe a separate drum booth, vocal booth, guitar booth, piano room, etc., or he might even suggest variable acoustic treatment in the live room(s), so you can modify the acoustic response as needed, changing it for different types of recording. There are many options, and a good designer will take them all into account, and interrogate you about your design goals. The control room is a different matter: that is fairly well defined, and needs to be flat, neutral and with well controlled reverb times, but the live rooms can be whatever you want it to be, depending on your needs.
I know there are lots of "in betweens", but is there a limit on this? For example, is a cathedral too big?
Nope! A cathedral is the perfect size... for a pipe organ, symphony orchestra, and/or large choir playing music that needs long reverb times. But a cathedral would be a terrible place to record jazz, rock, pop, rap, gospel, techno, or a bunch of other genres. And the same applies in reverse: a room with reverb of 600 ms would be good for some of those genres, but totally inappropriate for the orchestra and choir doing a recital oc Bach's Brandenburg Concertos. In other words, it all depends on what you plan to do! That's the job of the designer; to take into account your needs, and design a room that meets those.
But can somebody that has been there maybe make a reference on how the live room sounds approximately? eg. 1 Sec plate reverb, or 3 sec room reveb, etc.
Once again, it depends. Some studios have long RTs, others sort, based on what the normally record in there. Some have variable acoustics. The general tendency these days is to have a room that is NOT dead, and has some character to it. But one key point is that the natural RT of the control room must be a little shorter than the natural RT of the live rooms. If not, you would never hear the tails of the live room during the mix. But once again, these are all points that the designer will take into account.
Something that I've been searching and is only available in large special orders is rockwool (a truckload at least). Is fiberglass a good replacement?
Fiberglass is fine too. Mineral wool and fiberglass are the two most-common materials. They have slightly different characteristics, so fiberglass needs to be a little less dense than mineral wool, but once again the designer will take that into account in the design, and will specify what type, what density, what thickness, etc. in his design specs.
Or should I definitely find get rockwool?
Not necessary. If you can't get mineral wool and can only get fiberglass, then fiberglass is fine. Not a problem. Look for stuff with density in the range 20 kg/m3 to 40 kg/m3, roughly. If you can get it in semi-rigid panels (like OC-703) that that is great. If not, then no problem.
Any other names or brands for rockwool in the construction business?
"Rockwool" is a brand name. The generic name is "mineral wool", or "lana mineral" in Spanish.
Anyway, I'd suggest that you start by sending a message to John by e-mail or PM, and ask him to quote for your project. If he can't take it on, then PM me for more options.
Saludos!
- Stuart -