New member, new room design

Hi there I'm brand new to this site, and brand new to build sound-related things :) so much reading and learning to do... and it looks like there's a wealth of good stuff here My intention is to build a rehearsal/recording room with these features:

on a sloping 1 acre block in rural Melbourne rural fire station approx 30m away downhill on one side (with a very loud siren), and neighbour approx 30m away downhill on the other side approx 10m from my house within a shed/garage/barn of approx 20x15m, also to be built vision is a live/rehearsal room, a small control room/airlock, maybe another small room for vocals/storage have approx 12x8m usable space for all sound room purposes which might make my rehearsal room perhaps 8x6m unless I build it as a lower floor level set back into the slope (budget dependant), in which case it could be ~17x8m height to be decided, depending on budget and good acoustic design - approx 3m no clue as to budget yet :) primarily for band rehearsal & drum practice, and maybe a bit of entry level recording for said band drums & band = loud rock looking for isolation from outside, preventing too much noise escaping, and a good sound inside no idea how much "too much" is at this point :) have downloaded Sketchup - looks great, but have to work out how to drive it

so that's me I look forward to some lively discussions about the project But first, much reading, then many questions :)

Hi "drumphil99", and welcome to the forum!

so much reading and learning to do... and it looks like there's a wealth of good stuff here

Yup! For sure! On both counts... But the good thing is that you found us, and you are now in the right place! :)

rural fire station approx 30m away downhill on one side (with a very loud siren),

Ouch! And also probably some rather loud firetrucks coming and going occasionally? Do yourself a big favor, and get hold of a sound level meter. Beg, borrow, or buy, but get one somehow, and measure just how loud that siren is, and how loud the trucks are, and how loud YOU are. Also find out how quiet you need to be: ask your local municipality for their noise regulations. The difference between the "How loud" and "how quiet" numbers, is the amount of isolation you need. That's the starting point for defining the type of construction that you'll need.

have downloaded Sketchup - looks great, but have to work out how to drive it

Yup! It's really powerful, and very useful, but a bit quirky to get the hang of it. It takes a while to figure out some of their concepts (like "components" and "groups" and "layers" and "scenes"), but once you get into it, it's a great tool for designing studios. Anyway, welcome! And I'm looking forward to seeing your design and following your thread! - Stuart -

thanks stuart so the shopping list starts: 1x sound meter