Whisper Studios, Kokomo Indiana

Hello everyone. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jeremy Mang. I've been an admirer and dreamer watching this site for the better part of a year and a half. Today I finally created my username and will begin posting. I got into engineering and all of this somewhat serendipitously. After grad school, attempting to find a job was going no where. I had a pro tools rig and began using it. Here I am two years later, needing a bigger space. I just bought a large ~2300 sq ft building here in Kokomo, Indiana. The entire thing wont be used for the studio. There will be a lounge in part of the building. The reason I am posting is because I am in the planning stages. (I hope to do a build diary from demo to completion as we go!) We have the building and I've gone through a number of mock ups for the floorplan. I will be doing the construction myself, with the help of friends and family. But I'm kind of nervous as I am excpecting most of this is foreign territory for me. My goal with this is to be able to record bands.~100-110db I produce a lot of rock/metal but this needs to be a versatile space, with a fantastic sounding live room. Though my passions lie with live recording symphonies and operas.... ah.... (seriously) :mrgreen: Let see if I can get pictures to work correctly here. Here is the layout of the building as it stands currently. I should say that there are no close neighbors, the outermost walls are concrete covered in stone, the ceilings are all 10" (there is a dropped ceiling that I will be removing) Here is what I'm proposing to do with the space. Please be brutally honest here. I'm trying to maintain the flow within the space the best I can. Really the only things that can't be moved are the reception area in the front, the bathrooms, and the mechanically room in the back of the building. My Budget is $15,000-$20,000. Working on sweat equity is this doable? Thanks guys! Jeremy

Hey guys, I apologize for bumping my own post. I know sometimes it takes awhile to get a reply. I know all of you are quite busy. I just wanted to make sure I didn't breech etiquette somehow in my post. Did I leave out something important? We begin demo tomorrow morning on the space. I'm hoping to post regularly on a build diary. Just want to make sure I'm not starting off in bad direction. Thanks guys, J

?question? That center wall that length-wise divides the CR/LV from the lounge/office space ... is that a lode bearing wall ?? And the doors that are shown on that same wall ... is that pre-determined ?? As for your layout [and I'm not a designer] ... There are structural issues that are not being shown on this floor plan. For example ... isolating between the various rooms ... you are only showing a single wall. As you search through the wealth of info on this site, you will see many 'double walls' with only 2 leafs. Just quickly viewing your proposed layout ... it looks like you could have a great place to build in. Unfortunately, the plans posted only show a generic layout. Also curious if the traffic flow, and layout orientation is fully realized. Particularly involving the control room. I'm stalling you till the 'Big Guys' get here to see your thread :) hmmm ... another question. This is going to be a commercial facility ??? I see the main entrance into the building ... is that a back exit there ??

RJHollins wrote:

?question? That center wall that length-wise divides the CR/LV from the lounge/office space ... is that a lode bearing wall ?? And the doors that are shown on that same wall ... is that pre-determined ?? As for your layout [and I'm not a designer] ... There are structural issues that are not being shown on this floor plan. For example ... isolating between the various rooms ... you are only showing a single wall. As you search through the wealth of info on this site, you will see many 'double walls' with only 2 leafs. Just quickly viewing your proposed layout ... it looks like you could have a great place to build in. Unfortunately, the plans posted only show a generic layout. Also curious if the traffic flow, and layout orientation is fully realized. Particularly involving the control room. I'm stalling you till the 'Big Guys' get here to see your thread :) hmmm ... another question. This is going to be a commercial facility ??? I see the main entrance into the building ... is that a back exit there ??

Hey! Thanks for the reply. Sorry I've been away we have been demoing the area the last two days. **This is a commercial building but we are trying to maintain a relatively low price point as possible... I'm sure everyone does. Generic statment I suppose. I apologize for my lack particulars. (first timer) I am planning double walls between CR/LV and in shared walls between LV and Iso Rooms. I had posted the plans that went for permitting. The Inspector didn't want double walls shown on the floor plan for some reason. "Just show me one wall" They are very lax here. No there are no load bearing walls in the area at all. Which makes it nice. We are trying to save money were we can... leaving as many structures intact as possible is desirable. We were going to hopefully save time and money by removing doors to that lengthwise wall and patch it up. Also beefing up the LV side with and "dual wall setup" and room treatment. After being in the space. I'm thinking about actually using the wall with all those doors to divide the studio side with lounge side, patching all those doors up. That would give an an extra 4 ft in the live room and control room. I've been brushing up on my Sketchup skills. I will post a floor plan with that as I know its much easier to see details and comment on that. Once I find my camera cable I hope to start the build diary! Thanks again, I'll get my act together and post again. :? J Wondering about what you mean with traffic flow and control room.

the walls are one thing, the ceilings and floors are also in need of isolating assemblies as well. sound is 3D and does not care about the budget so when having a limited budget the details become even more important as does expectation setting. assuming the floors are concrete on earth, then room within a room construction (and if the ceilings are supported by the walls, the walls are load bearing) should give reasonably good results assuming you also take care to beef up the exterior and second leaf interior walls. ensure you plan out the HVAC and the wiring as well since air exchange is critical and too many penetrations (use surface mount electrical where possible) will reduce your isolation.