mastering suite build

Hello, I'm currently looking for a space to build out a proper :D mastering studio. I already own a tracking/mixing studio and only need enough space for a small suite and small lounge/office. I would like to know the following: 1. Is it possible to build a mastering suite on pier and beam? 2. What are the minimum dimensions for a mastering suite? 3. Where can I find a small, proven design plan for a mastering suite? Any input is appreciated. Thanks, Stephen

I was hoping to get some input and help here and yet, still no replies. Am I missing something in my questions? Thanks, Stephen

Hi Stephen, and welcome to the forum! :) It's a busy time of year, and there aren't many moderators active right now, so it can take a while before one of us gets to your thread. Unfortunately, that's the nature of free volunteer-run places like this! There are only so many hours in a day, and there seems to be a lot of activity on the forum lately.... but I'm sure someone will comment on your thread soon! - Stuart -

Stephen, are you really expecting to get a free design for a Mastering Suite off a forum??

Hi John, for some reason I didn't get an email notification that you had posted a reply. I thought the first sentence of my original post clarified why I was asking the questions and I thought this might be a good place to get some guidance to help me make an informed decision when looking for a space to build out. If by writing "design plan" instead of "floor plan", I gave you the impression that I was looking for free, detailed, design plans with a bill of materials, I'm sorry. Recording studios can be designed with multiple configurations, with various sized tracking rooms, iso booths, machine rooms, etc. based on the user's space and the sound characteristics they want for each room. On the other hand, a mastering suite is a single, well-designed listening room with a minimum amount of furniture and gear that may cause additional early reflections, etc. With that understanding, I assumed that over the last 50 years of acoustic science that taking nodes, reflections, etc. into consideration, the question of the minimum dimensions of a proven, mastering suite design has been answered and a simple plan already exists. I'm just looking for some basic information and a simple floor plan like this..http://www.johnlsayers.com/Studio/Mainp ... rriage.htm to inform by decision making process when looking for a place. Thanks, Stephen

Stephen, if what you are looking for initially is the minimum dimensions for a studio, then yes, there are guidelines. Both the ITU and EBU (among others) have published specs on what is considered "minimum". The ITU document is ITU-R BS.755-1. That one, in turn, references ITU-R BS.644, ITU-R BS.645 and ITU-R BS.1116, which in turn reference others. Basically, for a "critical listening" room, the ITU specification states that the minimum floor area for normal stereo work (2.0 or 2.1) should be 20 m2, and the maximum 60 m2. But for a multi-channel room (eg, 5.1, 7.1, etc) the minimum floor area should be 30 m2, with the maximum being 70 m2. The height is not defined, since it flows from the other conditions: The are also a lot of specs on maximum and minimum volume, room proportions, room shape, listening geometry, correct room response (in both the frequency domain and the time-domain), speaker characteristics, listening levels, dynamic range, early and late reflections, background noise levels, and a large number of other things. Those are generally considered a good basis for designing a studio. But they only tell you the "what", not the "how". In other words, they define what the numbers should be for the finished room, but they don't say how you should go about getting those numbers, in terms of designing and treating the room. That's a whole different ball-game, and where the "art" of design comes in. Specs from the EBU, BBC, Dolby and others are pretty similar, with only minor differences. The IEEE and SMPTE probably also have specs, but I've never looked into that, and I would imagine that they would be in the same ballpark anyway. The equivalent EBU documents are EBU Technical Review, Winter 1997, Hoeg et al., EBU-TECH-3276, and EBU-TECH-3276-E. The only thing I have on hand from Dobly is S05/14926/15996, which pretty much covers the same concepts. So if you are planning to design the room yourself, all of these would be a good starting point. I'm not sure what your level of knowledge is on acoustics, but if you need a good book on that, you can't go wrong with Master Handbook of Acoustics, by F. Alton Everest. Not sure if that's what you were looking for, initially. - Stuart -

Thanks Stuart, I'll read the papers; it's a great start and hopefully it will give me the basic information I need. Initially, I'm trying to get some LWH measurements for a shell to build within and answer the question of if it's possible to do it in a building that is pier and beam instead of a concrete foundation. I appreciate you getting back to me so soon. Best, Stephen

On the last point (type of construction), in general it is better to have the studio sitting on the ground, not raised above it. Studios can be built above ground, but that will incur additional cost, since isolating a floor that isn't damped by good old Planet Earth is harder to do. The ground acts sort of like thousands of hands pressed up on the underside of your slab, which is excellent for damping all types of vibrations that get into the slab itself, either form the outside coming in (which is critical for a mastering room), as well as from the inside going out (not so critical, unless you have neighbors that don't appreciate your mastering skills!). Many years ago I was involved with the installation (not the design) of a studio here in Santiago that was built on the second floor of an old brick-walled warehouse with concrete slab floors. There was a restaurant underneath with live music, and they had to invest a lot of money to float their studio correctly, so as to not annoy the restaurant, but also to prevent restaurant noise getting in to their studio. It can be done, but is not cheap, and not easy. When they eventually moved to their own building several years later, they built their new studios on the ground floor: they learned their lesson!. So if you can, look for places that have concrete "slab on grade" construction. It will save you money and headaches in the long run. - Stuart -